The Cotswolds

My last day as a student at Oxford was a hectic one. I took my final exam in the morning and immediately began a marathon of social engagements that only ended at midnight. In between the two meals and three parties, I accompanied Johnny on a quick trip to a car rental place at the outskirts of Cowley, where we picked up our ride for the following day. While the journey was a bit annoying, it allowed us to begin the next day fresh and early – since we invited two friends from the programme, we did not dare to suggest an earlier meeting time than nine o’clock.

Our packed itinerary began in Chipping Campden. We found parking on Market Square and wandered northeast along the main road, making a loop to see the almshouses and Saint James’ Church. We were surprised to find a tiny public garden off the road, which runs on voluntary one-pound donations; it seemed very well-kempt and nicely laid out.

Our next stop was Broadway. Initially, I thought all the town had to offer was the iconic Broadway Tower. Once we arrived at the parking lot, however, we found an entire tourist trail that went past a playground and a deer park on the way to the tower, and there were signs for a nuclear bunker nearby – allegedly prepared for the royal family in case of an emergency. We only paid for parking, as the tower did not seem worth touring, and we got a good view of the deer, which were being fed at that very moment.

Perhaps subconsciously influenced by this sight, we started talking about getting lunch and agreed to eat after we had visited Sudeley Castle. Since I had never heard of the castle before doing my research, I was surprised to find that it has quite an interesting history. Among others, Sudeley Castle was home to “England’s secret queen” Eleanor Talbot, who had a relationship with Edward IV and allegedly entered a legal precontract of marriage with him. When Edward’s brother Richard III usurped the throne, he claimed this precontract invalidated Edward’s later marriage to Elizabeth Woodville, thereby also invalidating the claims of Edward’s sons to the throne. Richard likely had them assassinated after declaring himself king.

The castle was also home to Henry VIII’s last wife Catherine Parr, who remarried and moved to the castle with a large retinue, including her attendant Lady Jane Grey, the “Nine Days’ Queen.” When Parr died, she was given the first ever Protestant funeral in English, and her grave remains “the only privately owned castle to have a Queen of England buried in its grounds.” Her sarcophagus is to the left of the altar at Saint Mary’s Church.

After eating lunch at the castle café, we drove onwards to a forest south of Sudeley. We left the car in a little parking lane off the side of the road and walked through the forest and field to the Belas Knap Long Barrow. A prime example of a Cotswold Severn Cairn, it is dated to around 3000 BCE and was the site of several successive burials. In addition to its four burial chambers, it appears to have a false entrance: archaeologists speculate it was either meant to confuse thieves or to serve as a “spirit door” for the deceased.

Our last two stops for the day were far less rural. We made a brief visit to Bourton-on-the-Water, a town known for its picturesque stream crisscrossed by five stone bridges. Since it was warm and sunny, the place was filled with tourists. People were sitting on the banks eating ice cream while children were playing and running around in the stream. We even bumped into a classmate of Johnny’s, who was just showing his American family around the area.

Finally, we visited perhaps the most photographed place in the Cotswolds: the village of Bibury. Its most famous sight is Arlington Row, a street of stone houses built on a gentle incline above a little stream. Flanked by flowers, the beige walls look almost story-like; the whole place is the exact embodiment of the idealised English village.