The second full day I was in England, we went to Moreton-in-Marsh – a town in the Cotswolds, to the North West of London.

This was Sunday, and I had wanted a more low-key day to break up our 2 busy days in London.

If I’m remembering my history correctly, the Cotswolds used to be a big wool area, then around the Industrial Revolution most of the population moved away (likely to London or other more metropolitan areas). Because the towns in this area were pretty much abandoned, the building/houses/etc weren’t torn down to make room for more modern conveniences. As a result, when these towns were ‘rediscovered’ in the last century, all these old 19th cent buildings were still around.

The church on High Street:

and High Street itself -

Town was pretty crowded when we were there – next time I go, I’ll try to visit the Cotswolds on a weekday….

I had a hard time finding transportation around town. Trains only stop in 1 or 2 of the villages in the Cotswolds and buses don’t run at all on Sundays. There wasn’t any point in renting a car for the day … but my father-in-law had the brilliant inspiration: bikes!

SO! We rented bikes for the day … totally reasonable pricewise. And so so much fun.

P.S. Miranda’s friend from school – Phoebe – joined us on this day too…

The absolute highlight of the day was our bike ride …. I can’t even describe it. It was exactly as wonderful and magical as you would think a bike ride through the English countryside in April would be…. .

The weather was perfect, the scenery was breath-taking … the only downside was the street was kind of busy, but we had our own bike path, so it wasn’t as if we were in any danger …

To avoid riding too much this day, we chose to go to a relatively local attraction … only a mile or so outside town … the Batsford Arboretum. One of those amazing places/gardens that is beautiful at any season of the year.

I’ll just let these photos speak for themselves …

I handed off my camera to both Phoebe and Miranda for awhile…. which was both liberating and nerve-wracking … the entire time I kept seeing shots I wanted to take (but I’m not going to take the camera out of their hands) … but the flip side is, I actually got photos of myself …

We rode the bikes back to Moreton-in-Marsh in the afternoon … did some walking, some shopping … there was a carnival in the middle of High Street for some reason that I don’t understand.

I think it would have been more quaint (as Rick Steves calls the Cotswolds) if there were far less people.

We were feeling a bit ready for dinner, but it was nearing 5p and a lot of places were closing …. we came across a little place called The Marshmallow … who were only serving ‘tea and cakes’ …

so we enjoyed that instead:

And then home for an early night …

I have to tell you, by this time my feet were aching and it was so nice to go to bed ‘early’ to rest up for my final day in the city.