Five Countries Four Marlboroughs: A Day In The Cotswolds

We had an early start catching the tube to the train station to the catch the 8am Great Western train to Moreton-on-Marsh station for a day in the Cotswold area. It was a two hour train ride and we arrived into the station to meet our guide Tim. I was a bit hesitant after the last boring encyclopaedia guide in Belguim so i told him straight away all the places we wanted to go on the day trip. He thought it was a bit strange that we wanted to visit the cheese shop - I thought it was strange that he'd think we wouldn't want to!

After about the first ten minutes, I realised we were going to have a fantastic day with Tim. He would have been in his early 60's and had lived in the area all his life. Whilst he as careful not to give us too much history - we all found ourselves asking lots of questions as it was just so interesting. The Cotswolds is the place to be!

After the cheese shop, we drove all around the beautiful towns, starting with Moreton-On-Marsh then Chipping Campden. I bought a cup, saucer & plate from an antique shop - I've always wanted to do this.

The advantage of having a private guide was he'd take us on backroads that you'd never know were there and tour buses can't get to. The cottages were just the cutest houses you'd ever see - i loved all of the gardens and roses - peonies too - it was just pretty as a picture. Kept an eye out for Kate Moss and Kate Winslet as they have houses there.

We climbed Broadway Tower - James said it was the best thing he'd done in his life? - then we visited the Cotswold Hunt Kennels to learn about the Foxhounds. Tim asked if we would like to see his home so we swung by Snowsill to see where he lived - it was a beautiful $2 million pound 'cottage'. I asked him if he'd ever heard of house-swapping holidays.

We then had a fantastic pub lunch and the kids tired themselves out playing ping pong in the pub garden. Then onto Bourton-on-the-Water which is known as the Venice of the Cotswolds. We all went through the Model Village of the town before Terry headed off to the Automotive Museum. The kids and I went to the Dragonfly Garden Maze - we love a garden maze! You had to find clues throughout the maze and work out the puzzle. We kept running around and around the maze trying to work it out - I just wanted to say 'GIVE UP KIDS' but knew i had to set a good example so I kept my mouth shut!

Then Tim pulled over near a little stream and said we were going to play 'Pooh Sticks'. We all had our specially marked stick which we put in the water in a race to see who's stick would come first under the second bridge. Tim was the judge and James was declared the winner. It was funny seeing the kids get so excited and laughing when Tim told James to 'blow' down the river to make his stick go faster.

The last visit was the Cotswold Falconry where we got to see flying demonstrations of birds of prey. The guy doing the demonstrations asked if anyone would like to give it a go - the kids were not keen. Terry was first up and an owl flew up on his arm - I was really keen so I got up next. Then Will decided he just had to do it - and last of all James got the guts. I suppose they are really big compared to him.

Today has been the highlight of our trip so far - the area was just magical - so so so pretty - i only wish we could have spent another couple of days there. We genuinely enjoyed Tim's company and as we left James said, 'I will really miss you Tim'. He put us on the 6pm train back to London and he possibly sighed with relief - he would have been exhausted - that the Marlboroughs were leaving the Cotswolds!