Family trip to beautiful Cotswold
For a long weekend in June 2023 , we planned a family trip to beautiful Cotswold . Since it was a beautiful summer, our choice of place has to be none other than Cotswold because everyone in UK rave about its natural beauty and preserved character. Cotswold is considered to have the most prettiest villages in England.Well, what can I say to start describing my amazing Cotswold experience – My time in Cotswold was like a dream!!
London to Cotswold was a long journey , so we took a break for lunch and for a little stretch . Energetically again, we rolled on singing along with loud music and enjoying our snack that mum packed for our usual car picnics. After two and half hours of drive , We decided to go to the hotel straightaway as we were little tired to visit any place .We checked into a brilliant hotel, Marriot in Swindon. It turned out even more exciting when we were told that they upgraded us to a family suite. I was ecstatic to see my massive luxurious suite splurged with all the luxury items.I felt so lucky and stretched my legs on my comfortable bed before enjoying my warm drink with cookies.
In the evening, Me and dad had a good swim session at hotel’s swimming pool which I was looking forward to, ever since we planned this holiday . Afterwards we had a nice dinner in the hotel’s posh restaurant. Then all we did was hit the bed for a good night sleep.
Next morning we woke up and went to a village named Lackock ,which is a place known for the invention of photography and the shooting of Harry Potter and many more movies. First we explored the extraordinary fascinating Lackock Abbey which once belonged to William Talbot, who invented photography.This castle looking property was founded in 1200s to be a home for the nuns, who used to read, pray and believed that bringing suffering to themselves would bring them closer to God. It is humungous, medieval monastic architectural marble ,decorated with a lot of fancy furniture, paintings and expensive articles .This abbey was later purchased and converted into a country house with a cloister incorporated in its design.Talbot inherited it in 1714 and transformed it over the years with his gothic taste. But now this estate belongs to National Trust.Many popular TV dramas and movies has been shot in this Abbey.Few of the most popular ones are Harry Potter and Downtown Abbey. After enjoying it’s interiors, we enjoyed strolling in its peaceful gardens and Fox Talbot museum to learn about the history of photography.
Later we went around in our car for a drive through the village. It was so scenic and quintessential English village with its historic streets, timber framed stone cottages and local shops. I was amazed to see the unique houses in the villages which had their first floors bigger than their ground floors, it made them look unusual and slanted. With its central grid of four streets,Lackock today looks exactly as it did 200 years ago. it took a while to go around. There were daisies decorating the side lawns of houses like white beds around the street.It was surely the most traditional, ancient village I have ever seen. We spotted all the famous spots where many movies scenes has been filmed.
The next village we went to was Castle Combe which is nestled in the most beautiful scenery anyone can ever imagine of .There were traditional thatched houses in a row on speck clean stone bricked streets. Finding the parking over here was unimaginably hard. Once we got our car parked,We went to the old village that had the same exterior as when it was first built. They used stone bricks to build their beautiful houses. There was a sparkling stream with clean and perfectly transparent water through which you can clearly see the fishes and other water life. I enjoyed throwing stones in the water, walked over the bridge. The greenery was plentiful all around us that is why Castle Combe is called the Switzerland of England. We then went to a traditional coffee shop and ate homemade cakes with English tea.
Now it was time to go to our next hotel named De Vere located in Cotswold Water Park. The hotel is surrounded by lakes so people staying in the hotel can do water sports and target shooting and rally driving. We had a delicious dinner followed by a huge ice cream which had three scoops of delicious ice cream. It was so big that even with the assistance of my mum and dad, there was still a scoop of ice cream remaining in the dessert bowl.
In the morning after my yummy breakfast, I had a swim session.When I started swimming, there weren’t many people but then it started getting quite crowded . Soon there came grannies charging through the pool in one big line so there was not enough space for kids to swim straight through the pool. I had to come out, still it was nice session since I impressed my mum with my newly learnt swimming skills.
We got ready quickly after that to explore another beautiful village named Bibery. It wasn’t far from the hotel .In my first glance at the village , it looked so enchanting to me. I couldn’t believe a place like this existed. The village of Bibury was once described by William as ‘the most beautiful village in England’ . Dating as far back as the domesday book (1086), the village is steeped in history and is home to both historic buildings and British wildlife. Firstly I saw a beautiful river where I fed bread to the ducks and fishes. The water was so clean, I could clearly see the colourful fishes swimming around and rushing to latch on every single bite of bread being thrown in the water. The greenery all around the place made it even more serene and picturesque.After a little stroll over the bridge, we treated ourselves to a nice lunch at a local cafe. Afterwards we went to an ice cream shop, where we relished a divine ice cream. While eating it we were walking through lush green sideways of a small stream of water and enjoyed the pretty scenic views of the village . Then we went to the famous Arlington street, where we admired different Cotswold stone houses.The Arlington row was built in the 14th century as a wool store, the row was later converted into Weaver’s cottage in the 17th century. The meadow was called’ rack isle’. We clicked lots of pictures like every else there for preserving this beautiful moment in our camera forever.
After 3 hours of journey, we reached back home and since we were so tired moreover it was 10:00pm, we literally crashed on our bed straightaway. It was a memorable trip for sure and recommended for all nature lovers .
