A gentle Sunday loop into the Cotswolds. Honey-coloured stone cottages, two of the prettiest villages in England, and a proper Sunday lunch in a 700-year-old pub. Home by early evening with full bellies and zero regrets.
No rush today. Big breakfast — Haruna and Amina have earned it after Friday's coast and Saturday's Bath. By 10am we're pulling out of the driveway. Castle Combe is 1h 45m up the M4.
A village so unchanged it's been used as a film set for everything from Doctor Dolittle to War Horse. No through-traffic, no modern signs, no overhead wires. Park at the top of the hill, walk down through it, take a hundred photos, then climb back up. The whole thing takes 45 minutes and Haruna and Amina will not believe it's real.
Bibury's Arlington Row is the cottage row printed on the inside of the UK passport — 14th-century weavers' cottages along a river so clear you can see trout. We wander first, then settle in at The Swan or The Catherine Wheel for a proper Sunday roast: roast beef, Yorkshire puddings, gravy, more roast potatoes than is sensible, sticky toffee pudding to finish.
Back to the start. Three big days, six counties, a chain ferry, a chalk cliff, a Roman bath, two storybook villages, and one very full Sunday lunch sitting in our stomachs. Haruna and Amina collapse on the sofa. John makes tea. Tomorrow afternoon: 2pm at Mercedes-Benz World — but until then, nothing is required.
Until next time, Haruna and Amina