Southern England: The Cotswolds, Bristol, Oxford & Bath

Awww, Southern England. It brings to mind picturesque rolling landscapes amongst cute-as-a-button stone villages with mossy roofs which inspire literature. It also makes you think of quintessential market and spa towns with ancient Roman ruins, and prestigious universities that your dictionaries are named after. Needless to say, there’s a lot to explore in this part of the country and we were glad to have had three weeks.

Bristol

One would not think that traveling on a $50/day budget would be possible in the UK, but thanks to a two-week long housesit near the Cotswolds, as well as a gracious friend who hosted us, we made it work quite well. The first friend we met up with was Xanne, who was a colleague of Mandy’s from her days of teaching English in Prague. We loved staying in her just purchased new home with her in Bristol and even got to assist with some of her move-in projects. In appreciation, she made sure Mandy stayed toasty warm in the February sludge by loaning her a fashionable Hello Kitty onesie.

We really liked Bristol, a city of around 450K. It’s a bit edgy and has a Pacific Northwest vibe that reminded us a lot of home in Portland, Oregon. This guy presenting cupas from his tiny food truck pretty much summed it up.

The Clifton Suspension Bridge is Bristol’s most famous landmark, which is suspended high above the Avon Gorge and River Avon. It was built in 1864 and gives you grand views of the surrounding park and buildings.

Another reason we found it similar to the PNW is that Bristol had an outstanding craft beer scene and you truly couldn’t beat this frosty porter in the peaking winter sun.

The Grain Barge, on a moored boat, was the perfect place to slurp them up and get a sweeping view of the harbor through its big windows.

Inside the Bristol Cathedral, which was founded in 1140 offers a breath-taking marble mosaic floor and illustrates some of the first uses of pointed arches in England.

You can’t go to Bristol without paying homage to the brilliant street artist called Banksy. He was born in Bristol in 1974 and has been actively and anonymously creating poignant and satirical street art since the 1990’s, throughout England and also throughout the world. His images combine dark humor with graffiti executed in his quite distinctive stenciling technique. This allows for a quick undercover slap of a stencil and some carefully maneuvered spray paint, allowing him to slip back into the night. He chose stencils because “they’ve been used to start revolutions and to stop wars.” His net worth is estimated to be $50 million, often by “unauthorized” galleries which profit from his creative pieces. When his artwork is sold, he prefers the money go to charity instead.

The one pictured on the left: “Well Hung Lover” is one of the first and most famous of all of his pieces and adds a bit of unexpected humor to the outside of a sexual health clinic. It was the first piece of legal street art in UK and shows a man hanging naked from a window as his mistress’ jealous (and perhaps not too bright) husband looks for him.

The other image, “Girl with the Pierced Eardrum” is Banksy’s interpretation of Johanne Vermeer’s “Girl with a Pearl Earring.” Today evidently, in the time of COVID, she is now wearing a mask. Check out this link for more of his fantastic and thought-provoking work. https://us.canvasartrocks.com/blogs/posts/70529347-121-amazing-banksy-graffiti-artworks-with-locations

Street scenes, Bristol.

The Hatchet Inn, oldest pub in Bristol established in 1500. So basically word of the newly “discovered” new world could have easily been spread in a pub just like this one. So hard to comprehend the history.

We loved visiting the M Shed museum in Bristol and learning all about the history of the city, including clamoring abroad this historic 1950’s double decker bus. Bristol has a turbulent history including nearly being destroyed in World War II and an unfortunate player in the slave trade.

It was also from its very harbor that Italian explorer John Cabot set sail from in 1497 to explore coastal North America under the commission of Henry VII.

Screw capitalistic strip malls and big chain stores! In Bristol, they instead offer an entire shopping and dining center all in repurposed shipping cargo containers. Not the first place in the world we had seen this innovative technique.

Greg tries his chance at being a sailor wench.

Churchdown, UK

It was time to move on from Bristol to our two-week house in Churchdown, a tiny town between Gloucester (pronounced glah-stuh) and Cheltenham (pronounced Chelt-nem). Thankfully Xanne taught us the correct pronunciation before we arrived so we didn’t look like complete arses to the bus drivers en route. Always a good thing to do, by the way. In Churchdown, we had the opportunity to watch two fun-loving and energetic pups, Olive and Hattie, who loved chasing balls in the nearby park.

Bath, UK

From Churchdown, we were able to take a fairly easy day trip to the tourist hot spot and world heritage site of Bath. We were first greeted with a seemingly Valentine inspired heart tree, which adorned the pathway leading to a beautiful cathedral in Bath.

A more notable cathedral in Bath…The Bath Abbey was founded in the 7th Century by the Church of England and is completely gorgeous. Magnificent stained glass windows, honey-colored stone and a unique characteristic we especially enjoyed…

The angels climbing the ladder in procession to heaven.

Although Bath offered no military targets during WWII, Hitler apparently ordered its bombing − with some resulting damage to the Abbey’s windows − in retaliation for Allied bombing of Lübeck, Germany.

If you’re into blockbuster Hollywood movies including The Duchess, Les Misérables, and Fantastic Mr. Fox, the streets of Bath might look a bit familiar to you. It also has other famous connections including the birthplace of Jane Austen and a frequent hotspot in which young reporter Charles Dickens overnighted in. There is no doubt that some of his most famous works were inspired by this place.

Other famous visitors of the past? Those Romans… and wow… they sure knew how to have a spa day. This architectural marvel was built in what is current day Bath, England in 70 AD as an elegant bathing and socializing center and is one of the best-preserved Roman remains in the world.

It included a series of underground chambers with baths, heated rooms and plunge pools.

After being lost to the world for over a thousand years, the ruin, entirely underground and extensive, were not rediscovered until 1878.

Endless stacks of pillars stand like unearthed soldiers far underground. What were these for???

The Cotswolds

Most likely everyone has heard of the term “the Cotswolds,” but what exactly are “THE Cotswolds”? Well, according to Wikipedia they are an 800-square mile “range” of rolling hills that rise up from the meadows near the Upper Thames. We had heard of a mountain “range” but the concept of a hill “range” seemed a bit superfluous, even for England. They’re hills. Beautiful hills. With beautiful villages tucked in their creases. They arguably host the most lovely natural and outdoor settings in the country and feature endless biking, hiking and water trails.

It didn’t matter where you wandered in The Cotswolds, you were likely to stumble upon cemeteries meant to inspire any good Steven King thriller. You are also likely to stumble upon places that Liz Hurley, Kate Moss or Kate Winslet set foot in, as all of them are from this region.

One of these such villages was Bourton-on-the-Water, which is known as the “Venice of the Cotswolds” thanks to its low bridges and tranquil river flowing through it. It’s a perfect place to grab a baguette or a snack at a bakery…on the water. Ah, they do like a good marketing opportunity, eh?

Near Bourton-on-the-Water is the village of Well, part of the Lower Slaughter, which was probably one of the most charming places we visited in all of England.

In our opinion, this sleepy little village far exceeded the touristy Baguette/Water vibe from the popular town just a stone’s throw away.

Xanne and Mandy being good girls and heading to church in Stow-on-the-Wold.

Beautiful surroundings everywhere!

And since you never know when there’s gonna be an emergency in a tiny, remote village without direct access to the NHS, it’s always a good idea to turn useless phone boxes into defibrillator boxes.

Cirencester, UK

Another must see in the Cotswolds is Cirencester (pronounced siren-cess-ter), which is also known as the capital of this region. We were lucky to get to experience this historic market town on market day and see all that history in action at their Antiques & Collectables Market.

Native of nearby Wales, Welsh cakes are a griddle cake with a flaky unforgettable texture that melts in your melt. Mmmm…

The adorable streets of Cirencester.

Can’t get much cuter than this!

Walking in the Cotswolds

We spent other days just meandering down the public footpaths that criss-cross their way throughout the region. Many of them could be accessed from our house-sit. Others we had to hop on a public bus to access.

And we actually found some blue and sunny days to appreciate the views!

Bibury

From Cirencester, we took a very infrequent bus to the village of Bibury. With its steeply pitched roof lines, this little storybook village is probably the most adorable of them all. In fact, this row of houses called Arlington Row, which is owned by the National Trust, is one of England’s most iconic and photographed sites and even appears on the inside cover of UK passports!

The river flowing through the village.

More shots of Arlington Row.

And of course, it wouldn’t be a proper British outing without a stop for tea and scones! Funnily, Mandy always used to be a coffee drinker but once she started drinking British-style tea with milk everyday while in UK, it became her official morning drink from that point forward. There’s nothing quite like it!

Can you imagine living in a house like this?!

Wouldn’t be England without a proper queue! We joke about this a lot, but to be frank, we love and appreciate their order so much, especially after traveling to places which are…let’s face it…an utter shitshow when it comes to line queuing!

Oxford

On a different day, Mandy took a very long and tedious bus ride to the prestigious university town of Oxford, to meet up with a friend from back in the States who now lives in London. You don’t have to have the brains to go to Oxford to know its one of the most leading and oldest universities in the world, following the University of Bologna in Italy. There is evidence that teaching has taken place here as early as 1096. It might look familiar to you also if you’re a Harry Potter or Alice in Wonderland fan.

The building above is arguably one of Oxford’s most iconic buildings, the Radcliffe Camera (or Rad Cam as it’s known by the students) and dominates the picturesque cobbles of Radcliffe Square, in the heart of the city. (Culture Trip).

The architecture is simply one of a kind and stunning. We especially loved the Bridge of the Sighs inspired after the one in Venice, as well as the castle-like Bodlelian Library with its welcoming flag to all on top.

Also, had to find out, is this where the infamous Oxford Dictionary was actually created? Answer is surprisingly no. The dictionary evidently began as a Philological Society project of a small group of intellectuals in London who were dissatisfied with current editions of dictionaries around 1844, including the “completely inadequate” one by Noah Webster. One of the key contributors was William Chester Minor who was unbelievably a murderer who was being held in an insane asylum. Well, at least he found a way to give back to society while doing his time! It took more than 70 years to complete the first edition and today it has 600,000 entries today.

Mandy’s friend Natalie poses on one of the cobble-stoned streets in town. The two of them had fun pretending to be brainy students for the day. And it was pretty easy… After all, international students make up 43% of the 24,000 member student body.