The Cotswolds’ wealth, once built on the medieval wool trade and subsequently the textiles industry, is now built largely on tourism. An endless stream of visitors flows through the area each year to marvel at the bucolic patchwork of rolling wolds and to amble through the picturesque villages hewn from honey-coloured stone. 

This is a place where willows trail their wispy fingers in burbling rivers, where verdant scenery unfurls before your eyes like a giant blanket, and where you pause and set your picnic basket down to watch the swallows swirl and dive high above your head.