Nearly Stow-on-the-Wold

It was not exactly Stow-on-the-Wold, but nearer towards Bledington, where we stopped for the night after spending the last six nights in Cambridge. My fever was subsiding but everything else to do with the flu symptoms was getting bad. And I was very glad that the Bed and Breakfast Farmhouse that we stayed at the Cotswold was very comfortable.

It was almost dark as we drived slowly on to the gravelled driveway, as the picture above suggest. The winter nights get dark quickly, even at 3:30 pm.

The B&B is managed by Robert Smith and his partner, and the farm is managed by Robert's brother. The farm does not have animals (what a shame, I was looking to make friends with some chickens, cows and even, pigs!) as the farm was solely used to grow produce to feed animals, such as hay and barley. I thought that living in the countryside would be very cold as the temperature was dipping freezing point, but the room was very warm, and I was looking forward to visiting Cirencester the next day, after getting a good rest.

Dinner was at a locally famous but pricey pub (as there are no other places near enough to go, and it gets very dark and dangerous to drive on the unlit country roads and wintry night conditions), but it had a huge fire-place with logs burning, like an open hearth, right in the middle of the dining area. The pub is called the Horse and Groom, and it is half a mile towards Lower Oddington.

Here are some pics to share:

The gravelled driveway approach to the B&B went around a bend along the farm buildings, hay stack loft and hangar-like barn sheds, and farm vehicles.

One of the buildings on the farm, which I don't think is a part of the B&B. Probably Robert's brother, the farmer's house...

We can see part of the B&B from across the field. I bet it's really lovely in the summer, spring or autumn weather, but not when we were there! Just our luck.

The hay stack loft covered by tarpaulin and the blue farming vehicle parked next to it. Proof that we stayed at a farm!

Firewood/firelogs were chopped from felled trees/ tree branches collected around the farm or perhaps from a productive forest reserve nearby, but no, we did not have any firewood! Just the usual central heating radiators. Well, I am glad in a sense, because I would be gagging with my stuffed up nose with the extra smoke particles in the room... cough*

Well, that is I, holding a wooden rake at the front of the section of the B&B, where I stayed for the night. The window nearest to me was my bedroom window.

That is I, again, looking pleased with myself, that I have managed to get to the Cotswold, and now we are off to Cirencester and South Wales next, but I was worried about the fog though...and I discovered later that it was difficult driving through the fog. Not nice at all...

Last but definitely, not least, the picture of the co-driver (not very clear it seems) and the sunset beyond the farm... how poetic!

See you in Wales!