The red car which we had reserved in Japan and rented from Hertz, rent a car company,
in Victoria. My friend, Yuko, said that it was new and very fuel-efficient.
（photo took in front of the B&B in Chippenham）

One summer, we decided to go around the Cotswolds by car.
At that time, we were not so very organized : we drove from London to the Cotswolds (Driving along the very busy roads in London gave Yuko quite a lot of stress my friend who driving the car even though she was good at driving.), and didn't have any detailed maps of the area. Moreover, because we went there at the weekend, almost all of the shops were closed, so we couldn't go shopping. At that time, we thought, "If we had stayed in London, a lot of shops would be open...", we sighed.
However, they say, "Failure is a stepping-stone to success."



The First Day : Victoria--Chippenham--Castle Combe--Lacock
From Hertz in Victoria, we drove to the Cotswolds. However, we had a hard time getting out from London, because we took the wrong road and entered Hyde Park although we tried going to Hyde Park Corner first, and then, Knightsbridge as the employee in Hertz had told us. "How can we get out of here?", we had no answer. Then, 15 minutes later, we finally found the way and followed the sign "M4". Ah! luckily, we thought. However, it looked like rain.
"We hope that it won't be raining when we arrive at the Cotswolds.", we thought.
We arrived at Chippenham, our first destination and the place we had planed to stay that night, at around 1 o'clock. Firstly, we looked for the tourist information centre and got a town map. After that, we went to the B&B. Anna, the Indian proprietor of the B&B, welcomed us cheerfully.
"What are you going to do?", she asked. We answered, "We are going to Castle Combe" The scenery which we saw in "GIO GLOBE TROTTER" was beautiful, so it attracted us.　We could say that one of our purposes of the trip was to go to Castle Combe! "Yes! I have heard that there is a nice tea room where you can eat tasty scones", Anna said. She agreed that it was a good idea. Therefore, we drove to Castle Combe and planed to eat some lunch there. After we arrived, we got out of the car on the road and began to walk to the town centre. However, it was very quite.
Soon after, we found two country style restaurants and wanted to have lunch there, but they said that lunch time was over. I saw my watch and knew it was already after 2:30. They said that tea time would start at 3 o'clock, so we began to walk around before having some tea. However, the village was very quiet.
"I hadn't expected such an atmosphere.", I thought in my mind, but I tried to think positively. We went back to one of the restaurants and asked to be served us some tea and scones.
However!! When we poured the tea into our cups, something black rapidly came out. "Ah, we don't have a tea strainer. ", I said and took a close look. To my horror I found not a tea leaf but a dead fry! Wow!
Thus, my memory in Castle Combe was terrible!
　

Castle Combe. I had been looking forward to visiting there, but although it was summer, the town was inactive. Moreover, a shop, which "GIO GLOBE TROTTER"* said that we could eat some homemade cake, was closed. We asked ourselves, "Why are we here?" Therefore, I was a little disappointed.

* "GIO GLOBE TROTTER" is a series of Japanese books which talks about travelling in each country all over the wolrd. There is a lot of valuable information which is written by many of it's readers.

There seemed to be nothing special to see, so we left Castle Combe without taking much time for sightseeing and drove to Lacock through Chippenham. In Lacock, there is the Talbot Museum ; they say that he was the founder of photography. Also, Lacock Abbey is located here ; Lacock Abbey reminded me of Osborne House in the Isle of Wight. Although there is no sea in Lacock, I thought that the town of Lacock had a similar atmosphere to the Isle of Wight. In other words, I felt Lacock wasn't such a pretty town compared with other town. However, we were satistied with visiting althouth we hadn't expected so much.

We went back to B&B in Chippenham. Then, we went out again partly to have supper and partly to see the town. It was already evening, so the town didn't have active atmosphere. After seeing the town in haste, we went to an Italian restaurant which Anna recommended, saying "It’s reasonable and tasty." We ordered two glasses of red wine, minestrone soup, pizza and mushroom risotto. But, we thought "Does she really think that it is tasty?" in our mind.
Thus, we couldn’t be satisfied with the day, especially the food.

The B&B where we stayed in Chippenham. I heared that it was an old listed building.

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The second Day : Chippenham―Cirencester―Groucester(because we were lost)
―Burford―Bibury--Burford
We drove smoothly from Chippenham to Cirencester. We reserved a B&B, where we were going to stay in Burford on that day, at the tourist information center in Cirencester.
As people say that Cirencester is the centre of the Cotswolds, my impression was that Cirencester is indeed a big town. After arriving there, firstly, we reserved a B&B in Burford at the tourist information centre in Cirencester.
Yuko, who loves Scotch Whiskey, planed to buy some brands which are rarely seen in Japan during this trip. When we dropped in a few liquor shops, she found some whisky which she had wanted to buy. She bought two types. Therefore, she was very happy.

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Cirencester was second only to London in size and　importance.
The Romans founded the town.
In 6th century, the Saxons destroyed the town and renamed it "Coryn Ceastre",　or "Cirencester".

"Where are we going first after checking in the B&B?" Firstly we thought, we could look aound the town of Burford. Then, we could drive to Bibury. In addition, we could go somewhere else, because we had a car.
However, our plan could not be realized. We got lost!! We deserved to because we only had a very simple map which we had got at the tourist information center in Japan. We went in the opposite direction at a roundabout because we confirmed the way according to only the route number. After a while, we felt uneasy because we couldn't find any sign "To Burford". "To Groucester? Where is Groucester?? Is this the right direction?" Then, we entered a restaurant and had lunch. After that, we asked the way to Burford. We turned back thinking, "Oh, my God!"
　　　　　　　　
It was at around 2 or 3 o'clock that we finally checked in the B&B at Burford. The town of Burford was very pretty and there were a lot of shops. We thought that we could go shopping at first, but we decided to go to Bibury, which was the main destination of this journey. They say that William Morris said, "Bibury is the most beautiful village in England." Our expectation was increasing.
However, unfortunately, we weren't favoured with fine weather during this trip. We prayed that it would't rain, but we were caught in the rain just when we were in Bibury! Nevertheless, Bibury village was as beautiful as we had expected.

Bibury. It rained when we visited, so I took all the photos in the rain. However, don't you think that all the scenery is wonderful? But, I was disappointed when I found the sign, "If you take some photos, a fee is needed." in front of a beaurigul house

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The Third Day : Burford--Chipping Norton--Woodstock(Blenheim Palace)--Oxford--London

The scenery near the B&B in Burford. The main road in Burford is a gentle slope just like in this photo. Many buildings seemed to be made during the Tudor or the Georgean times. After going down the slope a little more, you'll find many shops which sell antiques, pretty goods and so on.

On the third day, it rained from early morning . We had planed to look around the town of Burford, but it was Sunday! Almost all the shops were closed. moreover, it began to rain a little, so we gave up our idea although we hadn't done so much window-shopping and then, went to Chipping Norton.

Chipping Norton

When we arrived at Chipping Norton, it was raining heavily. Because of this, the town was deserted. We left for Woodstock without feeling satisfied about our sightseeing.

Happily, when we arrived at Blenheim Palace, which we can say is "the best sightseeing spot in Woodwtock", it had stopped raining. We could see the Palace and our feeling improved.
In November 30th of 1874, Winston Churchill, a famous politician, was born in a part of the palace. Moreover, he proposed marriage in the palace.

　　　　　　　
In short we visited truly beautiful places, but due to the difficult English weather, they were not at their best ; so we felt a little let down and cheated. I wish you better luck!

(2002.2.9, 2003.6.29)

　The Cotswolds Introduction

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Trip to England