Cotswolds

We drove back to Poole today via country roads in Wiltshire and the Cotswolds, through very pretty rolling countryside with hedgerows instead of stone walls. We stopped for a coffee in Shaftesbury overlooking the much photographed Gold Hill. This is an ancient, steep cobbled street which runs beside the walls of King Alfred's Abbey and looks out over Blackmore Vale. This was shrouded in fog today, but this view often appears on English calendars.
As we got into the Cotswolds, the stone and flint stone houses of Wiltshire changed to the mellow yellow Cotswold limestone. Again hedgerows and stunning autumn colours, especially the beech trees.We had lunch in Tetbury. Charles and Camilla live here at Highgrove, so I had to buy a bag with the Prince of Wales feathers on it!!
We then drove through Cirencester and a real chocolate box village called Bibury. The Slaughters and Stow-on-the-Wold were also very pretty villages. I can see why the Cotswolds are so loved by tourists, as it is a very picturesque area. It was dark by the time we arrived back at Rolleston-on-Dove, because we hit a traffic jam when we were very nearly home.Patience is certainly a virtue for British drivers. It is amazing how quickly you can grind to a halt in a stream of traffic!