to wonder why the bloody hell people go on holiday to the Cotswolds?

[GatOwfMarLaaaandInnitBabe]

Or dream of moving there from London.

There is nothing special about it.

I can think of loads of places of the top of my head which have far more stunning scenery - vast majority of nothern Devon, the Quantocks, Peak district, north wales, yorkshire dales, dorset coast.

What's so good about the Cotswolds? Yes the houses are a lovely golden stone colour, and look at the lovely walls , but the towns are nondescript and TWEE and it costs a fortune for not very much.

It's just really mediocre imo. And I live here. Was driving round the Cotswolds today feeling like Victor Meldrew in my muttering complaints.

At least it's nicer than the even-more-expensive Chilterns! (And I live there! )

We stayed in the Cotswolds a few years ago en route to Cornwall. The landlady of the B&B directed us to a nearby playground. Five minutes after we got ther children were ordered off the slide by some member of the Parish council because they weren't insured for non-locals.
Horrible, snotty, pompous bunch of twats. I would hate to live there.

I spent a long weekend in Burford last year. I loved it - felt as though I'd wandered into a Midsummer Murders set. Very quaint and pretty. I think many other parts of the UK are more beautiful (Highlands, Lake District etc) but they all tend to have high rainfall!

Ivy - I would take you up on that offer, but I can't ride a bike (I fall orf)

Give me inner city Liverpool any day [grin

This is funny. I used to have a really romantic opinion of the Cotswolds, after getting stuck on the A46 north of Evesham once and then having to do a detour around the chocolate box villages.

We've since been away for a couple of weekends there and although the properties we stayed in were amazing, the surrounding countryside was just bleak, peaty and flat. The villages were those types of places where you wander in a soporific state in and out of gift shops and stumbling over each other, not really sure what you're doing or where you're going. There was NOTHING to do with the children. We couldn't find any nice walks, any child-friendly pubs, nothing.

I've been to so many lovelier places in the UK: Devon, (West) Cornwall, Dorset, Somerset. Shropshire, Wales, Scotland. Parts of East Anglia, Northumberland, Cumbria, Yorkshire... in fact just about anywhere else!

thebestisyettocome, where abouts did that happen? Was it a village/hamlet near Chipping Norton? Just asking because I've heard similar stories about a place near here.

Vicar - I think I have been to Goole, is it near Hull, with a great big BAE site? I have been there. I was fair blown away (by the winds, not the scenery).

Looks a bit flat.

How can anyone diss Cheltenham? beautiful buildings,decent shops/cafes/wine bars,the beer gardens in Summer,the pretty prom. nice parks..
Painswick and the slad valley- home of Laurie Lee, beautiful walks,decent pubs with nice gardens..

What do you want, a performing seal on every corner??

I lived in Stroud too for many years.. but moved away partly because so many Weekenders/ London commuters moved in,destroying the community in some of the villages.
By contrst at weekends, it became so heavily populated, you couldn't go anywhere without people..
Funny thing is, where i live now (Pembrokeshire), i bump into so many 'Stroudies' on holiday- escaping to the country for a bit of peace and quiet.

That said, I have not been to Chipping Norton, so that may well be the holy grail of Cotswolds villages.

But doesn't Clarkson live there? Does that have an effect on the property prices?

Oh I am so glad that Burford is considered to be proper Cotswolds. I had nothing to compare it with. Plus I met the most dashing MBA / vet guy and he was like something out of that old British vet show, what was that? ach.

And at the train stop there was a wholesome but beautiful pg woman with another dashing well-spoken man, with a big dog. and both in hunters boots.

I was in awe with the difference to London (well secretly trying to hide it).

thebestisyettocome
can they legally do that? I thought that parents/guardians are liable for children - it is up to the parish council to ensure upkeep of the play things?

Lots of Audis in the Cotswolds, driving fast down rain-soaked lanes. All I remember about our country walks there!

How can anyone diss Cheltenham? Well I will try

beautiful buildings - gah, regency is just cheap Georgian covered in stucco. Yes pretty but not all that
decent shops - no, not really. For a good shop you have to go to Cabot Circus or Birmingham.
Cafes - NO SCONES JAM CREAM SOLD IN ANY OF 'EM
Restaurants - nowt special, just jumped up provinicial crap and chains
Wine bar - montpellier wine bar is laughable in its local snobbery
Beer gardens in summer - my emo stepson and his mates congregate there
Prom - just a nice pretty street
Nice parks - granted
Painswicj - nobody alive there today
Slad Valley - pretty but nowt to write home about

Sorry this is tongue in cheek - if you are from there and love it I don't mean to be offensive. But it is dull dull dull

I grew up in the Cotswolds and have just returned after a 2 year stint in Dubai. After all the sand and craziness of Dubai the Cotswolds are absolutely Heavenly to me!!! I wake up every morning and smile when I look out of the window at the gorgeous scenery and I love just going for a drive around the pretty villages using the excuse of trying to get my DC's to sleep!! The houses here are absolutely stunning. I didn't appreciate how beautiful it was here until I moved away. We have moved to a new area within the Cotswolds as we didn't want to go back to my home town and we have very fortunately moved to a very friendly village, everyone has been so welcoming and we really feel part of the community now. Have just got DS into the fantastic village school. We're very happy here!!!

oh yes getorf....sounds about right...

i am from York but got priced out of York some years ago....we are now moving to Howden, (nicer than here) but after my hol last year in the cotswolds both DH and i said our long term plan is to move there! id need to get a transfer and dh says he is happy to be a kept man...

no family left in York now, but to be perfectly honest i would move anywhere but here, it is shit. really awful. flat. god forsaken. industrial. ugly. just yuk! only a 40 min drive to york though, very good motorway networks and that is as much good as i can find to say about the place.
(saying that it is the friendliest place ive ever lived...and i live next door to an actor...see how much im struggling here for nice things to say?!?)

i like the cotswolds :0)

Actually the hamlets nobody has ever heard of are beautiful, I drive throigh the lanes near them on the way to work - Caudle Green, Cranham, Sheepscombe, Brimpsfield are all lovely, and would be nice to amble around. But too soporific to live in.

How much cheaper are the house prices around Clarksons place then?

Getawf - I was in Painswick today too!!!! Clearing out my mum's loft, so no cream teas in sight. Probably drove past your house as we drive through Cranham Woods (which looked lovely this morning with the sunlight coming through and lighting up patches of bluebells).

We stopped in Chipping Norton once looking for a post office. There were various people beautifully dressed in hunters and those oils slick coat things I forgot the names of. And two cutesy little girls in head to toe boden.

I know my place, and it's not in CN!

Actually I really like chelters, and miss it now I've moved across the M5 to the dark side. But then I moved here from Bangor. I nearly died when the first shop I came to here was LK Bennet (can't afford to shop there though!).

I've never been
But it's got to be better than Lincolnshire the land of cabbages.

I am in a hamlet no-one has heard of . I do love living here but do escape fairly regularly. Regular trips to the woolpack to gawp at the odd folk to socialise are always a good larf

Lol at LK Bennett.

I must say I nearly shrieked when I moved to Cheltenham from Ilfracombe and saw they had an Oasis, Reiss, Karen Millen, Habitat and House of Fraser on the same street.

barbours.

In fairness, I came from joules, barbour and wellies town, but it got the shit bombed out of it in ww2 and the entire highstreet was replaced with shitty 60s concrete so normal people live there and the posh people just work there.

Jellykat - I met loads of 'Stroudies' in Dubai too!!! :o