Cotswolds, England: Village Charm | Rick Steves

Lower Slaughter is a classic example of a Cotswold village with a babbling brook, charming gardens, and a working water mill. Just above the mill, a delightful cafe overlooks the mill pond. As with many fairytale regions in Europe, the present-day beauty of the Cotswolds was the result of an economic disaster. Wool was a huge industry in medieval England, and Cotswold sheep grew the very best. According to a 12th-century saying, in Europe, the best wool is English, and in England, the best wool is Cotswold. It's a story of boom and bust and then boom again. Because of its wool, the region prospered. Wealthy wool merchants built fine homes of the honey-colored local limestone. Thankful to God for the riches their sheep brought, they built oversized churches nicknamed Wool Cathedrals. But with the rise of cotton and the Industrial Revolution, the region's wool industry collapsed. The fine Cotswold towns fell into a depressed time warp, becoming sleeping beauties. Because of that, the region has a rustic charm, and that's the basis of today's new prosperity. Its residents are catering to lots of tourists, and the Cotswolds have become a popular escape for Londoners, people who can afford thatched mansions like these. In England, Main Street is called the High Street, and in Cotswold market towns, High Street was built wide, designed to handle thousands of sheep on market days. The handsome market town of Chipping Campton has a High Street that's changed little over the centuries. Everything you see was made of the same finely worked Cotswold stone, the only stone allowed today. Roofs still use the traditional stone shingles. To make the weight easier to bear, smaller and lighter slabs are higher up. A 17th-century market hall, with its original stonework from top to bottom intact, marks the town center. Hikers admire the surviving medieval workmanship. You can imagine centuries of wheelings and dealings that took place under these very rafters. Continuing our walk, we come to the quaint village of Stanton. Travel writers tend to overuse the word quaint. I save it for here in the Cotswolds. A strict building code keeps towns looking what many locals call overly quaint. Village churches welcome walkers to pop in and enjoy a thoughtful break. This church probably sits upon an ancient pagan site. How do we know? It's dedicated to Saint Michael, and Michael, the archangel who fought the devil, still guards the door. Inside, you get a sense that this church has comforted this community in good times and bad. Pre-Christian symbols decorate the columns, perhaps left over from those pagan days. And the list of rectors goes way back, without a break, to the year 1269. This church was built with wool money. In fact, they say generations of sheepdog leashes actually wore these grooves. I guess the shepherd took his dog everywhere, even to church.