Cotswolds

Church at Ashton-under-Hill

Watching/hearing bell-ringing in tower of church

Climbing over a stile on Bredon Hill, above our village

Ashton-under-Hill is home to picture-perfect thatched cottages

The beautiful converted barn we stayed in

Pub across the road!

Chez nous (for four nights)

Jen and Matt:
After our cramped quarters on the canals our spacious converted 17th Century barn at Ashton-under-Hill was bliss. Thanks to cousin Sally and Geoff for this luxurious treat! A-u-H was a three minute drive to Sally and Geoff in Beckford, where they run a general store and post office. Almost every village in this area of Worcestershire is just gorgeous. We enjoyed wandering the local hills and village lanes, listening to Geoff and friends ringing bells in the 1000-year-old St Barbara's church at A-u-H, visiting the Beckford nature reserve, and eating several delicious pub and restaurant meals plus a home-cooked feast in Sally and Geoff's lovely house. Sally took a precious day off work to accompany us on a fantastic steam train ride from Toddington to Cheltenham and back. We loved Sudeley Castle and Gardens, home at different times to Richard the Third ("oh no, its Richard the Third") and Henry VIII's widow Katherine Parr. Katherine Parr is entombed in a chapel on the grounds - the only English queen to be buried on private land - and Della was fascinated by a rather bizarre wax representation of the queen lying in state ... she was also pretty impressed with the queen's fancy loo ...
We also spent a wonderful day with cousin Paul and Gill, who - with their family - run an apple orchard nearby. We were privileged to share Paul and Gill's 55th wedding anniversary with them (gate-crashing Aussies...), including a delicious pub lunch at Snowshill - (another) beautiful Cotswolds village where parts of Bridget Jones's diary were filmed. A post-lunch visit to Snowshill Manor was a delightful way to spend a couple of hours. The lovely old home was filled with an eclectic mix of treasures collected by Charles Wade. The girls loved lunch, the manor and spending time with Paul and Gill but I think the highlight of the day for them was meeting Archie, a long-haired Jack Russell pup. Mind you, they also loved Sally and Geoff's dogs Ellie and Molly.
Once again we were so lucky to have met with such wonderful hospitality and generosity that really added to our enjoyment of another fantastic chapter of our Big Trip - thanks Sally and Geoff, Paul and Gill.
And we'd highly recommend the Old Post House and Barn at Ashton Under Hill - beautiful accommodation with lovely hosts: http://www.the-old-post-house.co.uk/Welcome.html

Della:
It was really fun staying near Sally and Geoff (and of course Molly and Ellie).
My favourite part was going to the bell tower, and spending time with our relatives. But, just as Mum said, meeting the dogs was a highlight - that is, Ellie, Molly and Archie. Also Bella, who belonged to the lady who owned the barn we stayed in.
Sudeley Castle was very very very very very awesome but when I thought about it history was a bit scary. When I go into a castle I feel very interested in what happened there, and I want to learn more. It was a bit creepy in the chapel when I saw Katherine Parr's tomb. They had a pretend Katherine Parr laying there - she looked very real - and I kept on thinking that she was breathing. They had an adventure playground at the castle. The main thing about the adventure playground was the shape - it was the shape ooooooooof ... a castle! AND there were tunnels and a flying fooooooox!
The steam train was very big and long. We got to go in the part where they drive the train.
Snowshill Manor was fun. I thought the manor house was quite different and funny. Also weird. The kitchen in the little building where Charles Wade and his wife lived was quite messy and had pots and pans and things tied to the roof. His bedroom was very fancy but I would not like to sleep there.

Edie:
I liked staying in the Cotswolds. I really liked the barn. If I could buy it I would. We met Sally and Geoff (well, we met Sally when I was little but Della wasn't born then) and their dogs, Ellie and Molly. We caught up with Paul and Gill and their puppy, Archie. He was very cute and he was so tiny! At Sudeley Castle, one of my highlights was the adventure playground, and Kathy's tomb. (Although it was a bit creepy as Della said and I was sure that the fake Katherine's hand moved! Maybe she wasn't so fake!) We had a great time exploring all the little towns. It was really cool on the old steam trains. It felt like I was Anne from Famous Five catching the train with her brothers to visit George and her parents or something like that! We saw heaps of green sheep! I don't know why they were green and they looked very odd!