During cold frosty December, we took a trip to the cosy Cotswolds. The Cotswolds is well known for being a pretty area of rolling hills and golden-coloured stone houses, but everything looked extra cosy and welcoming at Christmas time!
We visited the small towns of Moreton-in-Marsh, Stow-on-the-Wold and Chipping Norton, which is a small piece of the Cotswolds, so plenty more places to explore!
Moreton-in-Marsh has a quaint centre of golden-stone houses, with plenty of cosy pubs, tearooms, and cute country style hotels. There is also a Tesco Express so you can grab a snack lunch if you are on a budget.
Stow-on-the-Wold is a similarly attractive market town. It’s hard to find an ugly place in the Cotswolds! I was keen to visit Chipping Norton as it is famously the home of the “Chipping Norton set” – ie. David Cameron, Jeremy Clarkson, and ex- News-of-the-World-editor Rebekah Brooks. So I wanted to see what all the fuss was about! It was a pleasant place and had the most high-street shops of the 3 places I had visited (ie. Boots, WHSmith etc) but also their fair share of independent restaurants and cafes. No doubt a breath of fresh air to escape the rush of London!
Overall the Cotswolds is a lovely place to get away for the weekend and fairly central to England so accessible from the M5 and M40, with train stations in Moreton-in-Marsh. The picturesque Oxford is also only about 20 miles away from the edge of the Cotswolds – the mini-break just writes itself!
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