The
day starts with a dash out through the western suburbs of london on the M40 to
the city of dreaming spires - Oxford.
Oxford is famous the world over for its University and place in history. For over 800 years, it has been a home to royalty and scholars, and since the 9th century an established town, although people are known to have lived in the area for thousands of years.
After a quick tour of the town carry on across the Cotswolds to the wool town of Burford
Sheep Street is one of the finest mixtures of buildings in the Cotswolds, mostly from the 16th. and 17th. centuries, but some are older. The architecture is less "pure" than many Cotswold towns, Burford being on the eastern edge of the Cotswolds, but unless you are a student of architectural history you are unlikely to care whether a 16th. C building is "quintessentially Cotswold".
You will like the variety.
This is a town for the window shopper. Not all Cotswold towns are; some are still market towns with functional shops, and in others it is impossible to buy a teapot unless it is a Derby teapot with a gilt ring handle, painted with cornflowers, finial restuck, crossed batons and D mark in puce, c.1795 and retailing for £350. Burford is somewhere between the extremes, and has a wide mixture of antique, high-quality gift and fashion clothing shops.
200M
years ago the whole of central England was covered by a sea, and the skeletons
of marine creatures laid down thick limestone desposits. Due to plate movements,
the Eastern edge has dipped, and a fault running in a SW-NE direction, has
produced a long escarpment (ridge of hills).
The limestone hills make excellent grazing for sheep, and sheep farming and wool brought great wealth to the area. The craftsmanship of the wonderful houses, churches, and villages, still preserved here, came from the wealth of the medieval wool industry.
Northleach is a Cotswold secret. Tucked away from the busy A40, between
undulating hills, it stands at a crossroads on the Roman Fosse Way, in an area
of outstanding natural beauty. The streets in and around the ancient market
place are rich in architectural interest ranging from half-timbered Tudor houses
and merchants' stores to the great House of Correction, (formerly 'The Cotswold
Heritage Centre'), built in the 18th Century.
Carry on through Cheltenham to cross the River Severn and enter Wales, travelling through the Forest of Dean. Of the many sites that you will see travelling down the Wye the one that most inspired the poet Wordsworth was Tintern Abbey
OVERNIGHT Bath Spa
The Bath Spa Hotel creates a magnificent first impression with its landscaped gardens and long sweeping drive up to a classical colonnaded frontage. Once inside, the ambience of timeless quality is continued with décor and furnishings perfectly attuned to the building’s original use as a private house.
Facilities:
104 bedrooms, 6 four-posters, 5 four-poster suites; Vellore Restaurant and Alfresco Restaurant; Colonnade Bar; Drawing Room; 6 conference and business suites. Spa with Thermal Suite including Rock Sauna, Infra Red Cabin, Salt Infusion, Ice & Aroma Steam Rooms, Experience Showers.Indoor heated pool, gymnasium and sauna; Jacuzzi, 5 treatment rooms, croquet lawn, local services, WiFi Internet Access
Next day explore Bath
The World Heritage Site of Bath and the stunning countryside surrounding it is one of England's most beautiful places to visit. Bath is a unique city; its hot springs, Roman Baths, splendid Abbey and Georgian stone crescents have attracted visitors for centuries. Set in rolling Somerset countryside it is a beautiful and unforgettable place to visit. Celebrating Bath’s most famous resident, The Jane Austen Centre offers a snapshot of life during Regency times and explores how living in this magnificent city affected Jane Austen’s life and writing.
Then
fly from Bristol to Glasgow where your driver, Mike Hardie, will be
waiting for you
You will be staying in Mar Hall
Glasgow's origins lie with a Christian missionary called Kentigern who established a church here. By 600AD St Kentigern (also known as St Mungo) was the Archbishop of the Kingdom of Strathclyde, whose Kings resided at Dumbarton Castle. It is usually thought that the name Glasgow comes from Kentigern's description of the place as "Glascu", a "green hollow" in Gaelic. Others suggest it is from Glascun, meaning "Church of Cunotogernus", or Kentigern's Church.
Whatever the origins of its name, Glasgow spent the next thousand years as an important ecclesiastical centre. This engine for growth stopped dead in its tracks with the coming of the Reformation in 1560, which although leaving Glasgow Cathedral miraculously unscathed, swept away the power structure of the existing Church in Glasgow and in Scotland more widely.
By the 1700s Glasgow was thriving, with new wealth based on the lucrative trade, largely in tobacco, with the American colonies. Glasgow's second major slump came with American independence in 1775, which killed much of its trade overnight.
Undaunted, Glasgow entered the 1800s as home to 77,000 people, rebuilding its foreign trade and domestic industry, this time based on cotton. By the end of the 1800s it had developed into a city of 800,000 people.
This spectacular growth was based on the development of heavy industries using raw materials from the central belt of Scotland and, in particular, on the remarkable development of the shipyards along the length of the River Clyde. Glasgow suffered during the depression of the 1930s, but this was only a precursor to the eventual demise of the Clydeside shipbuilding industry in the 1960s and 1970s.
Today's Glasgow has in large measure recovered from this third disaster, and has been referred to as the world's first post-industrial city
Glasgow is also famed for its diverse and exciting architecture. Little remains of the medieval city which, apart from the cathedral, was swept away in major redevelopments in the 1800s. What emerged was largely built on a grid pattern, the centre of which is now wrapped around on two sides by the M8 motorway and on a third by the Clyde. What takes some getting used to is Glasgow's feel: in some lights the tall buildings and grid pattern make it seem more American than Scottish.
As the adopted home of much of Scotland's art, media and culture and with with three universities in the city, Glasgow is also famed for its pubs, restaurants and nightlife. As a shopping centre, Glasgow offers the charm of its galleries and arcades combined with the biggest players in the retail world. Designer names rubbing shoulders with local producers offer goods to suit all tastes and budgets.