Chipping Campden

Perhaps 15-20 minutes from Stow-on-the-Wold is the village of Chipping Campden. "Chipping" is an old English word that means market place. The locals refer to it as "Chippy." We recently spent a day in this village on the northern edge of the Cotswolds.

We arrived just as the stores were opening and wandered down High Street, stopping to spend time in a very old bookstore. After milling around for awhile and visiting with another tourist, we had lunch in a charming old tea room. Afterwards, we browsed a few more shops and then ended up at the Silk Mill Cottage where we were able to observe a silversmith and stone cutter at their craft.

We also hit the mother lode of used china and glassware in an antique shop with an entire basement full of goodies! We crept down a winding staircase into 4 or 5 smallish rooms, none in which Ronnie could stand up straight without knocking his head. I could have browsed for a week, but for some reason Ronnie wasn't as comfortable or enthusiastic as I was. It's just as well, as there is absolutely no more room in my luggage and all the spider webs were creeping me out as well.

We never made it past High Street so hopefully we can get back over and see the rest of the village before we leave England. "Chippy" is close by and interesting - the perfect day trip!

If interested in knowing more about Chipping Campden, click here.

Chippy proudly flies the flag

houses along High Street

Market Hall, erected 1627

produce market still held here each Saturday

one of several tea rooms along High Street

I like to use Trip Advisor when we're in an unfamiliar place and I need a restaurant (or other) recommendation. Tourists rated Bantam's Tea Room highest so we went with it and it did not disappoint. I had an egg salad sandwich with cream tea (yes, that included a scone with clotted cream and jam) and Ronnie branched out and had cottage pie. The difference in cottage pie and shepherd's pie is that the first is made with beef and the second is made with lamb. 

 

I'll have a lump!

After lunch, we walked down to Silk Mill Cottage where a few local craftsmen practice their trade. The only ones working while we were there were a stone cutter and a silversmith. There was a small coffee shop so we took a break before heading back to Stow.

stone cutter Ian Ashurst working on a commissioned piece

silversmith's tools

just a few tools of the trade

David Hart, third generation silversmith

We had a nice visit with this gentleman. He works at the same bench his grandfather worked at when he started the business in 1902. After his grandfather died, his father moved to that bench, and now it is where he works, while a son and nephew sit opposite him to design their wares. There's a ton of history in this shop and I took a lot of photos there. For more information on his work, click here.

all public school boys wear coats and ties

Now I could have spent some serious time in this antique shop. Notice where Ronnie's head is in relation to the wooden ceiling beam. The basement consists of several rooms which you will see below. The upper rooms are neatly organized with silver and more expensive pieces residing behind glass. Owners instruct customers to leave bags and large purses behind the counter before heading down the winding staircase. As soon as we started down the tight spiral with glassware on both sides, I quickly understood the reason for their request. How easy it would be to inadvertently knock something off a shelf with a bag on your shoulder!

I'll confess up front that I'm posting too many photos of this shop, but it's hard to get the full effect with just one or two! If you're into collectibles or dishware, you'll be drooling by the time you're done looking at these. :)

MIND YOUR HEAD!

A good name...

One of the things I love about the Cotswolds is the way most of the homes (cottages if small, manors if large) boast a name. Almost every single residence is identified, not with the street name and house number like we're used to, but by a name suited to the owners or to the house itself. I'm sure for mailing purposes, they do have addresses but for identification purposes, a name is adequate. Each time we talk to a local, they want to know where we're staying. As soon as we say the Old School House they know exactly where we are.

note golden limestone on many of the homes

Ronnie's biking friend Graham house is behind this stone fence

Many of the homes bear plaques with the name of the residence. Often the plaques are placed next to the front door, or sometimes above the door or even on a stone fence or gate where it can be easily seen. Occasionally they appear to be family names, but more often it is just a name given to the residence. The names are as charming as the stone houses. For instance, the Hollyhock Cottage has hollyhocks growing in the front yard. The Lavender Cottage has a big patch of lavender growing in the raised area next to the house. The Vine Cottage is covered with grapevines.

Some of the homes are obviously named after the role they played in former days (see Old Forge below).The older gentleman, Clive, who lives down on the corner says that his house is called the Toll House because when the king required travelers to pay taxes to drive on the Oddington Road, the toll was collected at his house.

Vine Cottage

I've seen Vine Cottages in 2 different villages, both covered with grapevines and clusters of grapes surrounding windows and doors.

 

love smelling the lavender each time I pass!

What if we named our houses? What name would you give yours? I'm still thinking about that one. It would NOT be Fire Ant Cottage!!

Mary Arden's Farm

If you can take just a little more Stratford-upon-Avon, I'll include one of the other properties we visited, the 16th century farmhouse of Shakespeare's grandparents and childhood home of his mother, Mary Arden. The adjoining property is a "living museum" where one can experience what life might have been like on a Tudor farm back in the mid-1500's.

We purchased the hop-on hop-off sight-seeing tour which included 5 different houses with 11 different stops but found that there wasn't time to do justice to more than 2 in a day, so we ended up making 3 separate trips to Stratford in order to see all the properties included in our tour. Other houses which I photographed but won't post were Hall's Croft (Shakespeare's daughter and son-in-law's house) and the Nash House (Shakespeare's granddaughter).

For more on Mary Arden's House, click here.

Home of Shakespeare's mother -  Featherbed Lane, Wilmcote

back of home

inside the dovecote

climbing roses in front garden

typical period table setting

primitive "utility" room?

notice height of door frame (mind your head!)

birthing room, rope bed, cradle

boys and servants slept on floor

The master of house and wife slept in a bed. The best bed in the house was reserved for guests. Boys and servants slept on the floor in the upper level. Girls slept on literal "shelves" coming out of the wall from the time they were very young until they left home. Girls who were not married by a certain age were said to have been "left on the shelf." 

through entry to garden

farmhouse kitchen

gathering the last of the plums for pie

As a "living history" museum, workers carried on tasks as they might have back in the mid-1500's. The farm included a dovecote, falconry, gardens and lots of animals - cows, pigs, goats, horses, chickens, etc.

Tudor farm maid

spinning wheel used to spin wool

barns and out buildings

makin' bacon