The Cotswolds!

I’m still not entirely sure I understand what the Cotswolds are exactly.  Basically, from what I can tell, it’s a region starting in Bath and extending north. It’s a bunch of little hills dotted with medieval-esque little towns hugging the hilltops, connected to one another with a chain of green pastures filled with the sheep that have made the region prosperous for centuries.  In short, it’s a nice place to visit. 

The morning stared off chaotic, with a hugely hungover Ben stumbling down the stairs 10 minutes before we were leaving, looking like he had just been hit over the head with a baseball bat. We managed to somehow get him decent and dragged him all the way to the bus station, literally propping him against the wall while we waited for the bus.  All went well though, and before long, we arrived at the Broadway Tower, a big castle-looking thing on a hill.   It was four rooms stacked on top of one another, flanked by two turrets encasing spiral staircases.  I tried to read the information, but I didn’t get very far because everyone else just ran up to the top for the “view” which, because of an intense bout of fog, didn’t really exist. I did manage to learn that the man had the tower built as a gift for his wife so she could look out her window and see a castle.  I also learned that a man who was set to live there and set up a printing workshop was unhappily surprised to find a stubborn family of squatters living on the property who refused to vacate for months. 

We then walked about a mile and a half down the Cotswolds footpaths through sheep fields and mud puddles, climbing over stiles because gates don’t exist—and felt like straight out of Pride and Prejudice with our “hems 6 inches deep in mud!”  At first, I was kind of grumpy because my hands were really cold and I didn’t know that we were walking so far. But then we started running down a really steep hill and I slipped down it, covering my pants with mud, and decided it wasn’t so bad—despite having to be rushed off to a bathroom with warm water 10 minutes later after my fingers turned a magnificent shade of blue.

Lunch was great! We ate a place called The Mad Hatter (our primary reason for choosing the place…) which was decorated with fantastic Alice in Wonderland murals.  We ate traditional English food (fish and chips….yummm) and I even ate the peas they gave me, despite the deep loathing I have for them.  We wanted to get dessert (we want to try bannoffee pie because of Love Actually!)  but there just wasn’t enough time before the bus was leaving. 

Our last stop was at the Painswick Gardens, a cool little collection of “trails” interspersed with benches, tiny castles and huts, fake sheep (which we wasted no time climbing on!) ponds, fountains, and covered with their infamous little white snowdrops.  Plus, there was a maze shaped like “250” (for the 250^th anniversary) which we had fun running like crazy little children, screaming at the top of our lungs whenever we found one of the goals in the middle of each of the numbers. 

Lastly, we had our tea and cake, which of course was delightful.  One of the other girls opted out of getting the tea and instead got this drink called elderflower cordial, a warm, nearly-clear, sweet drink, which was really, really good—so good that I got a glass of it, and still good enough that we both bought a bottle of it.  Even better, the woman said that because its so strong, you only need to add a little bit to a warm glass of water, so the bottle we got went from 3 or 4 glasses of the drink, to 26 glasses!  Yes!  J