The picturesque, quaint and historic area called The Cotswolds, west and north of London, provided us a perfect respite between London and Edinburgh. Leaving Windsor Castle, we headed for Chipping Campden for a couple of nights in a bed and breakfast. We drove among rolling hills and patchwork fields, and through trees arched into tunnels over the winding roads. We marveled at the 15th, 16th and 17th century Cotswold stone homes, churches, barns and fences. The golden-hued stone was quarried (mostly) locally and the area was largely built-up with wealth originating during the medieval wool trade.
Chipping Campden is a perfect little village as a base for exploring the area. It is surrounded by picturesque hamlets (some of our favorites: Lower Slaughter, Upper Slaughter, Stanway and Snowshill) and public footpaths that criss-cross through farmers’ fields and parks to form a wanderers paradise.
I was on the lookout for sticky toffee pudding, which I had first tasted (and fallen in love with) in Chipping Campden in 2003, so we popped into the Eight Bells Inn for dinner, one of many traditional Cotswold inns. Ah, well, at least the charm and quaintness of this historic inn were worth the visit… it was originally built in the 14th century to house the stonemasons who built St. James’ church across the street, and later used to house the peel of eight bells that were hung in the church (hence the name). But I don’t think the stonemasons requested the sticky toffee pudding (at least not more than once). Luckily our b&b hostess gave us her favorite recipe for this warm moist caramel-y cake; I’ll have to try to perfect this back home.
