I'm from The Cotswolds in England originally (now living in Brisbane, Australia).
Imagine Tolkien's The Shire, minus the tiny people and underground houses... and you have The Cotswolds. In fact, Tolkien was a Professor at Oxford, which is where he wrote TLOTRs and The Hobbit, and Oxford is in the middle of The Cotswolds.
The photos below are of 7 amazing places that you can visit if you go to stay in the region I come from. They are all within a one to two hour drive. All these photos are my own (that's why some of them don't look like stock images haha).
So... let's start at Tolkien's stomping ground, Oxford.
1. Christ Church College, Oxford
- Contains a great hall which was used for the hall of Hogwarts in Harry Potter.
- Often offers free tours.
- Has a Cathedral connected to it.
- Too much history to list fully but... loads of prime ministers came from this college, it's been used in other movies and as the setting for books, Kings helped to fund it blahblah... UK history... blahblah.
2. Bibary, Oxfordshire
A small village not far from Oxford. It seems to win 'prettiest village in England' almost every year (only one shot, sorry).
3. Corinium Amphitheatre (Cirencester, Gloucestershire)
Cirencester (called Corinium by the Romans) was one of the largest Roman cities in England. Bath (more famous) was really just the holiday destination for those who lived and worked in Corinium. It even had it's own Amphitheatre for Gladiatorial and other 'Games'. It was chilling to stand in the middle of the killing ground and imagine three thousand faces leering at you and screaming for your blood.
By the way, this panorama was automatically created by Google Photos after I uploaded several shots, I bloody love that app!
4. Bath
About an hour from Oxford and, obviously, totally awesome. They've even built a modern bath house in which you can swim and bathe in the same naturally warm water that the Romans enjoyed.
5. Anne Hathaway's Cottage (where Shakespeare's wife grew up) , Stratford-Upon-Avon
Stratford's got lots of great stuff to see, not to mention being home to the Royal Shakespearean Company who put on The Bard's plays all year round. This is a great place to visit though because you can roam the gardens and consider that this was where Shakespeare himself experienced love and romance, before bringing that experience to the world through his characters.
6. Lastly... this is my house ;-)
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