The Cotswolds & Surrey 🌿 Exploring The English Countryside

Hi guys, welcome back. Very exciting vlog this week because I'm off to the Cotswolds and I don't think I've been to the Cotswolds since 2023 when we took Cameron's parents for like a little tour when they were coming over to see the UK. I used to go all the time because my grandma used to live in Stratford-upon-Avon so I spent so much of my childhood there and then haven't been back in like I said three years and before that it was probably since I was at uni because I went to so it's been a while. I feel like I don't even need to tell you but the Cotswolds is just such a beautiful part of the world, it's such a beautiful part of the country. I'm so excited, it's me and like my two best friends from school that are going away, the three of us. It's technically for my friend Holly's 30th birthday which was like 18 months ago so we're only just getting around to celebrating it now. She's literally gonna be here in like 10 minutes, I'm so excited, I feel like I've got this nervous, excited energy and this is my dress. Let me show you it because it's definitely one of my more favourite dresses that I've bought in a while. I don't know if you can see the bottom but it's got like a bit of a split and it's kind of, I don't know, ankle length so somewhere between a midi and a maxi but I love it and this kind of crochet cut out detail. I love countryside, pubs and wine and just like the beautiful scenery is the thing that I love the most about the Cotswolds, it's just everywhere you look is pretty and I'm excited. I don't know if these are dog toys but I don't think these are just gardening, a watering can jelly cat, oh my gosh, a carrot jelly cat, oh he's actually so cute, look at that carrot top, oh my gosh, I might, I might have to get the carrot, that is so soft, a corn jelly cat, oh my gosh, he's got a little tuft, no, look at the tuft, that's so sweet, oh my gosh, we also have a broccoli, oh my, this one actually would be a great dog toy but like in the dog toy section, s'mores, as if, as if you can kind of squish the s'mores, oh my gosh, look, look at those little faces, good morning Cotswolds, slept very well last night, I feel like I didn't talk to you at all yesterday but yesterday was such a nice day, we of course went to Dalesford which was so nice, I had been to Dalesford before but neither of the others had so that was so nice, we just like had some lunch in the old spot outside and then wandered around and looked at all the lovely things and then we, it was like a pretty quick turnaround, we like came to our airbnb, checked in and then headed straight off for dinner, for like an early dinner, we had like, I think it was like 5.45 or 6 o'clock, our booking at the Bull in Chalbury which is one of those like, I don't know if it's social media, I don't, I don't know but all I know is that I know the Bull to be like one of the best restaurants in the Cotswolds, whether the locals feel that way or whether just like that's come from like internet recommendations, I don't know but it lived up to the hype, like we went to the Bull and it was so lovely, we sat outside in the courtyard, the food was amazing, the setting was so pretty, so we had the nicest dinner, I am designated driver so I also had two like virgin cocktails, oh my gosh, the nicest non-alcoholic drink I've ever had in my life, it was like a, it was called a strawberry and basil cooler. If anyone is coming to the Cotswolds and going to the Bull, first of all if you do, sorry car's going past, I've got the window open because it's quite hot in here, first of all if are going to the Bull then you need to book, we booked and yeah that like early table was the only, was the only spot we could get so you definitely need to book and then even if you drink alcohol just get that drink, like it's, it was so delicious, it was, for a non-alcoholic cocktail I thought it was so like complex and so nice, anyways did that and then I don't know if I ever even said but we're staying in, is it Boughton on the water or is it Boughton on water? We're staying in Boughton with some water which is so lovely, I think it is one of the more like popular when you look up like oh where should I go in the Cotswolds I think, I think Boughton comes up in a lot of lists and for good reason, it is so pretty, last night when we came back from dinner and like there's like a big willow tree, there's the water, we're gonna go have a walk, walk and like look along it now but everyone's sitting out by the water with like ice creams and stuff, it was like just so like quintessentially English but in just like such a beautiful, like stunning, stunning, stunning, so we're staying here which I think it is quite busy or I think it's definitely going to get busy in the day and everything I saw about Boughton was like oh go early morning and then leave because the crowds get really bad, we're obviously staying here which works pretty perfectly so we are, it's now ten past seven, Holly is up, I think Hayley will be up shortly, we're all kind of like early risers and we're gonna go for a walk around Boughton, get a coffee, maybe get some breakfast and then we're gonna go for a walk a little bit later, I made like a little mini itinerary on my phone before we came, we're gonna walk from here to Lower Slaughter and stop at Hawkstone Brewery and then we're gonna go to the Cotswold Guy which is the pub that does David Beckham's favourite sausage roll, definitely I'm sure like a touristy thing to do but you know, who doesn't want to know what David's favourite sausage roll tastes like, so we're gonna go do that, I think we'll go to Bybury because it's where, it's right next to where Holly got married last year, when did she get last year? No, two years ago now, two years ago now, so we might go and see her wedding venue which would be really nice and then we also want to go to Stone in the World as well but we will just see how we go, I just spotted myself in this camera, I'm not using the camera I normally use and I look so pale and washed out, wow, but anyway it's so lovely here, the weather is so nice it's like I can feel like the cool morning breeze coming in through the window, I think it will be quite hot today but in like a nice way but I think today is definitely going to be a shorts and a tank top kind of a day, oh what is that for? I wonder what that's for, did you hear that with the church? It's like 7 14 or 7 15 just now, maybe they do, do they do little dings on the quarter hour if they do, that's very sweet, I'm gonna finish getting ready and let's go get some coffee so I can actually wake up, I thought I'd explain a little bit more about our itinerary for the day because it really was such a great one in the end, so firstly I would definitely recommend getting to Porton on the Water early if you are able to start your day there, the light on the water first thing it's just so stunning when it's so quiet, it gets really really busy later in the afternoon and we were there kind of before, obviously we were staying there but we were out and about before eight o'clock and there's a little bakery called Bakery on the Water which opens at 8am and incredible cinnamon rolls, they also have like other breakfasty bits so we had breakfast and coffees and everything there, there is another place which we go to like kind of tomorrow morning the next day called Boxbush that does for any of my chai gals such a good spicy chai, like a really really spicy, the only other one I've had that's like an equivalent to it is the Dishoom chai, so if you're looking for a chai definitely go to Boxbush and after that we did do that little loop of walking from Porton on the Water to Lower and Upper Slaughter, the walk from Porton to Lower Slaughter was about kind of 35-40 minutes, there were lots of different options of walks that were all different lengths on all trails so we just found one that was kind of the right length for us, highly recommend a trip to Lower Slaughter again, so pretty, so quiet, one thing that's worth noting there's only really one pub there and that doesn't open until 12 o'clock so for bathroom breaks they were actually very kind and let us go in and use the bathroom and ask if we wanted a coffee or anything but they didn't technically open until 12 so if you're planning to go in just something worth factoring in that there's no public toilets there, so worth a visit and then we hopped in the car to head to Stow on the World to see the Porch House which is considered to be the oldest pub in England, 947 AD, mind-boggling, so we popped in there, we had little mooch around the shop, had a lovely lunch at the Old Butchers and then headed to find David's famous sausage roll. We are back from the Cotswolds and probably the place that is most like the Cotswolds that I've ever been to that's not in the Cotswolds is Peachham Nurseries in Richmond which is where we've just put up so I figured I would continue the vlog with a bit of a trip to Richmond which definitely one of my favourite places around where we live, come to Peachham Nurseries, we're going to have a little bit of a look in the garden centre, definitely have something in the tea house and we've got Varley with us, we've got Varley back, he's here with us for the weekend and maybe a few days into next week which I'm very excited about. We're going to get out, go get probably a nice, they do such a lovely fresh elderflower lemonade and it is delightful, let's go do some exploring. Some of these I really want to know what they taste like. It's the next day, we didn't explore nearly as much of Richmond as I thought we were going to, one because I don't think I've been to Richmond on a Saturday during, I guess it's also like summer holidays now but it was so busy, we were there kind of like during real peak hours and it was absolutely rammed. Peachham Nurseries was lovely and actually not too busy, I think we got there at kind of like 11 o'clock and then Christina came over and said hello which was so nice. Thank you, if you're watching this Christina, thank you so much, that honestly made my day because the second reason that we didn't stay and like explore as much as I thought we were going to do, I was exhausted yesterday. I don't know what it was but actually both of us were just really feeling like we'd been hit by a truck, we were both exhausted so we were just at Peachham and then we popped into Richmond because I had to collect something from a jewellery store there, I was having a bracelet altered and then we came back but yeah Christina, you like literally made my day, it was so lovely to meet you and she actually recommended, which is so true, that we need to put visiting Ham House very high on our bucket list so I'm definitely in a vlog hopefully sometime soon go and have and explore around Ham House because it's just one of those places that I've grown, you know, I grew up and took in Richmond and Ham House is just one of those like lovely places that's right there and I've never been. I mean I might have been to see the polo once when I was little but not in my adult life definitely so a trip to Ham House is on the cards but I thought I'd show you quickly just in case the Mint Velvet sales are still on because the savings, I'm just trying to remember why actually, this one jacket in particular, let me just look up, yeah insane, okay I'm just going to show you the other bits apart from that blue dress that I got from Mint Velvet in case you're wanting to shop the sales because you know me, I like am refusing. Autumn starts for me on the 1st of September so until the 1st of September I'm not doing any kind of autumnal anything however I reluctantly admit that these items are perfect for autumn. The first one and like to be honest my favourite is this jacket which this jacket was originally £325 and I got it for I think £150. It's got this like lace, it's kind of like a crocheted, yeah it's like a crocheted lace trim and I love the colour of it, it's like such a gentle beige but look at the trim, I think it just adds like such a feminine girly pretty element to quite like a square structured, oh look it runs all the way around the back. I haven't actually worn this out yet but this is the perfect transitional jacket without question. Favourite t-shirt with jeans, I absolutely love it so this is like a complete win and then a very small thing I won't bother trying them on but the hunt for the perfect tank continues. I bought their kind of normal tank top but I'm actually, which is just kind of like a scoop neck, I'm actually going to send this one back because I didn't like the feel of it and it felt like it lacked, it's not very stretchy, I don't know it just isn't my favourite but I also got their scoop one that's got like a scalloped edge that I'll link, love that one, that one's like much, it's like a different fabric to this one somehow, it's like much softer and it's got better stretch so I'll link that one and then I got a blouse which I also think is the perfect like transitional top. Oh it's so pretty, right let me stick that on quickly but this blouse which I think is so lovely, it's the perfect pink that it's pink but it's not like too in your face and again they're like layered ruffle, it's like ruffly but for me it's not too much, it's like wearable ruffle and you can obviously like do up the buttons but I just love the way it like falls and sits and I can have it tucked in or not and it's very light, it's like almost, I mean you can almost, you can almost like see through it, it's very light which I think is perfect because I mean it's great for layering, it's great before it gets too cold, I just love it and it's one of those items that stands out a little bit so the dress, this blouse, the jacket and the scalloped edge tank top I'm definitely keeping and I'll put links. The savings are crazy, like £200 saving on that jacket, why is it in the sale? I don't understand. Anyway I'm gonna wrap up this vlog here, I will put all of the restaurant recommendations for the Cotswolds in the description box and the places that we went on the itinerary, I will also put the name of the sandwich shop which we didn't actually go to in Richmond because the queue was crazy and it was busy blah blah, they already said but there's a fly, but if you have any trips to Richmond coming up it is truly the best sandwich I've ever had, I think it did get voted like the best sandwich in Surrey or something, I mean you never know whether these claims have any validity to them but it is fantastic and the queues outside yesterday are a testament to that so just on the off chance I didn't show you it at all so you're just having to trust me blindly but if you're looking for the best sandwich of your life I will put that in the description box as well, otherwise thank you so much for watching, I'm sorry if the like different cameras I've been using has made this feel a little bit odd, this is super boring but the camera that I use all the time, this one is glitching pretty bad and I am sending it, I sent it off to get repairs and I need to send it off again because it still isn't fixed and I really really really want it fixed and like fully functional so it doesn't crash out on me for the cosy autumn vlogs, like by the time the end of August, September comes around I want my camera like fully working because can you imagine if it crashed out during the cosy autumn vlogs, I'd hate it so I'm sorry, I might be like, I don't know, I just feel like I might look a bit odd over the vlogs for the coming weeks slash the upload schedule might be a little bit disrupted, I'm hoping that won't be the case actually, I'm not gonna put that into the atmosphere, upload schedule should remain the same but I am gonna have to send this camera off again, anyway you probably don't need to know any of that but thank you so much for being here, thank you so much for watching, I hope you have such a lovely week and I can't wait to see you in the next one, bye guys!