Castle Combe and the South Cotswolds

Friday, July 3rd we went done to Bath to see Sue's mother who is 90 years old and continues to live in her own home in Bath.  Martin drove around some more streets with circular houses and some of the other prominent buildings in Bath.  It certainly is an interesting and historic place with the most amazing housing and architecture.

We came back to Gloucester through the South Cotswolds, similar to further north but the stone they use for building is slightly greyer.  One of the villages we went through was Castle Combe, in a valley, a very picturesque village with all modern wiring and TV aerials etc hidden from view.  It has been used for the set of many films in recent years, notably "Dr Doolittle" and "Warhorse".

Main street into Castle Coombe and the houses and stream

Castle Coombe Main Street

The St Andrews Church was interesting and is very old.

Market cross and St Andrews Church in the background

Castle Coombe town centre and Market Square.

The houses and cottages were lovely and the stream going through the village.  The whole village has been declared heritage, is not allowed to be changed or more houses to be built.

Another view of the houses and stream in Castle Coombe

Another street in Castle Coombe

It was further up the narrow country lanes and through several little villages until we got to Tetbury.  Tetbury is famous as it is the closest village to Highgrove, the country residence of Prince Charles.  As we all know he is very conservation minded and grows all sorts of organic food on this property.  Highgrove has a shop in the village and seels all sorts of produce from the property.  I was tempted to bring home a bottle of Highgrove Port but decided I would either drink it before I got it home or would not be able to bring it home safely !!!

Highgrove Shop in Tetbury

Street in Tetbury

The Cotswolds is certainly a beautiful part of England and although similar countryside, it is different from village to village.