Cotswolds
From Oxford we made our way over to the Cotswolds by train. It was only about a 30 minute journey to the Cotwolds town of Moreton-in-Marsh. This was a main train hub for the Cotswolds region and we only spent a few minutes here walking the town before taking a bus to our main destination, Stow-on-the-Wold.
The Cotwolds embody the quintessential cozy English vibe. Its hard not to fall in love with the cozy pubs, stone cottages, English gardens and beautiful boutiques which are all part of what make The Cotswolds such a special area.
When we first arrived in Stow-on-the-Wold we meandered the cozy streets and popped in and out of shops. There are some very cute shops, tea rooms and cafes to explore.
We wandered past the main stretch of shops towards the town’s houses and cottages. They looked like houses out of a fairy tale.
We spotted one of the coziest pubs you could imagine, The Porch House. Established in 947 AD, this boasts as England’s oldest inn.
After our exploring we decided to slow down for a bit and find some happy hour. We stumbled upon a very cute wine bar, The Cellar. This was a fun spot and even had a record player with albums to choose from to add to the ambience.
There are a lot of good food choices in Stow-on-the-Wold, but found an amazing spot for dinner at the Bell. We almost missed our chance to eat here as they were pretty packed and initially didn’t have any openings. Right as we were walking away the owner ran after us and said a small group just left and there was a small time slot before the next reservation was booked. We very gladly accepted the table. And we had such an amazing meal we were glad that we got the chance to eat in this wonderful pub.
Before heading in for the night we strolled through town a bit more to enjoy some evening photography.
After another day of many miles logged we were ready to settle down for the evening. Most things in the Cotswolds close pretty early so this allowed us to relax for awhile to wind down before bed. We found a very cute AirBnB right in the middle of town (link). We had quite the view from the entrance of our place! This was a lovely place to stay however the laundry machines made for a comical evening. One of the main reasons we booked this AirBnB is because it said it has a washer and dryer in the apartment. Our Cotwolds stay was in the middle of our trip and we all had a few clothes were hoping to get cleaned. The washing machine was the most difficult machine to figure out how to get started. After spending ages figuring out how it worked we realized the dryer didn’t work. So this led us to all hanging out all our clothes to air dry scattered around our place. It was very frustrating in the moment but looking back we all got good laughs on how insane we made our place look with everyone’s clothes scattered on the railings and window sills.
We unfortunately only had the next morning left in The Cotswolds. We would have loved to have spent more time in Stow-on-the-Wold and the surrounding towns. It’s one of the coziest and prettiest places we have explored.
We found a great coffee spot right in the middle of town, New England Coffee house. There is a cozy upstairs sitting area with quirky furniture and decor.
We also found a great breakfast spot, The Cotswolds Farm shop. We sat outside and enjoyed a delicious pancake breakfast with a view of the beautiful town.
One thing we wanted to make sure we visited while in Stow-on-the-Wold is the north door at St Edward’s Church framed by two yew trees. This door is said to have inspired the Doors of Durin in The Lord of the Rings. It definitely made is feel as if we had been transported into a fairytale.
After our morning exploring Cotswolds we set out for our bus and train journeys to our next destination, York. We absolutely loved the Cotswolds and its cozy streets we got to explore.