The Cotswolds

Popular with both the English themselves and visitors from all over the world, the Cotswolds are well-known for gentle hillsides ('wolds'), sleepy villages and for being 'typically English.

Within The Cotswolds there are cities such as Bath, Cheltenham and Gloucester and hundreds of delightful villages such as Burford and Castle Combe.

You will see drystone walls everywhere in the fields. Many were built in the 18th and 19th centuries, a matter of considerable skill as there is no cement to hold the walls together. They represent an important historical landscape and a major conservation feature – and are of course still used by farmers to enclose sheep and cattle.

During the 13-15th centuries, the medieval period, the native Cotswold sheep were famous throughout Europe for their heavy fleeces and high quality of wool. Cotswold wool commanded a high price and the wealth generated by the wool trade enabled wealthy traders to leave their mark by building fine houses and wonderful churches, known as "wool churches". Even today, the sight of sheep on the hillside is still one of the classic Cotswold images.

From Oxford you are within easy reach of Painswick, Biddestone, Winchcombe or Woodstock, or an unspoilt historic church, such as at Northleach often called the "Cathedral of the Cotswolds".

For further information about The Cotswolds please visit the official Cotwolds Home Page.