Warwickshire Tourist Guide - Articles

Take a Break in the Cotswolds
The Cotswolds stretch over six English counties: the three main Cotswold counties are Warwickshire, Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire, with incursions into Wiltshire, Somerset & Worcestershire. The Cotswolds - which cover an area of 2,038 square kilometres (787 square miles) - is the largest designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in England and Wales.

The glory period of Cotswolds' architecture was between the 14th and 16th centuries when wealthy wool merchants tried to outdo each other in the splendour of their manors and churches. The downturn of the wool trade, is ironically, the reason for the preservation of these wonderful towns and villages in their original glory -- for it was the chronic lack of investment in the area during the 18th, 19th and early 20th century which allowed the area to pass relatively unscathed through the great modernisation periods of the Victorians and particularly the immediate post-war era of the 1950's and 1960's which blighted too many English towns and villages.

In the Middle Ages the Cotswolds was well known throughout Europe as the source of some of the best wool. The Cotswolds were ideal for sheep so the Abbeys and monasteries raised huge flocks of the 'Cotswold Lions'. These native sheep were large animals with golden long fleeces. Merchants became rich and spent much money on the wool churches as well as building fine houses for themselves such as Grevel's House in Chipping Campden. At that time 50% of England's economy was due to wool.

With its gentle hillsides (wolds), honey-coloured stone buildings, unhurrried villages, sheep-strewn pastures, cathedral-sized 'wool' churches and mile after mile of golden dry stone walling (oolitic limestone), it is no wonder the Cotswolds is thought of as the quintessential English countryside -- and this being so, it is the perfect place for afternoon tea and a trawl through the many antique and ephemera shops.

Accommodation in the Cotswolds
The range of available guest accommodation is extensive... stone farmhouses, converted stables, converted barns, cottages, apartments, houses, b & b, budget hotels, luxury hotels & spa's, golf resorts.

To help you decide where to stay, here is a small selection of some of the best guest accommodation in the Cotswolds. Note that some establishments can offer both bed & breakfast and self-catering.

Bed & Breakfast	Self-Catering
Folly Farm Cottage Back Street, Ilmington, CV36 4LJ tel: 01608 682 425 website	Blackwell Grange Blackwell Shipston-on-Stour CV36 4PF tel: 01608 682 357 | website
Uplands House Upton, North Cotswolds OX15 6HJ >tel: 01295 678663 | website	Court Farm Long Marston CV37 8RR t: +44 (0)1789 720154 website
Red Lion Inn Little Compton Moreton-in-Marsh GL56 0RT t: 01608 674397 | website	Peace Haven Holiday Lets Honeybourne, Evesham t: 01386 832785 | 07721 596823 website | booking form
Blackwell Grange Blackwell Shipston-on-Stour CV36 4PF tel: 01608 682 357 | website	Folly Farm Cottage Back Street, Ilmington, CV36 4LJ tel: 01608 682 425 website
The College Arms Lower Quinton Stratford-upon-Avon tel: 01789 720342 | website	Blackpitt Farm Oddington Stow-on-the-WoldGL56 0XW t: 01451 831855 | website
Idlicote House Idlicote, Shipston-on-Stour tel: +44 1608 661 473 | website	The Cottage at Armscote Armscote, Stratford-upon-Avon tel: 01608 682661 | website