Bourton-on-the-Water
“Bibury is the most beautiful village in England.”
“Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.”
Bourton-on-the-Water
After two nights in London and three nights in Bath, we headed north into the heart of the Cotswolds, for four nights in the beautiful town of Bourton-on-the-Water.
Some have taken to referring to the town as the Venice of the Cotswolds; however, a small stream and a few low bridges do not a Venice make! Yet, the little River Windrush, with its arched stone bridges crisscrossing as it causally flows by—gives the town a unique and undeniable charm.
The map below shows where we are staying and you can zoom and pan around to see the surrounding area.
Pear Tree Cottage is a traditional Cotswold Stone cottage, consisting of two stories and a significant attic space. There are two bedrooms on the second floor that share a family bathroom, and the full-length attic is fitted as a bedroom with a half bath. A modern kitchen and full bath were added onto the back of the original building. It is clearly an old house, but sadly I couldn’t find any details about when its was built. Why not take a video tour with us: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cjoRNgeuOw?
Sudeley Castle
On Sunday we visited Sudeley Castle. With royal connections spanning a thousand years, Sudeley Castle has played an important role in the turbulent and changing times of England’s past.
Today Sudeley Castle remains the only private castle in England to have a queen buried within the grounds—Queen Katherine Parr, the last and surviving wife of King Henry VIII—who lived and died in the castle.
Henry himself, Anne Boleyn, Lady Jane Grey, Queen Elizabeth I, and Richard III have all played a part in Sudeley’s story. King Charles I found refuge here during the Civil War, when his nephew Prince Rupert established headquarters at the Castle. Following its “slighting” on Cromwell’s orders at the end of the Civil War, Sudeley lay neglected and derelict for nearly 200 years.
The rain lifted…time to start our tour.
Debbie and Amanda are joined at the window by Lady Anne Herbert, the Queen's sister—who held the distinction of having served in every household of the prior five queens of Henry VIII. She was Queen Katherine’s First Lady of the Privy Chamber and Groom of the Stool.
The Queens Walk—The remains of a 16th century covered walkway from the private apartments to the chapel, where Katherine, Lady Jane Grey, and her household would have walked to their daily prayers.
Amanda and Debbie join Katherine Parr and Lady Jane Grey on the Queen’s Walk.
In 1782, a group of lady sightseers noticed an alabaster panel in the ruined chapel, and persuaded the tenant farmer to dig under the wall to which it was attached. The farmer soon uncovered a lead coffin with the inscription “Here lyeth Quene Kateryn, Wife to King Henry VIII.”
When the lid was opened, instead of finding old bones, to everyone's amazement, what they saw instead was Katherine's corpse, "entire and uncorrupted,” the flesh still white and moist. Somehow, the body had been preserved by the lead coffin. Over the next 35 years, the coffin was opened several more times to corroborate the story, but the exposure apparently caused the body to start decaying.
Eventually, Katherine's remains were sealed up in the Chandos family vault. When the chapel was restored in the 19th century, and rededicated as St Mary's Church, the coffin was moved for a last time and placed in the church, beneath this fine marble effigy. Sadly, her body had by then been reduced to just "a little brown dust.” Sudeley remains the only private home where a Queen of England lies buried.
The Becket Window—This window in the chapel depicts the murder of Thomas Becket in Canterbury Cathedral in 1170. Ralph de Sudeley owned the castle during this time and it was believed that William, his younger brother (who took his mother's name of de Tracy), was one of the four knights responsible for Becket's death.
A statue of Queen Elizabeth I who, in 1592, visited Sudeley Castle for the third time, staying there with the 3rd Lord Chandos during her summer progress to celebrate the anniversary of the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588. The three day celebrations have been described as one of the longest parties in history.
Stephen, often referred to as Stephen of Blois (Normandy/France), was King of England from 1135 until his death in 1154. Walls were found in this location which were believed to be the original fortifications destroyed by King Stephen in the First Civil War (1139-1154). After seizing the Sudeley manor house, King Stephen had it fortified as a royal garrison.
Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn visited the castle in July 1535. The King met with Thomas Cromwell at nearby Winchcombe Abbey to plan the dissolution of the monasteries (which, with a certain irony, included Sudeley). What remains are the structures that withstood Cromwell’s “slighting” a hundred years later. The bottom floor was a greeting room and the upstairs a grand banqueting hall (see image below).
In the midst of the Civil War in 1599, Oliver Cromwell and his Parliamentary troops attacked the castle. While the buildings have been restored over the years, a battle wound still remains 424 years later, in the shape of a cannon ball hole in the side of Octagon Tower. It was during this same war that Charles I took refuge at Sudeley.
English children are taught to remember the six wives of Henry VIII by the rhyme: Divorced, beheaded, died…divorced, beheaded, survived. During this visit to Sudeley, Amanda realized we have now visited the tombs of all six wives:
1 Katherine of Aragon—Peterborough Cathedral (2009)
2 Anne Boleyn—Chapel Royal, Tower of London (2009, 2015, & 2023)
3 Jane Seymour—St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle (beside Henry VIII and Charles I) (2023)
4 Anne of Cleves—Westminster Abbey, near the High Altar (2009 & 2023)
5 Katherine Howard—Chapel Royal, Tower of London (beside her disgraced cousin, Anne Boleyn) (2009, 2015, & 2023)
6 Katherine Parr—St Mary’s Church, Sudeley Castle (2015 & 2023)
Part of Sudeley’s collection—Bed dressed with Aubusson bed hangings. These were bought from the Strawberry Hill sale in 1842 and date from the time of Louis XV. It is believed that these had been used on Marie Antoinette's bed!
Bibury
The most photographed street in the whole of England is probably the gorgeous Arlington Row in Bibury. It’s ridiculously quaint and you couldn’t get a more quintessential area of the Cotswolds if you tried.
The old Arlington Mill
One of the most iconic addresses in the UK—Arlington Row. (It’s beautiful, but will look better in a month or so once everything blooms again.)
These beautiful cottages were built in the 1380s as a monastic wool storehouse. As there were two mills in the parish in the middle ages, the area became very prosperous from trading.
The storehouse was later converted into weavers’ cottages in the 17th century.
The cottages are on Awkward Hill road. 😊
After the cloth had been made, it would be transferred over to the nearby Arlington Mill for degreasing. Then, the pieces would be left to hang out to dry on “Rack Isle” in between the cottages and the mill, along the River Coln. Rack Isle is now the expanse of boggy meadow seen behind us and has become an important wildlife habitat.
Hellebores placed graveside in the St Mary Church cemetery in Bibery.
St Mary Church
Hope springs eternal
Debbie and Nathan on a bridge over the River Coln.
Simply beautiful!
“Pleasure is always derived from something outside you, whereas joy arises from within.”
