Chipping Campden is a small market town in the Cotswolds in Gloucestershire. It is notable for its elegant terraced High Street, dating from the 14th century to the 17th century.

Tags:   Gloucestershire Cotswolds medieval buildings stone buildings Chipping Campden

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Littlecote Roman Villa is a Roman winged corridor villa and associated religious complex at Littlecote Park in east Wiltshire near Hungerford. The settlement may have begun life as a small short-lived military establishment guarding a crossing of the River Kennet. This was replaced by local circular farming huts around AD 70 and a Roman-style rectangular building fifty years later. Activity involved baking ovens, malting tanks and grinding stones. After another fifty years, this was replaced by a large two-storeyed winged corridor villa with integral bath suite. This building went through a number of changes over the subsequent centuries, notably a major rebuilding around AD 270. The villa had a number of mosaics and there were detached workshops, barns and a large gatehouse. Around AD 360 agricultural activity seems to have ended and the complex acquired a religious use. A large barn was converted into a courtyard and a very early triconch hall was built alongside with its own bath suite. Upon its floor was laid the now famous Orpheus mosaic, first discovered in 1727 by the Steward of the Littlecote Park estate. This mosaic is usually interpreted in very complicated pagan religious terms involving not only Orpheus, but Bacchus and Apollo, the hall being seen as a cult centre for these two gods. Other buildings may have been converted to accommodate visiting pilgrims. This development has been associated with the pagan revival under Julian the Apostate (361-363).

(Source: Wikipedia)

Tags:   Wiltshire Littlecote Park Roman villa Roman mosaic Orpheus mosaic Roman remains mosaics Roman religious complex Roman settlement England

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Stowe Landscape Gardens, which surround the late 17th century Stowe House in Buckinghamshire, date from the early 18th century and are a significant example of the English Garden style. They have been in the care of the National Trust since 1989. The 750 acres of landscaped grounds, which include two lakes, have 40 listed temples and monuments within them. A number of outstanding designers and architects worked on the gardens in the 18th century, including Charles Bridgeman, John Vanburgh, Capability Brown and James Gibbs.

This will be my last posting for ten days as we are off to Shropshire for a week and then spending three days at my holiday home in Cornwall. Hopefully we'll have reasonable weather! In the meantime thank you for all your visits and your kind comments, which I very much appreciate.

Tags:   Buckinghamshire Stowe Landscape Gardens lakes Stowe House National Trust

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This lovely former coaching inn is on the old Oxford to Stratford road in Shipston-on-Stour in south Warwickshire. Shipston is a very pretty little town which is on the edge of the Cotswolds. It was once important for its wool industry. The Grade II-listed inn is thought to date from the 16th century.

Tags:   Warwickshire the Cotswolds Shipston-on-Stour The Horseshoe Inn, Shipston Grade II-listed buildings 16th century buildings old coaching inns

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Hidcote Manor Garden is regarded as one of the most outstanding gardens in England. Located near Chipping Campden in Gloucestershire, it is one of the best-known and most influential Arts and Crafts gardens with its linked "rooms" of hedges, rare trees, shrubs and herbaceous borders. Created by Lawrence Johnston, it was presented by him to the National Trust in 1948.

Tags:   Gloucestershire Hidcote Manor Garden gardens National Trust Chipping Campden

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