Sue Taylor visits Bourton-on-the-water
A visit to the annual airshow at RAF Fairford turns into a weekend exploring beautiful Bourton-on-the Water for Sue Taylor
As the enticing envelope landed on the mat in our hall, I rapidly hatched a cunning plan to turn a day’s excursion into a trip in our van. We’d just received our tickets for the Royal International Air Tattoo at RAF Fairford, on the edge of the Cotswolds, and realising we had the whole weekend free, no further excuse was needed for us to decide on a few days away.
A quick phone call secured a pitch at a site in Bourton-on-the-water, a 30-minute drive from the airfield and offering plenty to see and do in the local area, to keep us entertained over a summer weekend.
Field Barn Park is a very cleverly laid out, adults-only campsite just a short walk from the village. Grass and shrubs criss-cross the site, giving privacy to campers and a home for wildlife, which is clearly an important priority for the owners.
Time to explore
Comfortably settled on our pitch and with the sun gently warming us, the weather was perfect for taking a first look around beautiful Bourton-on-the-water.
This lovely village is characterised by the River Windrush, which gently burbles through its centre, often little more than a shallow stream, before eventually joining the Thames and travelling on to London.
Five bridges span the river as it journeys through, giving rise to Bourton’s nickname, ‘Venice of the Cotswolds’.
Walking among those bridges was a sheer delight, even though the village was bustling with weekend tourists and day-trippers. Hubby Ro, though, drew the line at playing Poohsticks with me!
Bourton-on-the-water is also home to a variety of independent shops. It’s a refreshing change from the usual high street names, and here, people have time for people and will greet you with a smile.
I was delighted to find the Cotswolds Distillery shop on the High Street, which began life in 2014 specialising in whisky, but now also produces the award-winning Cotswolds Gin. One look at my face had long-suffering Ro concluding: ‘Well I guess we’re going in, then!”
It wasn’t long before we needed to go in search of lunch. Bourton gets very busy during the summer months, but we were lucky enough to find a table at The Rose Tree, on the riverbank, where we enjoyed a good meal while pondering what we might do with our afternoon.
There is something for everyone here, from Birdland Park & Gardens to The Dragonfly Maze, and a Grade Ii-listed Model Village, which is a one-ninth scale replica of Bourton, even down to a model of the model of the model! Alternatively, there’s the Cotswold Brew Co, for those who enjoy a tipple, while history lovers will appreciate St Lawrence’s Church, whose origins date to the eighth century.
We decided on a spot of nostalgia, in the form of the Cotswold Motoring Museum & Toy Collection. The Grade Ii-listed building housing the museum began life in the 17th century as a watermill, powered by the River Windrush. Today it is packed with gorgeous cars, toys and memorabilia, and is also home to Brum, from the popular 1990s children’s TV series.
Vintage caravans
As well as all of those fabulous cars dating back to the days when, as the museum says, driving was a hobby rather than a necessity, there are a couple of splendid old caravans, including a 1923 ‘Angela’ model, complete with leaded windows and oil-burning stove – how lucky we are today with our electric hook-ups and gas-heated tourers!
Mind you, how did my childhood become a museum exhibition? We lost count of the number of times we exclaimed, “I had one of those!” while strolling around. And how on earth did we manage to drive those cars, with no power steering or ABS and such tiny doors to squeeze in through? Even so, this is a fun way to spend an afternoon.
‘This lovely village is characterised by the River Windrush, which gently burbles through its centre, often little more than a shallow stream’
And so we strolled the 20 minutes back to the comfort of our more modern home on wheels (I used to think our van was getting old, but she’s a mere whippersnapper in comparison to those in the museum), to enjoy an evening of reminiscing about childhood pastimes over a couple of glasses of that excellent Cotswolds Gin and tonic.
Local history
Next morning, we had a leisurely breakfast outdoors before taking the 20-minute drive to Moreton-in-marsh. This pretty market town has plenty of history, including the White Hart Royal Hotel, where Charles I once stayed during the Civil War, as well as lots of shops, pubs and cafés.
It would be very easy to while away a few hours in the town, but we were here to visit Chastleton House, a Grade I-listed building constructed between 1607 and 1612.
The original house (later pulled down and replaced) was home to Robert Catesby, of Gunpowder Plot fame.
Owned by the same family for more than 400 years, Chastleton was built by Walter
Jones, a wealthy wool merchant in the days of James I. Its final inhabitant was Barbara Clutton-brock, who lived there in a virtual time capsule. On her death in 1991, the house was passed to the National Trust, which preserved it exactly as it was.
Previous owners the Whitmore Jones family were known for their inventions, which included Crystoleum, an early type of hand-painted photograph produced on glass – very popular in the 1800s.
Mary Whitmore Jones (author of several books about card games) invented a special board for playing patience while travelling by rail, while her brother, Walter, devised a bootlace winder and railway carriage signal – neither very successful, apparently.
Walter did find success with a sporting venture, however, when he standardised the rules for the game of croquet, going on to found the All England Croquet Club.
His lawn, considered the birthplace of the modern game, is still played on today, by professionals and amateurs alike. Great fun though my attempts were, I doubt very much I’ll be winning any trophies! I’ll stick to the day job. Who’d have thought it would be so difficult to hit a bball through a hoop with aa stick? (I know, strictly speaking, it’s a mallet.) Perhaps if I hadn’t been lalaughing so much I would hahave fared better.
We also discovered how imimportant the wool trade wawas to the prosperity of theh area, embodied by the well-known 12th-century saying: ‘In Europe the best wool is English and in England the best wool is Cotswold’.
So important was this commodity that the Burial in Wool Act 1667 decreed all bodies (apart from plague victims) had to be buried in woollen shrouds. This gave rise to the saying ‘ You can’t pull the wool over my eyes’, meaning ‘I’m not dead yet’!
Country walks
Back at Field Barn Park, the sun obligingly kept us company well into the evening as we enjoyed a barbecue surrounded by the soothing sounds of Cotswold countryside putting itself to bed.
Note to self – I do not sound remotely like any type of owl to be found in England, and no self-respecting feathered individual would be fooled by my sorry attempts to communicate with them!
Next day, we fancied stretching our legs while stocking up on vitamin D. There are lots of good walking routes around here, but we were after something different.
After a quick internet search over plates of sausages and eggs (produced locally and bought from the small campsite shop), we decided to visit Broadway Tower and its beautiful Country Park.
Broadway Tower, at 312m above sea level, is the second highest point of the Cotswolds (Cleeve Hill being the highest). My reward for huffing and puffing my way to the very top was the stunning view of no fewer than
‘The pretty market town of Moreton-in-marsh has plenty of history, including the White Hart Royal Hotel, where Charles I once stayed’
13 counties spread out below. Built in 1799 for Lady Coventry, who wanted a signalling station between her two country estates, it later became a retreat for William Morris of Arts and Crafts fame (and now houses a William Morris room) before being used as a look-out during both world wars.
It also has one of the last underground bunkers constructed during the Cold War, and although officially stood down in 1991, this remains a fully equipped facility, just as it was in the 1980s.
More cheerfully, there is also a fine deer park, and designated picnic areas. Not for me these days, though – the ground is too far away and standing up again requires a tree trunk to grab hold of!
I was content to walk around the lovely Country Park, accompanied by the sounds of bees buzzing and birds singing as they went about their business in the sun.
That evening, back at base and having worked up an appetite, we had dinner at The Mousetrap Inn, a cosy 18th-century hostelry a short walk away on the High Street. As well as a locally sourced menu, they also have an excellent selection of local ales, featured in The Good Beer Guide.
Then it was finally time for the event that sparked this trip in the first place – the RAF Fairford International Air Tattoo. The day dawned cloudy, but the sun was fighting back as we left the peace of Field Barn Park, heading for the airfield.
Look to the skies
The annual tattoo, one of the largest in the world, includes historic aircraft from around the globe (more nostalgia, of the winged variety this time), alongside modern jets, helicopters and breathtaking aerobatics.
As well as neck-craning skyward, there is plenty to enjoy here with your feet firmly on the ground, with areas such as Techno Zone for future engineers and scientists, and Adrenalin Zone for the young – and the young at heart.
My cunning plan had come to fruition as we enjoyed the show and reflected on a weekend of nostalgia among the planes, games and automobiles of a countryside steeped in great history, walking and food.
‘I was content to walk around the park, accompanied by the sounds of bees buzzing and birds singing’