The Quiet Life While many visitors head to Bourton-on-the-Water or Castle Combe, there are dozens more villages waiting to be discovered. Carolyn Boyd reveals five of the best

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The sun rises over the idyllic Bourton-on-the-Hill

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et in the peaceful countryside between Stroud and Cirencester, Bisley is known for being the home of best-selling novelist Jilly Cooper, but this sleepy village has its own tales to tell that areS rather more sedate than Cooper’s racy storylines. A good place to start is the All Saints Church, parts of which date from Roman times. In the churchyard, a mysterious stone monument has foxed residents for centuries: the hexagonal pedestal is known as a poor souls’ light and was used to hold candles for masses said Clockwise, from for the poor. It dates from the 13th century. It was left: A decorated originally thought to be a well cover, but it is known well in Bisley; The Bear Inn serves locally as ‘The Bonehouse’, holding further intrigue. tasty traditional The village was once a thriving community thanks to meals; peaceful the wool trade, as the presence of a former courthouse Adlestrop; and a second chapel suggest. At the top of the village, two small, gated cells known as the ‘Bisley Lock-up’ were used until the 1850s as “a place of temporary confinement for wrongdoers awaiting appearance before the magistrate”. At the bottom of the village, however, such sins could be absolved at the Seven Wells, a seven-fountain well built in 1863. The Blessing of the Wells ceremony is held each year on Ascension Day (in 2018, this falls on 10 May). For a coffee or bite to eat, the Post Office has a small tearoom at the back, while The Bear Inn, a public

house dating back to 1639, serves tasty traditional meals. PREVIOUS JAHNZ. ELLY ILLUSTRATION: MAP MELLING/ALAMY. HAYWARD/PAUL JOHN GAINEY/ALAMY BAILEY/TIM LIBRARY/KRYS PHOTO COTSWOLDS

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Adlestrop by

Yes. I remember Adlestrop – The name, because one afternoon Of heat the express-train drew up there Unwontedly. It was late June.

The steam hissed. Someone cleared his throat. No one left and no one came On the bare platform. What I saw Was Adlestrop – only the name

And willows, willow-herb, and grass, And meadowsweet, and haycocks dry, No whit less still and lonely fair Than the high cloudlets in the sky.

And for that minute a blackbird sang Close by, and round him, mistier, Farther and farther, all the birds Of and .

“Adlestrop inspired a poem capturing both World War, which broke out a month later. Thomas was killed in battle in 1917, so he never saw his poem the stillness of the village and the calm before published, but Adlestrop [see box above] is now widely considered one of ’s finest. the storm that was the First World War” A century on, the village is no larger than it was in Thomas’s day, but it is equally peaceful, indeed even more Few villages the size of Adlestrop are immortalised so, with the station having closed in 1966 (as result of in poetry, but this hamlet on the Gloucestershire- railway closures known as the Beeching cuts). The old Oxfordshire border and its former railway station inspired station sign can now be found in the bus shelter, while the poet Edward Thomas. The story goes that, on 24 June Main Street is home to a thatched post office, a charming 1914, Thomas was on his way to visit the American poet little church and many Cotswold stone cottages. The Robert Frost, who had encouraged the critic to write village also has links to Jane Austen who visited family poetry to ease his depression, when the train made an there – Adlestrop Park and Parsonage House are thought unscheduled stop at Adlestrop. Although Thomas didn’t to have inspired locations in her novel, Mansfield Park. alight the train, and nothing in particular happened, the For lunch, drive or walk to nearby , home village inspired a poem that captured both the stillness of of The King’s Head Inn, which has been named Britain’s the place and the calm before the storm that was the First Pub of the Year 2018 by The Good Pub Guide. ➤

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LOCAL KNOWLEDGE

Lesley Southgate, author of Cotswolds blog Amble Pie: “I like to sit by the fire in The Bell at Sapperton after a walk through the nearby valley, where you’ll find the abandoned canals of the Severn and Thames. Foston’s Ash Inn, beside the National Trust’s Ebworth estate, also has a homely feel and hearty food. “Walkers should pack sturdy shoes and explore part of the Winchcombe Way trail. Once you’ve worked up an appetite, tuck into a delicious three-course meal at Wesley House in Winchcombe, where you can also taste the local Cotswolds gin.” www.amblepie.com

Another gorgeous Cotswolds village lies just a few miles northwest of Adlestrop: Bourton-on-the-Hill. While Bourton-on-the Water is well known to visitors to the Cotswolds, its elevated namesake is easy to miss as you drive out past the Batsford Arboretum on the road from Moreton-in-Marsh. Those who stop at the Horse and Groom pub and look back down the main street will be rewarded with one of the best views in the area. The village’s golden-stone houses step down the hill and frame a breathtaking panorama of fields and countryside, across Moreton-in-Marsh and the Valley. Halfway down the hill is St Lawrence’s Church, a Grade I-listed Anglican parish church with a 12th-century nave, while other buildings hark back to days gone by with the old school serving as a village hall, and an old bakery now a house. At the bottom of the hill is the village’s main attraction, Bourton House Garden. Set in the grounds of an elegant 18th-century manor house, the three-acre garden is a showcase for stunning topiary, including a large and striking parterre with a raised pond (from the Great Exhibition of 1851), as well as perfectly manicured lawns, exotic plants and a raised walkway with superb views of the surrounding countryside. The tearoom and gift shop are set in an atmospheric Tithe Barn – the ideal place to enjoy a cream tea. Not far from Bourton-on-the-Hill, Sezincote is perhaps the Cotswolds’ most unusual attraction. A 200-year-old Indian Mogul palace set in a 4,500-acre estate, it is as incongruous as it is awe-inspiring. With domes, turrets and pavilions, it is said to have inspired the design of Brighton’s Royal Pavilion [see page 76] following a visit from the Prince Regent in 1807. The opening hours are

22 discoverbritainmag.com Clockwise, from far left: Topiary in Bourton House Garden; Laurie Lee grew up at Rosebank in Slad; three acres of woodland are named after the author; the awe-inspiring Sezincote House STEPHEN DOREY ABIPP/NICK TURNER/STUART BLACK/ALAMY DOREYSTEPHEN ABIPP/NICK

limited (check www.sezincote.co.uk for details), but it’s worth timing your visit to take a look. Back towards Stroud, Slad is perhaps the worst-kept secret among the Cotswolds’ hidden villages. Set in the picturesque Slad Valley, literature lovers will know it thanks to renowned writer Laurie Lee, who lived here with his family in the early 20th century. His best-known book, Cider with Rosie, captures an innocent time before cars, streetlights, radio and television, and although the world has moved on, it’s easy to imagine the place as Lee saw it, such is the unspoiled nature of the Cotswold Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty that surrounds Slad. Take a walk in the Laurie Lee Wood, three acres of woodland close to the village, or follow the five-mile walking trail The Laurie Lee Wildlife Way, where 10 poetry posts punctuate the route, each featuring Lee’s poems which bring the landscape to life. Lee died in 1997, but he is well remembered in the 200-year-old Woolpack Inn, the village’s rustic pub where he would hold court in the back room. With creaking floorboards and an open fire, the Woolpack maintains a charm so often lost in other Cotswolds gastropubs after frequent refurbishments. Across the road from the Woolpack, the small school house was where Lee and his siblings studied during a childhood so evocatively told ➤

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in Cider With Rosie. Just a few steps away, up the sloping path to the Holy Trinity Church’s front door, is the churchyard where Lee is buried beneath a gravestone decorated with roses. Few villages can boast the timeless appeal of Wyck Rissington, not far from Stow-on-the-Wold. At its heart is a wide, central meadow complete with duck pond, as well as a number of horse chestnut trees that were planted in 1937 for the coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, the parents of our current Queen. Several 17th-century Cotswold stone cottages surrounding the green are set back from the road and the overall scene is utterly enchanting; it almost feels as if a horse-drawn cart will appear at any minute. Amenities are sparse in Wyck Rissington, but that is part of the village’s charm. What it does have is a 12th-century church and therein holds its claim to fame. The organ, which is still in use, was played by classical composer Gustav Holst who, at the tender age of 17, was appointed resident organist and choirmaster. Holst, who was born in 1874 in nearby Cheltenham (where his former home is now a museum), also served as the conductor for Bourton-on-the-Water’s choral society, which gave him precious experience for later work. For a bite to eat, head to the Feathered Nest Inn in the nearby village of Nether Westcote. n

Top: St Laurence’s Church in Wyck Rissington Right: A typical charming Cotswold stone cottage in Wyck Rissington COLIN UNDERHILL/TIMCOLIN GAINEY/ALAMY

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