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The Bolthole cottage is ideally situated to explore the Cotswolds here are a few things to consider...
The village of Moreton-in-Marsh is a market town and has a flourishing market every Tuesday all year long.
There are at least five pubs along with numerous coffee shops and there are a number of special shops for antiques and clothes all located within the main shopping area of the village just a 1/4-1/2 mile walk (5 to 10 minutes) from the cottage front door.
A Budgens supermarket is also just 1/2 mile from the cottage.
Incase of emergencies, a small A&E hospital is available in Moreton.
The train station has direct high speed links to London Paddington and is 1/2 mile away from the cottage.
From the local tourist information centre on the main High Street you can pick up lots of guides to the local area - one not to miss is the approved walking map suitable for walkers of all abilities. This allows you to make the most of the beautiful Cotswolds countryside that is only 3/4 mile in any direction from the cottage front door.
The Cotswolds are so named because sheep (cote) ranged freely in huge numbers over the uncultivated open land (wolds), they lie mainly in Gloucestershire, and end abruptly in a steep escarpment on the southern and western slopes, producing the steep hill that overlooks the Severn Valley, and the long steep run down into Bath. The hills fall very gently on the eastern side, so that when approaching from Oxford you hardly realise that you are going up hill. The Cotswolds rise to over 1,000 feet above sea level (300 metres) at Cleeve Cloud, which is the highest point south of the Pennines.
The main trees in the area are beech but, there are also maple, hazel and other varieties.
Many important rivers rise in the Cotswolds, like the Bristol Avon and the River Thames, the source of which is at Seven Springs, near Cheltenham. Within the Cotswold area there are sandy beds from which flows the soft water that was used to wash the wool. Mills were built to process the wool, especially in the Stroud area. During treatment the wool was hung out on tenterhooks to be stretched while it dried, which gives the derivation of our word for stretched nerves. Fuller's earth is also found in the district, and this was used for cleaning the wool.
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