May 28, Walking Naunton to Bourton-on-the-water

He Said:

The Cotswold hills are easy to walk; they are not very high or steep, my feet are thankful. I am always happy walking in the countryside, especially when the weather is pleasant like today was. The start at Naunton was the perfect quaint, small village setting that also had a gigantic dovecot. The dovecot housed over 1000 doves originally, these birds were raised for meat, but now the birds are long gone back to nesting in the trees.

Today started in peaceful, pastoral, quiet surroundings, and ended in crowds of holiday makers by the thousands in villages and places not designed or accustomed to hold that many people. We did plan to look around Bourton on the water much more than we did, but the crowds put us off. We were surprised about the changes from when we used to come to this area. ... sound familiar?

She said:

Our walk today started in Naunton, at St. Andrew’s Church. 12th Century, of course, on the site of a Saxon temple. Cross corbel from the 12th century; pulpit for the 14th century; font from the 15th century. Two beautiful sundials on the outside of the church.

Naunton is a hamlet with the church, a tea shop, about 5 houses and… an historic Dovecote. This is one of the great things about our walks in the English countryside – crazy things just pop up out of nowhere, completely unexpected.

The Dovecote was built in the early 1600’s, probably by the Lord of the Thurston Manor. It has 1176 nest holes. That’s a lot.

Again, it is just hanging out there in the countryside, almost 500 years old, open to anyone who wants to check it out. The only request (written on a board) is that you close the gate to the field so that livestock doesn’t roam in.

Amazing.

Walking out of Naunton we crossed meadows and winter wheat fields and even a poppy field. We watched a young girl (8? 10?) learning to ride her pony. An enormous bull in a field was laying down and lazing around, his work done, for now. Nearby was a baby calf and cow Mom.

We walked into The Slaughters, a couple of picture perfect Cotswold villages that we’d visited 2x before on other trips to England. Always nice to stop at a familiar place. Upper Slaughter was kind of crowded, it being a Bank Holiday weekend. We stopped in St. Peter’s Church – Norman, 1100. John Slaughter and his wife and daughter are buried in the Church, and I thought that might be where the village got its name. However, I poked around and found a fact sheet – the original spelling of the village was Slautre – in 1265 – so I guess that John Slaughter and the village name evolved.

Once we started on the path to Lower Slaughter, though, things quieted down and we strolled the ½ mile in country peace.

Lower Slaughter was also busy, but we popped into St. Mary’s Church and lucked out as we were treated to a beautiful soprano practicing her songs for the 2 pm wedding to come. The church was decorated for the wedding – so lovely. We chatted with the Vicar – we recognized her from yesterday morning’s stop at the church in Temple Guiting. There she was talking with another young couple who were planning to be married, providing them with guidance and urging them to consider their plans carefully. Today she would be officiating at this (very posh) wedding. She said she has 8 churches that she is responsible for, here in this part of the Cotswold countryside.

We ate our packed lunch on the tiny green leaning against the Victorian water fountain (1875).

We had to pass the church again as we headed out of Lower Slaughter and we caught a good look at some of the wedding guests arriving. As usual, the ladies’ hats were spectacular confections – some quite outrageous. The hats that are now the British wedding rage (the ones that sit precariously at a rakish angle on ladies’ heads) are called Fascinators. And there were certainly some fascinating Fascinators. R captured the most outlandish ones, I’m sure.

On to Bourton-on-the-Water and the shock of the day. We stayed in a daring little cottage in BonW for a week in 2001. (The Captain’s Cabin – we found it today just of Rectory Lane). It was a sleepy little village then; the streets rolled up at 5. Ducks in the river that runs through the center of the village. A couple of smart restaurants, one in a Manor House, I think.

Well, BonW has been discovered. Since The Cotswolds are only 1 ½ hours from London, they make a perfect day trip for clogged city dwellers. And, they have arrived in BonW in droves. The grassy space on either side of the river was PACKED with people – on lawn chairs! On blankets! There for the day with picnics and kids and dogs. Walking around in the river. The village seemed ready to burst. I ducked into the Town Hall where a Craft Show was on, and asked one of the artists what was going on – was it all because of the Bank Holiday weekend? He said No, it’s like this every Sunday! The price they pay for living in a chocolate box of a village.

We found a stoop of a closed business (real estate – ha!), out of the way, and sat and waited for our driver, Alex, to show up.

It was nice to get back to our happy Old Stocks Inn. Stopped at the Co-op Market, stocked up on salad fixings again, and relaxed with dinner in our room.

Tomorrow we leave Stow-on-the-Wold and head to The Angel Inn in Burford. Two more walking days left. Then, we leave the countryside behind for a few days in London.

That will be a rude awakening!

Miles – 7.5

Photos:

St Andrews church, Naunton