Wales. Cotswold

23.07 Üks terve päev Kesk-Inglismaa lõunaosas Cotswoldsis, mida peetakse Väljapaistva Loodusliku Iluga Piirkonnaks (neid on Suurbritannias kokku tervelt 46). Cotswoldsi iseloomustavad selle piirkonna kaunid kollased kivimajad (piirkonnale omane juuaraajastu lubjakivi), mitmed jõed ja ilusad lilleaiad. Olen Facebooki Cotwsoldsi grupis vist enamike külade/linnade pilte näinud ning imetlenud. Piirkonna külad ja väikelinnad on tõesti äärmiselt armsad, nagu väikesed muuseumid, aga omavahel neid eristada.. On kohati natuke keeruline. Kõiki külasid loomulikult läbi käia ei jõudnud. Mul on nii hea meel, et võtsin majutuse Bourton-on-the-Waterisse. Harmooniline kooskõla traditsioonilise ja uue arhitektuuri vahel.

Upper Slaughter, autotee

Hommikul võtsin sihiks jalutada kahte lähikonnas asuvasse külla, millel peaagu sama nimetus (nagu ka järgmise päeva Rissingtonid). Alustasin kaugemale jäävast Upper Slaughterist, mis on üks Topelt tänulikest küladest (kõik selle küla I ja ka II MS osalenud sõdurid jäid ellu). Upper Slaughteri elanike arv on 177. Vaatamisväärsusteks on mõis, kirik ja Eye jõgi.

Lower Slaughter

Kui vaatasite 17.07 postituses olnud videot, panite võib-olla tähele läbi madala jõe kulgevat teed. Minu jaoks jälle huvitav uus kogemus. Miks ehitada sildu, kui saab lihtsamalt.

1.5km kaugusele jääb Lower Slaughter, samuti Eye jõe kallastel. Külas on kaks jalakäijate silda, St Mary kirik ja 19. sajandist pärit vesiveski. 236 elanikku ja peamiseks sissetulekuks turism.

Arlington Row

Esimeseks külastuseks oli Bibury, üks enim külastatud Cotswoldsi külasid (627 elanikku) ja selles asuv Arlington Row, mis on ilmselt üheks enim pildistatud kohaks Cotswoldsis. Arlington Row majakesed ehitati 1380 ja kujundati 17. sajandil ümber kangakudujatele. Tänapäeval on see majade kompleks Ühendkuningriigi passi siseküljel.

Bibury

Uudishimulikke turiste käib seal tohutult, viimastel aastatel palju Aasia elanikke, kellele silt "Private" ei ütle midagi. Nad käisid ikkagi eraaedades ja vaatasid elanike akendest sisse. Sellest ka nende keelsed sildid, mida Inglise keeles kinniolevad Britid tavaliselt ei kasuta.

Painswick. Foto: Aili Roosa

Alustasime Biburyga esimesena, sest nii oli lootus mõni pilt ilma lisanditeta teha. Kui me lahkuma hakkasime, saabus just kaks suurt turistibussi.

Järgmisena Painswicki rokokoo aed, mis on riigi ainuke terviklikult säilinud rokokoo ajastust pärit aed. Rajatud 1740ndatel Benjamin Hyetti poolt. Seal on erinevad lilled ja taimed, lisaks ebasümmeetriline maja, erinevad sopid, labürint ja laste mänguala.

Chipping Campden

Päeva mahtus veel kolm väikelinna. Chipping Campden on tuntud oma kauni 14.-17. sajandist pärinevate hoonetega ääristatud peatänava, turuhoone ja St Jamesi kiriku poolest. Märkasime kahte huvitavate katustega maja, mis osutusid jakobiitide banketimajadeks.  Ca 2300 elanikku.

Moreton-in-Marsh

Moreton-in-Marsh.  Rabas asuvad Moretonis leidsin mitu second-hand raamatupoodi ja sinna kadus mu tähelepanu😄 Natuke suurem ning samuti kaunis peatänav. Kahjuks oli linna keskel olev massiivne turuhoone juba suletud. Ca 3500 elanikku

Stow-on-the-Wold. Foto: AiliR

Viimasena Stow-on-the-Wold (appi kui armsad kohanimed seal on), Cotswoldsi grupis on enim pildistatud St Edwardsi kiriku ust, mida ümbritsevad jugapuud.

Kuninga Mehed

Kauni (ning sooja) Cotswoldsi päeva lõpetuseks kolm neoliitikumi ja pronksiaja kivikompleksi Long Comptoni lähedal. Rollright kivid koosnevad kolmest osast - ühel pool teed uhkelt üksinda seisev Kuningas, teisel pool teed Sositavad Rüütlid ja Kuninga Mehed.

Rollright Stones metsavalvur

Vaatamise eest £1 ja kui piletimüüjat ei olnud kohal, siis jätad oma raha aususekarpi. Kuninga meeste kiviring oli seekord hõivatud.  

Kuna eelmise päeva õhtusöök oli äärmiselt maitsev, siis broneerisime uuesti laua itaalia restorani aga sattusime nagu täiesti uude kohta. Spagetid olid küll mõnusalt tsillised (ja katki murdmata) aga nendel oli tervelt 3 krevetti ja 4 üleküpsetatud kalmaari (yuk) eelmise päeva rikkaliku täidise asemel. Täielik pettumus.

23rd July An entire day in Cotswolds, an area in south central England that is designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (there are 46 AONBs in Britain). Cotswolds is characterised by stunning yellow stone houses (made from yellow oolitic Jurassic limestone), several beautiful rivers and gorgeous gardens filled with flowers. I guess I have seen photos of all the villages and towns in Facebook`s Cotswolds group. The villages and towns are indeed gorgeous, like little museums, but to set them apart.. is a bit difficult at times. Of course we didn`t have time to visit them all. I am so glad I had chosen to stay in Bourton-on-the-Water. Harmony between traditional and current architecture.

St Peter`s Church, Upper Slaughter

I decided to walk to two neighbouring villages with similar names that morning. I begun with  Upper Slaughter that is located about 2 miles from Bourton-on-the-Water. It is one of the Doubly Thankful Villages (from which all their members of the armed forces survived WW I and WW II).Upper Slaughter`s population is 177. There is a manor, St Peter`s church and the River Eye.

Lower Slaugher

If you watched a video in one of my earlier posts you might have noticed  a road leading through a low river. A new interesting experience for me. Why build briges? 
  
Lower Slaughter is about 0.9 miles away, also on the banks of River Eye. There are two pedestrian bridges, St Mary`s church and a 19th cenutry water mill. 236 people and tourism as the primary business in village.

Arlington Row

The first visit of the day was Bibury, one of the most visited Cotswolds villages (627 people). One of the most popular sights in Bibury is Arlington Row, probably the most photographed collection of houses in Cotswolds. The cottages were built in 1380 and converted into a row of cottages for weavers in the 17th century. Today Arlington Row is featuring on the UK passport.

Bibury

There are numerous tourists in the village (and area in general) among which many Asians to whom the sign "Private" means nothing. Still they walked into private gardens and peeked into residents` windows. Hence the signs (see Estonian version above) in their language that I have not seen in Britan before.

Painswick

I chose to begin our day with Bibury to have a chance to take at least a shot without others on it. Two huge tourist coaches just arrived then we left.

Next Painswick Rococo garden, that is the country's sole surviving complete rococo garden. Designed in the 1740s for Benjamin Hyett. There are beautiful flowes and plants, asymmetrical house, a maze and children`s play area.

Chipping Campden

We could fit three more pretty Cotswolds towns into our day. Chipping Campden is known for its beautiful High Street dating from the 14th century to the 17th century, a lovely market hall and St James church. We also noticed to interesting roofs that turned out to be Jacobite Banqueting Houses.

Moreton-in-Marsh

Moreton-in-Marsh. I found several wonderful second hand bookstores in Moreton located in marsh and that was the end of my attention😄 A bit bigger but just as beautiful High Street. Unfortuntately it massive market hall was already closed.

Stow-on-the-Wold

The last town of the day was Stow-on-the-Wold. A town I noticed in the Cotswolds group beause of its St Edward`s Church`s door bordered with two ancient yew trees.

King`s Men

A beautiful (and warm) Cotswold`s day was ended by the Rollright stones, a complex of three Neolithic and Bronze Age megalithic monuments near the village of Long Compton. There are the Whispering Knights, the King`s Men (the stone circle) and a lone King on the other side of the road. There is a £1 fee to see the stones and when the person to sell the tickets isn`t present you can pay the honesty box. Ugh, the King`s Men circle was occupied.

Whispering Knights

And as we really enjoyed our dinner the previous night we booked a table at the Italian restaurant again. It seemed they had changed the chef. Seriously. The spaghetti had the lovely hint of chilli (and they were not broken into pieces but we only had 3 shrimp and 4 totally overcooked calamari (that I couldn`t eat) and that was it. So a plate of pasta and three shrip. A total disappointment.