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On "well-heeled visitors"

The Cotswolds suffer from a significant social problem. Most of us have moved here, because it's a terrific place to run a microbusiness, raise a family or retire. Tourism, by and large, is a nuisance. Few people work in it, most of them are temporary immigrants anyway, and the economic benefits to the local economy are negligible.

Because one of the area's attractions for moving here is its prettiness, we (the population: this has nothing to do with governments) stringently discourage new buildings. That means the less assertive of those born locally can't compete for housing - and since we're an 75 min train journey away from the largest concentration of billionaires in the world, house prices soar. It also means a very limited amount of tourist accommodation: we've no interest in allowing any more building for tourists when we can't house our cleaning ladies' children without destroying the reason we've moved here. There's a reference earlier in this thread to iffy Trip Advisor reviews, and though I've not read them, I'm sure most of the iffiness comes from relatively high B&B prices for what you get. There's very little "high end" accommodation in the region, BTW: what we offer is mostly glorified pubs or English-style Bed & Breakfasts (absolutely NOT to be confused with the self-obsessed boutique hotels calling themselves B&Bs in the US)

"Well heeled" in the English spoken here means comfortably off: there's no implication of smart dressing (itself a pretty unEnglish, and very, very, unCotswold, concept. Dressing smartly round here is what foreigners do). "Comfortably off", in this context, doesn't mean able to afford the tourist prices you get on the French Riviera or in Venetian cafes: it's simply that there's no bargain alternative. No Travelodges, few supermarkets (there's a Tesco in Stow and a Lidl in Witney, but mostly we all go to the distinctly well-heeled Waitroses. Or more often, get them to deliver. Wonderful thing, this interweb whotsit), no cheap pubs, no Benji's sandwich bars, no cheap ethnic eateries. Burford's perfectly OK Chinese is far pricier than the outstanding dim sum joints in London'd Chinatown, for example. Mind you, a sit-down tea at Huffkin's is twice as good, three times as calorie-packed and less than one-third the price of the twee junk they churn out at the Ritz. And there's no damnfool dress code.

Of course few hard-core budget travellers are that interested in the Cotswolds, except for European and ANZAC backpackers, for whom the area's a useful source of bar jobs. Basic operating costs here do mean, though, that ordinary visitors can easily find themselves paying more or less London accommodation prices, and above-London food and drink prices.

It won't break your bank: but it does lead to a great deal of grumbling from outsiders, and it's a major explanation for the consistent anti-Cotswold tone adopted by many British commentators on forums like this.

On bluebells.

Spring's very early this year: our garden's got more or less all its snowdrops out already. The overwhelming likelihood is that the whole spring sequence will be a few weeks ahead of normal, which makes bluebells in May round here unlikely (though this ought to make early May more fully burgeoning than usual). But we're got hundreds of microclimates, and no-one can predict the weather for the day after tomorrow anyway, so come back to this board just before you leave for a check on where there still might be some showing.

April

Thanks for the background, which is quite interesting as it's not the kind of information found in guide books. Tourism is probably a nuisance in most places. Our snowdrops are up as well, but then we got snow.

As for bluebells, it looks as though I should have come earlier. Will be in London until the last weekend in April.

janisj

You may be in luck w/ the bluebells while you are in London. If your timing is right there are masses of them at Kew Gardens.

April

I didn't know that, Janisj - thanks!

Royal

We really liked Stow-on-the-Wold having stayed there on two different trips. Both times we stayed at Stow Lodge Hotel. The first trip we had a room in the main hotel and the second trip we chose the Coach House. The Coach House rooms are much larger.

The Hotel itself has been run by the same family for many years. We felt very comfortable and welcome. They have a main dining room as well as a bar where they serve light meals. There are a number of other nice restaurants and pubs in town.

We liked the location and travelled easily to all the other small towns.

anna_roz

Well, flanner, like it or not we are heading for the Cotswolds! We may have to reconsider our customary vacation wears but we are eager to experience the local culture, B&Bs and pub food. We will miss the bluebells though.