Sunday 12 January 2014

Bourton-on-the Water




Yesterday was a glorious day, crisp, bright and sunny so we decided to go to






Bourton-on-the-Water.






It was a good decision.






The village gets very crowded in the summer months, loads of coach parties descending to visit the village that calls itself  'the Venice of the Cotswolds'.






When I first heard that I thought it was hilarious. Why not just accepts Bourton-on-the-Water for its own merits, rather than compare it to somewhere else?





But very pretty it is, and we enjoyed it in solitude in the glorious sunshine.





The first thing we noticed when we left the car park which is on the edge of the village was that the river had burst its banks in places. In this photograph the path we would normally walk on has been completely submerged. The river in the village is very shallow. In the summer when children wade in, the water only comes up to their ankles, so I did not think that this river could change much, but I was obviously wrong.





The honey-coloured Cotswold stone is always so striking in bright sunshine




 
 and the contrast with the green most pleasing.
 
 
 


As you can see, very few people about - in the summer it's impossible to walk on this path




 
and maybe comparisons with Venice are not so far-fetched...
 
 
 

 
What was really amazing yesterday were the shadows cast 
 
 
 

 
you can see them more clearly here
 
 
 

 
I love the reflection of the shadow in the water
 
 
 

 
Subdued autumn colours
 
 
 

 
These little bridges are such a delight
 
 
 

 
The Christmas tree still here, in the middle of the river
 
 
 

 
the golden glow of the branches is stunning
 
 
  


The water was a bit rough here




 
Amazing shadows - something about the light, yesterday
 
 
 

 
We came to this road in search of a ceramics studio we saw advertised and loved the red against the gold of the stone
 
 
 

 
 Enjoying the peace
 
 


 
I was quite pleased to capture the sun's rays in this photograph
 
 
 

 
I have never seen Bourton so deserted - it was such a pleasure having the place to ourselves
 
 
 
 

A family had their picnic under the tree on the left - we admired their fortitude as the day was very cold
 
 
 


We then retraced our steps back to the car.



4 comments:

  1. Lovely - and especially delightful for being so peaceful. I have never been to Bourton on the Water - it certainly looks like a beautiful place to visit on a sunny winter's day.

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    1. We had a delightful couple of hours Olga. It was lovely.

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  2. Not a part of the world I've ever been to. Looks very pretty. "Chocolate box" England. Maybe I should divert off the M5 when dashing down towards Bristol and beyond sometime

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    Replies
    1. Yes, Mick, very pretty - quintessentially English: full of tea shops as well, so all the ingredients are there. I used to love places like this when I first came to this country, so different from Greece. Still like wandering around though.

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