There and Back

Castle Combe has been called 'The Prettiest Village in England' and with good reason; visitors have been coming to enjoy its charms for at least a century and the small street leading from the Market Cross down to the By Brook is as picturesque today as it ever was. Castle Combe has featured regularly as a film location, most recently in The Wolf Man, Stardust and Stephen Spielberg’s War Horse. It was also used in the original Dr Doolittle film. The village houses are all typical Cotswold type, constructed in stone with thick walls and roofs made from split natural stone tiles. The properties are many hundreds of years old and are listed as ancient monuments. Strict rules apply to preserve the beauty and character of Castle Combe for later generations to admire. By the Middle Ages, the village in the valley had become an important center for the wool industry. The spinsters and weavers lived in the cottages (hence names such as "Weaver’s House") and the river, still k...

When we put Lacock Abbey on our list of places to visit, it was not apparent (I didn't read it all!) that this was hardly a ruin, but a massive house with a spectacular history. It started, in the 12th Century, with  Ela, 3rd Countess of Salisbury. She was born into a very privileged family and when her father, William FitzPatrick (2nd Earl of Salisbury) died, Ela, who was just nine years old, inherited her father’s title, fortune, and lands. As an heiress, Ela came under the protection of the King. He arranged a marriage for his young ward to his half-brother, William Longespée. Living at what we now know as Old Sarum, William and Ela had eight children, one of whom, Nicholas Longespée, became Bishop of Salisbury. William died in 1226 while Ela was still only 39 years old. She took over his role of Sheriff of Wiltshire on a temporary basis and was later appointed as Sheriff in her own right. All the couple’s wealth, land and title reverted to her. From this time, she started plann...

Having decided to explore some of the beautiful Cotswold area, we initially found some difficulty in booking a cottage for the week, possible since people countrywide had started to spread their wings after the Covid pandemic. However, we eventually found a property in Stow on the Wold which seemed a good place to use as a base. It also appeared central to many of the places we wanted to see. The cottage on the right is ours - St Anthony`s Cottage The cottages opposite  Our lounge/ diner - yes, small! but well equipped and cosy. The view up the street which is deserted due to it being our Queen`s funeral. Other days it was like a racetrack all day! Stow-on-the-Wold is the highest of the Cotswold towns standing exposed on eight hundred feet high Stow Hill at a junction of five major roads, including the Roman Fosse Way. Hence the traffic. But of course, its position was the reason for its success as it gathered trade from all directions as travelers passed along these roads. The va...

There has been a church at Wenhaston since the Saxon period when it was owned by Blythburgh Priory. Most of the present building dates to the 14th and 15th centuries. The south door retains its medieval sanctuary knocker. Just inside the door is a beautifully carved wooden panel that must have formed part of a Jacobean pew. at the east end of the nave is a Jacobean pulpit with excellent carved details, including figures of angels on the book rest brackets. The chancel roof is decorated with carved bosses, and the choir stalls have particularly good carved bench ends. The east window has colourful Victorian glass, and on either side are 18th-century marble monuments to members of the Leman family. At the west end of the nave is a plain octagonal font, along with a royal coat of arms to George III and a charity board. Few people find their way to Wenhaston by chance, located off the beaten track but just a few miles from the famous medieval church at Blythburgh. Those that make the effor...