Sunday 10 June 2007

England, Cotswolds

On Sunday we drove around the villages and stopped for a Sunday roast at the Green Dragon Inn. Great service and good food on the terrace facing the river.






On the road back, all we wanted to do is stop driving and walk in the endless fields.







Great Witcombe.




England, Cerney,Bibury and Bourton, Cotswolds

This is the hotel (Inn) we stayed at in Cerney. It's on the main road going to Cerincester you can't miss it! It has a huge garden where people come late afternoon to get some beers and fish and chips.



We even had a little visitor from the garden... The restaurant offers a great selection of wine...they even had a Lebanese wine tasting!


All the villages around the Cotswolds are amazingly beautiful.
We visited Bibury, East of Cerney, where we discovered the most surprising hotel, adjacent to the cemetary. If you walk all the way at the end of the church courtyard and cemetary you will find a small blue door leading you to a garden filled with roses. The garden is actually the Bibury Court Hotel's property, nested in 6 acres of peace, tranquility and comfort. This feels more like a country house than a hotel. We'll definitely try it next time we're in the region.





Before returning to London, I wanted to visit a village that wasn't on any recommendation lists we had but which had a very attractive name: Bourton-on-the-water (which I actually read at first as Bouton!- which means rose bud in French).
The town is bigger than the others we visited and for once...it was packed with families, tourists, dogs...enjoying the nice weather on the border of the river. We stayed there a good couple of hours, having ice cream-on-the-water!





Saturday 9 June 2007

England, Barnsley, Cotswolds

There we go...one year of marriage and a trip to the Cotswolds!

For the first time we rented a car and drove west, past Oxford and further in Gloucestershire land. We arrived at The Village Pub in Barnsley and were absolutely surprised by the beauty of the place and the quietness of the village. The Village Pub was probably the only pub in the village and probably the place where we could actually see people (although you can't see any in our pics)!



Another surprise was to meet three waitstaff...all French. Not sure how they landed in Barnsley but the service was surely excellent!


The food was excellent, we recommend the chicken breast (free range of course...) as main and scallops as starter. For your dessert you have to try the sorbets, I know we weren't too original on this one, but the pink grapefruit was so tasteful.



Before leaving Barnsley we visited the church and its cemetary. Coming from the US it was strange to notice the dates on the graves...some dating from the 13th century.