For many the Cotswolds is the idyll vision of a rural England. The area was designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in 1966 and the 790 square miles of countryside extends south westwards from Mickleton to Wotton-Under-Edge and on to Bath, opening out into rolling wolds  and  deep wooded valleys of  Stroud made famous by the author  Laurie Lees. This is nature at its best, giving the illusion of great hills, but in reality,  wide open spaces, this makes the Cotswolds  an attractive area to live in. This site discovers the area between the rivers Avon, Severn, Thames and the Kennet and Avon canal which together form a water-edged border around this area.

A  band of golden limestone stretches from the Humber to the Dorset coast dividing England and at the widest point,  the Cotswolds. The limestone known as oolite provides the area with the glorious honeycoloured building material, which begins to weather to a subtle grey and is much evident in the villages and towns throughout the countryside.

Whatever the weather there are places to visit, fine buildings, built by great craftsmen are waiting to be discovered. Towns with the magnificent churches built by the wealthy wool merchants of the 15th and 16th centuries when the golden age of the wool trade was at it peak, the grand houses and wonderful gardens designed by  people like Harold Peto, Capability Brown or William Morris, the historic sites of Neolithic man and the Romans, whatever your interest there is always somewhere to go.

Helping to  guide the visitor to the best of the countryside are the routes which  have been used since man first came here, The old ways are the best routes to follow, rights of way for thousands of years, like the ancient unmarked Jurassic Way following the scarp edge, or the Roman roads of  Ermine Way, Fosse Way or Akeman Street, the old trading routes like the Salt Way, and hundreds of  miles of local footpaths and national trails like the Cotswold Way and Thames Path  that will lead you on a wonderful path of discovery that will  never give a moment without something to discover.