The Cotswolds are a region where one of our relatives really wanted to go and we decide on one stop along the way, Castle Combe, which is near the highway. There are multiple picturesque villages in the Cotswolds and ideally we would stop in all of them but it is getting late in the day and we have to return the car before 11PM in Heathrow so Castle Combe it is. We do not expect how difficult it is to find a parking spot with the official parking almost 30 mins away from downtown and on top of a hill and it is paid. So we leave our relatives in the center of the village and start exploring for a different parking place.
Doing this we explore the really small village by car quite extensively but parking spots are hard to find so dejected we decide to return to the official one and then just pick our relatives later.
And then a miracle – a free spot opens up and it is the closest to the village, we cannot believe our luck. So we descend in the village, now just about five minutes away and start looking for our relatives while exploring the very scenic village.
We return on the streets we have driven on and decide to also search for restrooms as we still have a 2 1/2h drive to Heathrow. Somehow most tourists are concentrated in the main square so the other streets are reasonably empty allowing for some beautiful photos.
One of the most scenic areas is actually close to the free(!) restrooms. It is a row of houses that seems to be taken from the Tolkien stories and all of them are still lived in, quite interesting.
We then return back to the central square where we find our relatives who direct us towards the church so on we go to visit the church.
Even the small cemetery and the area surrounding the church feels like taken from a movie. In fact the whole hamlet feels like a movie set and not real.
Inside the church at least it looks more modern and the coronation table proves we are in a real village in real England and not in a fantasy kingdom far far away.
We then explore the other end of the village which really is just a few tens of meters from the central square as we reach a very exclusive and very gated retreat. We look online, whistle at the prices and slowly retreat while gawking over the fence like so many other passer-bys.
And then it is time to leave the beautiful hamlet of Castle Combe as we make our way back up the hill to the car and then out of the Cotswolds. The remaining drive is uneventful and soon we arrive at Heathrow and find our hotel where we leave our relatives with all the luggage before making the drive to the car rental return center.
It takes time to return the car then get on the shuttle back to our terminal. Luckily the driver takes pity on us and drops us near the hotel instead of the terminal so we make it to the hotel just in time to get harried by our relatives to the restaurant which is just closing. We likely make the last order of the day and then discuss our trip and all that happened while enjoying the completely average food.
We are really tired so the next stop is the room where we fall asleep almost immediately. We have one more day in the UK where we plan to explore London, looking forward to it.
