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Ah, The Cotswolds...
By Paull Tickner

Sleepy honey coloured limestone villages, sheep-clad hillsides, privately owned and internationally renowned gardens, 16th century gastro pubs, quintessential English tea rooms, an antiques trail, the Arts and Crafts Movement, world class theatre and opera, and treasure filled stately homes and castles. Welcome to the Cotswolds in general and to Chipping Campden in particular, the jewel in its crown which is where I’m lucky enough to live.

Being locally based, I have acquired a lot of knowledge about the stately homes and gardens in this neck of the woods.  The area is riddled with famous masterpieces like Barnsley House (now a fine boutique hotel), Sudeley Castle, Kiftsgate Court and Bourton House who are all former winners of the fiercely contested Historic Houses Association-Christies Garden of the Year Award.  In a class of its own you also have Hidcote Manor which is arguably the finest garden in the Cotswolds.

But it’s not all about the big and well known.  I’ve put together and operated dozens of garden tours for Master Gardeners, Rose and Herb Societies and have found that it is often the smaller, privately owned gardens that steal the show.  The owner is frequently the head gardener and seeing through their eyes the evolution of their often not so small horticultural gem changes everything, especially when the visit concludes with tea and home-made cakes on the terrace or better still, with a glass of wine at 5.30 before returning to the hotel.

Spending 4-5 days here in the Cotswolds can be a great deal of fun especially in June and July when my pal Chef Lockyer is invited to show what he can do with bowlfuls of strawberries.  At Snowshill Lavender Farm, they also do a nice line in lavender flavoured scones.

Talking of English Afternoon Tea, in addition to offering a Cotswold Tea Room tour, another friend of mine has responded to my challenge and she is using her privately owned house to demonstrate the correct preparation, serving, and sampling of our famous English Afternoon Tea and to talk about the etiquette behind it.  This first-hand knowledge then gives you the bragging rights to be the only one where you live who knows why you warm the pot before making the tea, which goes in first, the milk or the tea, how to lay the table and why we serve cucumber sandwiches.  You will also have the answer to the really big question, which goes onto the scone first, the jam or the clotted cream!

Many of the Cotswold gardens are at their very best in June and July, making them a very good partner for the early July Hampton Court Flower Show.  The region also lends itself very nicely for other themed tours such as:

·    Quilting and the big Quilts UK event that takes place every May in Malvern and the Festival of Quilts which runs every August at the National Exhibition Centre just south of Birmingham.

·    Antique hunting where Tetbury, Stow on the Wold, Moreton in Marsh, Chipping Campden, Broadway and other small towns and villages string together to form the basis for a really good tour, enhanced with regular stops at ancient coaching inns and archetypal English tea rooms.

·    Three day eventing using the Badminton Horse Trials (late April/early May) and the Festival of British Eventing at Gatcombe Park (August) which will appeal to UK-bound families where the kids are very much into riding.

·    Theatre and the recently reopened Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford upon Avon.

·    Pre and post cruise extensions.  If you look carefully at a map, Heathrow to Oxford and then to Chipping Campden (for example!) is not a difficult journey.  The run from the Cotswolds via Stonehenge and Salisbury Cathedral and Highclere Castle (aka Downton Abbey) is not a difficult or unpleasant one either.

I confess I’m a little biased toward this lovely corner of England but this is a very good thing especially if you ask me to create a special tour for a couple of clients or, better yet, for a small Girls Getaway group.

Food for thought....

For further information, please email pjtickner@yahoo.co.uk