5 Nights in Broadway

Another visit to a favourite, Broadway in the Cotswolds, for the last leg of this outing. Could only get a serviced pitch which was a bit pricey and over budget; but we fancied it to complete the tour. (For reference we were on pitch 18, no sun in the morning but stayed with us till 7 ish in the evening). Site was busy as now in full school holiday period, and slightly off plan as we’d decided to be at home for the 6 week holidays.

Weather wasn’t great to be fair but spent an enjoyable few days, with only one wash out day where we filled the day with domestics in the morning and the afternoon sat with a few beers inside at The Swan. Nice to be “free” just to

call in for spontaneous drinks, go to the bar and grab a prime spot to watch over the pleasant village green toward the picture perfect cottages beyond. We did the obligatory trip to the cafe at the Tower for lunch on our first day; a bit breezy but it had to be done for an easy day.

Other finer and sunnier days were spent doing 2 new walks; the first a 10 mile circuit to Saintbury, through Lynches Wood and up to the viewpoint of Dover’s Hill (In the nearby woodland at the terraced sides are alleged to be all that remains of a Roman vineyard). The Cotswold Olimpick Games are an annual celebration held at the hill on the friday after Spring Bank Holiday, and may have begun as early as 1622 on the hill. At 230m not the highest hill in the area, but it has nice views from its plateau. We returned back using a familiar track, the 5 Mile Drive, over Fish Hill and into Broadway down Tower Hill. Back in town we called at The Horse and Hound for refreshments, we’d not been in this pub for certainly 26 years so decided we should give it another chance. It was lovely, good beer, proper pub well kept. Be back before we’re 81. Now hungry we planned a chippie tea; Russell’s in Broadway were told to keep their Sausages and Chips twice when they tried to charge me just under £20. We had a fry up back at the van, Tom and I get a bucket of chips and a sausage the size of a small child’s arm for about £6 on a match day. What a fucking liberty to coin a phrase.

Seeking another new route (& to avoid 2 mud baths in Broadway Coppice and Buckland Wood) we took the Cotswold Way & Winchombe Way toward Snowshill, across to the very pretty village of Stanton. Chatted with a friendly chap out walking his dog, turned out he lived overlooking the village green and house is for sale. We can’t afford it. The village is renowned as being postcard Cotswolds and is beautiful to be fair. Church is very pretty and the path we took over to Laverton goes through the historical churchyard which dates back to 12th century. Realising the route I’d carefully chosen would lead us back through a known quagmire my popularity with Mrs H plunged when the diversion I’d also equally carefully chose took us up a near vertical climb rejoining the Cotswold Way. At least our boots are clean.

Journey from Milford on Sea to Broadway was 124 miles, and this stop took our number of nights out this year to a respectable 90.

Back home for a few weeks now to catch up on domestics, do some local site seeing, see some football with Tom and have a few nights out and more importantly catch up with the family.