The Cotswolds is a region in central-southwest England, along a range of rolling hills that rise from the meadows of the upper Thames to an escarpment above the Severn Valley and Evesham Vale.
Stow-on-the-Wold is a market town and civil parish in Gloucestershire, England, on top of an 800-foot hill at the junction of main roads through the Cotswolds, including the Fosse Way (A429), which is of Roman origin. The town was founded by Norman lords to absorb trade from the roads converging there. Fairs have been held by royal charter since 1330; a horse fair is still held on the edge of town nearest to Oddington in May and October each year.
Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England. It is locally governed by Oxfordshire County Council and the lower-tier authorities of its five non-metropolitan districts: City of Oxford, Cherwell, South Oxfordshire, Vale of White Horse, and West Oxfordshire. The county is landlocked and bordered by Northamptonshire to the north-east, Warwickshire to the north-west, Buckinghamshire to the east, Berkshire to the south, Wiltshire to the south-west, and Gloucestershire to the west. The areas of Oxfordshire south of the River Thames were part of the historic county of Berkshire, including the county's highest point, the 261-metre (856 ft) White Horse Hill. The largest settlement in the county is Oxford, its only city, with an estimated population of 151,584.
Cirencester is a market town in Gloucestershire, England, 80 miles (130 km) west of London. Cirencester lies on the River Churn, a tributary of the River Thames, and is the largest town in the Cotswolds. It is the home of the Royal Agricultural University, the oldest agricultural college in the English-speaking world, founded in 1840. The town had a population of 20,229 in 2021.
The Fosse Way was a Roman road built in Britain during the first and second centuries AD that linked Isca Dumnoniorum (Exeter) in the southwest and Lindum Colonia (Lincoln) to the northeast, via Lindinis (Ilchester), Aquae Sulis (Bath), Corinium (Cirencester), and Ratae Corieltauvorum (Leicester).
Akeman Street is a Roman road in southern England between the modern counties of Hertfordshire and Gloucestershire. It is approximately 117 kilometres (73 mi) long and runs roughly east–west.
The Cotswold Line is an 86+1⁄2-mile (139.2 km) railway line between Oxford and Hereford in England.
Chalford is a large village in the Frome Valley of the Cotswolds in Gloucestershire, England. It is to the southeast of Stroud about four miles upstream. It gives its name to Chalford parish, which covers the villages of Chalford, Chalford Hill, France Lynch, Bussage and Brownshill, spread over two square miles of the Cotswold countryside. At this point the valley is also called the Golden Valley.
Uley is a village and civil parish in the county of Gloucestershire, England. The parish includes the hamlets of Elcombe and Shadwell and Bencombe, all to the south of the village of Uley, and the hamlet of Crawley to the north. The village is situated in a wooded valley in the Cotswold escarpment, on the B4066 road between Dursley and Stroud.
Hawkesbury is a hamlet consisting of a few cottages around a triangular green. It is also the name of a civil parish in the South Gloucestershire unitary authority in England in which Hawkesbury itself lies, it is located west of Hawkesbury Upton, off the A46 road.
South Cerney is a village and civil parish in the Cotswold district of Gloucestershire, 3 miles south of Cirencester and close to the border with Wiltshire. It had a population of 3,074 according to the 2001 census, increasing to 3,464 at the 2011 census. It was founded in 999 by Saxon settlers, with a charter by King Aethelred II. In 2001 South Cerney was winner of the Bledisloe Cup for the best-kept village in Gloucestershire, having previously won the award in 1955.
Rodmarton Manor is a large country house, in Rodmarton, near Cirencester, Gloucestershire, built for the Biddulph family. It is a Grade I listed building. It was constructed in the early 20th century in an Arts and Crafts style, to a design by Ernest Barnsley. After Ernest's death in 1925, it was completed by Sidney Barnsley, his brother, and then by Norman Jewson, Ernest's son-in-law. All the construction materials were obtained locally, and hand worked by local craftsmen.
Uley Bury is the long, flat-topped hill just outside Uley, Gloucestershire, England. It is an impressive multi-vallate, scarp-edge Iron Age hill fort dating from around 300 B.C. Standing some 750 feet above sea level it has views over the Severn Vale.
Owlpen Manor is a Tudor Grade I listed manor house of the Mander family, situated in the village of Owlpen in the Stroud district in Gloucestershire, England. There is an associated estate set in a valley within the Cotswold Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The manor house is about one mile east of Uley, and three miles east of Dursley.
Swell is a civil parish in the Cotswold district, in the county of Gloucestershire, England. The population of the civil parish taken at the 2011 census was 389.
Norman Jewson was an English architect-craftsman of the Arts and Crafts movement, who practised in the Cotswolds. He was a distinguished, younger member of the group which had settled in Sapperton, Gloucestershire, a village in rural southwest England, under the influence of Ernest Gimson. Surviving into old age, he brought their ideas and working methods into the second half of the twentieth century. His book of reminiscences has become established as a minor classic of the English Arts and Crafts movement. His repair of the Tudor Owlpen Manor in 1925–26 is often regarded as his most representative and successful work.
The Oxfordshire Way is a long-distance walk in Oxfordshire, England, with 6 miles in Gloucestershire and very short sections in Buckinghamshire. The path links with the Heart of England Way and the Thames Path.
Coates is a village and civil parish situated in Cotswold District, Gloucestershire, England. It is around 3 miles (4.8 km) west of Cirencester and close to Cirencester Park, part of the Bathurst Estate. It is the nearest village to the source of the river Thames at Thames Head, and it is close to the course of the Foss Way or Fosse Way, the ancient Roman road. The nearest railway station is Kemble. The village population taken at the 2011 census was 507.
51.71025°N 2.29970°W
The Welsh Way was a British Iron Age trade route and track-way that originally carried trade between South Wales and the Oxford area of England across the Cotswold Hills. There is evidence it was utilised and improved by the Roman army following the conquest of Britain as a link between Akeman Street and the Fosse Way.
