The Cotswolds is one of the most 'Quintessentially English' areas in the country, where time has stood still for over 300 years. An area of outstanding natural beauty covering 787 square miles, it stretches from South Warwickshire and Worcestershire, through West Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire, and takes in parts of West Wiltshire and Bath and part of Somerset in the South.
The characteristic yellow limestone is rich in fossils, in particular fossilised sea urchins. In the Middle Ages, the wool trade made the Cotswolds prosperous; hence the Speaker of the British House of Lords sits on the Woolsack showing where the Medieval wealth of the country came from.
The Cotswolds are renowned for gentle hillsides or ‘wolds’, river valleys, water meadows and beach woods, sleepy ancient limestone villages and historic market towns. This is the ideal place to relax in a sleepy village, with local shops nearby and with plenty of beautiful rolling countryside to explore.