Winchcombe and the Cotswolds

We've spent the past few days in the Cotswolds, which are essentially a range of hills and farmland in southwestern and west-central England. There are many small towns in the Cotswolds, and we've stayed in one called Winchcombe. It is a lovely countryside village with approximately 4,500 people. Originally, most people in the area did farming and raised sheep for wool, but now there's obviously a variety of types of work. The pace here is much slower and more relaxed than London, so we have just been doing lots of wandering and some shopping.

Most of the houses are a specific style and made of stone, as shown here. They are unlike anything I've ever seen in the states, and are very beautiful.

This evening, we actually met someone who builds these stone houses. He is the one in charge of laying the stone. Sometimes, the builders simply receive large blocks of it, which they must then cut themselves! All of the new houses are built to look like the old ones, some of which date back to the 13th century.

Earlier today, we did a short 5-mile day hike just outside of town. We walked through fields to get to a burial site from the early Neolithic period called Belas Knap. It is approximately 5,500 years old, or dates back to between 3,600-3,500 BCE. We were not initially planning to do the hike, but one of the archaeologists who worked on the site actually stayed at the same bed and breakfast we did, and she insisted that we see it. 

The walk was fairly wet, as it was raining on and off the entire time. Fortunately, being Seattlites, we are quite accustomed to rain. 

The footpath up to Belas Knap. Perhaps not the best trail signage I've ever seen...

We were prepared for rain.

Winchcombe from above. This was one of the less rainy portions of the trip!

Mom and me in front of Belas Knap, the burial mound.

Mom at one of the entrances to Belas Knap. The mound wasn't completely hollow, but it did have a few entrances. These were excavated in the 1800s.