A Walk in the Cotswolds - May 10

Last Saturday we took yet another London Walk...this time to the Cotswolds. My dad grew up in the Cotswolds, so I was really excited to see this part of England.

We got up early and headed to Paddington Station, which of course is like the farthest station from Clapham. But we made it on time. We boarded the train with the group and headed to Kingham. In the 50's the English government ripped up most of the track in the Cotswolds because they werent making a lot of money, so you can really only get to the edges and need to drive in. So we boarded a bus and headed towards Chipping Campden.

Cot means a lamb or sheep pen and Wold means a hill, so the Cotswolds is the lamb/sheep on a hill. Most of the economy has been based on sheep...used to be sheep wool, but now the sheep you see everywhere are going to end up as lunch. Mmmmm...

Our first village was the market town of Chipping Campden. Chipping means a market. This village is adorable!! The beautiful houses made of the local rock are just adorable. This really is quintisential England. We stopped in a lovely pub, called the Eight Bells (not the Eight Balls that I orginally thought). We sat outside in the sunshine and enjoyed a couple pints and ate. Then we boarded the bus again to head towards the countryside to walk to Upper Slaughter and Lower Slaughter.

Slaughter actually means by the river, not slaughter as we would think of it! We were dropped off just outside of town and walked through some fields into Upper Slaughter. This place was just adorable. My dad apparently rode his bike here as a kid, so that was cool. It is a tiny village with a canal running through it. We wandered through more fields and ended up in Lower Slaughter. Here there was an old mill that is now a coffee and ice cream shop. We both sampled the delicious organic ice cream while Scott made friends with the ducks that stood on the wall.

From here we walked back to the bus and back to London. We absolutely loved the Cotswolds! They are so cute, and we cant wait to go back to Mom and Dad when they come out for a visit hopefully later this year!



Tomorrow we are off to Brittany, France for 10 days!! Cant wait!!