The Village, the Church
and the Pub - by Roy Millar
A wonderful book giving a real and fascinating insight
into the three great English Institutions.
Signed copies by author direct from
Cotswolds.Info at £15.00 incl p&p
The Cotswolds
information reading books listed in this section are all recommended
by Cotswolds.Info because they have been bought, read and reviewed
by us. By buying and reading some of the books will give you,
the visitor and tourist, a depth of understanding and feeling
to immeasurably add to your holiday experience and add a third
dimension that you will ever remember. We wish you happy and
enjoyable reading.
Here you will find recommended books covering everything Cotswolds
from Arts and Crafts and Famous People to Cotswold Cooking
Recipes and Mountain Biking Guide.
Hint - for individual specialised subjects please
look at the 'Special Interest' secton.
If you are UK based click on the book title adjacent and where
no book title click on flag - Similarly
if USA based -
The Cotswolds is one of the most unique areas in the world
where time has stood still for 300 years. It is the largest
'Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty' in England and Wales.
If you want to get the best out of visiting and holidaying
in this unique area we cannot recommend too strongly obtaining,
at least one of the books, highlighted here. This will enable
you to divert from the beaten path and fully plumb the hidden
depths of this most charming and beautiful of regions in the
world.
This book has beautifull photographs and
includes Stratford and Bath
In the COUNTRY series, this is a collection of landscapes
from one of England's most beautiful areas. Within the region
are high hills, steep escarpments, rolling uplands, wooded
coombs, swift-flowing streams, ancient sites, stately homes
and lowly dwellings, all captured in photographs with notes
by Talbot and Whiteman.
Within the area of the Cotswolds, there are high hills, steep
escarpments, rolling uplands, wooded coombs, swift-flowing
streams, ancient sites and stately homes. But more than anything
else, it is the local stone, limestone, that gives the region
its distinctive character, having effect on both the landscape
and architecture. In this book, the topographical team of Rob
Talbot and Robin Whiteman aims to capture the varied landscapes
of the Cotswolds.
This is a beautiful book about a beautiful corner of Great
Britain. Susan Hill seems to appreciate the atmosphere of magic
that pervades the Cotswolds, and she has an eye for the sinister,
as befits the author of some excellent ghost stories. I recommend
this book to anyone thinking of visiting the Cotswolds, and
the photographs are very beautiful.
The Cotswolds is infamous for its allure for walkers and hikers
due to its magnificent countryside offering some of the best
walks in the UK. The rolling 'Wolds', the Cotswold escarpment
offering phenomenal views for hundreds of miles and the varying
character of the country not forgetting the wayside inns and
pubs all add up to a wonderful adventure. The famous walk is
of course the Cotswolds
Way Walk starting from the charming market town of Chipping
Campden and finishing at the magnificent georgian city
of Bath.
As the title suggests - a good introduction to the true magic
of the Cotswolds Way walk
An illustrated collection of walks around the western Cotswolds,
which offers information on a variety of routes suitable for
all levels of walker, with information on local history and places
of interest, and maps marking the selected routes.
Published in association with the Ordnance Survey as part of
the RECREATIONAL PATH GUIDES series, a walker's manual with information
and advice about the Cotswold Way's 100 mile route and the places,
such as Chipping Campden, Winchcombe and the Severn Valley, that
it passes through before finishing in Bath.
Walk through the seasons with these 12 walks and visit 12 outstanding
locations. Routes range from 9 to 14 miles for a full day out.
Interesting commentary on the c ountryside accompanies concise
instructions and clear maps. '
SIR
EDWARD ELGAR - Famous composer who lived in the Worcester
area - find
out more
Edward Elgar is among the greatest of all English composers,
and this major biography, the culmination of twenty years' work,
is probably the most complete and perceptive study of the composer
to date. Drawing on the vast amount of source material, much
of it previously unpublished, Jerrold Northrop Moore presents
Elgar's life and works as inseparable parts of a single creative
career. This classic study, unavailable for many years, is here
reissued as a Clarendon Paperback. This book is intended for
anyone interested in the music and life of Edward Elgar, students
of British 20th-century music
This important new biography of Elgar draws on letters and documents
which have become available in the last twenty-five years. Michael
Kennedy, a leading scholar of British music and a distinguished
musical biographer, uses this new material, which includes Elgar's
own vast correspondence, in an attempt to get to the centre of
the composer's complex personality.
Won a Whitbread prize in 1989
J.
ARTHUR GIBBS - Author famous for 'A Cotswold Village'
- A Classic Highly Recommended - findout
more
"The
prevailing colour of the Cotswold landscape may be said to
be that of gold. The richest gold is that of the flaming marsh-marigolds
in the water meadows during May; goldilocks and buttercups
of all kinds are golden too, but of a slightly different and
paler hue. Yellow charlock, beautiful to look upon, but hated
by the farmers, takes possession of the wheat "grounds" in
May, and holds the fields against all comers throughout the
summer. In some parts it clothes the whole landscape like a
sheet of saffron. Primroses and cowslips are of course paler
still. The ubiquitous dandelion is likewise golden; then we
have birdsfoot trefoil, ragwort, agrimony, silver-weed, celandine,
tormentil, yellow iris, St. John's wort, and a host of other
flowers of the same hue. In autumn comes the golden corn; and
later on in mid winter we have pale jessamine and lichen thriving
on the cottage walls. So throughout the year the Cotswolds
are never without this colour of saffron or gold. Only the
pockets of the natives lack it, I regret to say.
Every cottager takes a pride in his garden,
for the flower shows which are held every year result in keen
competition. A prize is always given for the prettiest garden
among all the cottagers. This is an excellent plan; it brightens
and beautifies the village street for eight months in the year.
In May the rich brown and gold of the gillyflower is seen on
every side, and their fragrance is wafted far and wide by every
breeze that blows."
'I remember, too, the light on the slopes, long shadows in tufts
and hollows, with cattle, brilliant as painted china, treading
their echoing shapes' Cider With Rosie is a wonderfully vivid
memoir of Laurie Lee's childhood and youth in a remote Cotswold
village. From the moment he is set down in the long grass, 'thick
as a forest and alive with grasshoppers', he depicts a word that
is both tangibly real yet belonging to a now distant past.
Laurie Lee, author of the beloved classic Cider with Rosie, was
born in Gloucestershire in 1914. He spent his formative years
in the village of Slad and the enclosing Cotswold valley, as
he described it, “greener and more decently lush than is
decent to the general herbaceous smugness of the English countryside.” Drawing
from Lee’s poetry and prose, this photo-laden homage to
that verdant landscape offers us a uniquely personal view of
the Cotswolds between the wars.
WILLIAM
MORRIS - Leading Victorian designer who started the
Arts and Crafts movement - find
out more
The multifaceted achievement of English Victorian designer William Morris (1834-1896) is scrutinized in this ravishing catalogue of a centenary exhibition at London's Victoria and Albert Museum. Parry, a curator at the museum, opens with a useful biographical sketch. Next, Morris biographer Fiona MacCarthy explores how the Arts and Crafts pioneer's belief in visual harmony as a basic human function informed his work in embroidery, furniture, domestic decoration, stained glass, painting, wallpapers, engravings, illumination and calligraphy, tapestry, textiles?areas discussed in greater depth in subsequent essays by British and American design historians and curators. Other selections succinctly examine Morris's activities as writer of stories, poems and prose romances, socialist proselytizer, shrewd businessman, conservationist. The closing section presents three contrasting views of Morris: an overrated inspired amateur; an eclectic humanist, forerunner of postmodernism; a pioneer who ironically inspired both left-wing internationalists and ethnic nationalists seeking a vernacular. Featuring 394 color and 161 black-and-white illustrations, this album will thrill Morris devotees. BOMC selection.
When William Morris was dying one of his physicians diagnosed his disease as 'simply being William Morris and having done more than most ten men."' This was in part true of the driven man who was a poet, translator, publisher, businessman and retailer, medievalist, weaver, textile designer, political
activist, early environmentalist, father of British Socialism,
and guiding force behind the Arts and Crafts movement. With
his complex versatility, Morris was an enigma to his Victorian
contemporaries. Though there have been numerous works on
different aspects of Morris's work, MacCarthy (Eric Gill,
LJ 3/1/89) tackles the massive job of the complete story.
Her five years of research show in her full and vivid understanding
of the artist, the man, his friends, relatives, and era.
PRINCE
CHARLES - His official residence is at Highgrove near Tetbury in
the Cotswolds - find
out more
Now
the author Anthony Holden continues this unique series with
a third, even more dramatic portrait of the ever-changing Prince
Charles. Holden's first book was a portrait of a lonely,
confused bachelor still living at home with his parents; his
second was about a driven but still troubled man, the father
of two sons, trapped in an unhappy marriage and losing public
goodwill. His third book presents a divorced prince, now a
widower, facing a stark choice: his children, the love of his
life or the throne--or, by trying to have all three, playing
a dangerous long-term game that could threaten the future of
the monarchy itself.
The tragic triangular love story of Charles, Diana and Camilla
has never before been told in such compelling detail. Once
close to Charles, and later to Diana, Holden is uniquely placed
to present both sides of their marital argument. Offering unparalleled
insights into the dramatic events of the last decade, Holden
traces the seeds of Charles's adult character in his childhood
and youth but does not flinch from criticism in recounting
how Charles reached his current dilemma as a single parent
in love with a woman he may never be able to marry. Though
Diana's death has created a wave of public sympathy for him--which
may yet see him a popular king--can the private Charles ever
find happiness without the help and support of the woman he
loves?
The Cotswolds are bordered by a rich variety
of towns and cities including the Georgian City
of Bath, The City of Dreaming Spires (Oxford),
The Regency Spa Town of Cheltenham,
the furthest in-land port of The City of Gloucester,
the famous pottery City of Worcester,
the Medieval Riverside Town of Tewkesbury and
the Roman Capital of the Cotswolds - Cirencester.
The Cotswolds, stretching from the west of Oxford to the Welsh
borders, from Bath in the South to Worcestershire in the north,
contain some of the most beautiful gardens in the world. This
is not by chance that so many celebrated gardens exist in such
a concentrated area. The combination of a temperate climate,
the natural beauty and the English passion for gardening have
contributed to their existence. The Cotswolds holds gardens
designed by such famous figures as Capability Brown, William
Kent, Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe and William Morris and of course
Prince Charles.
Most people will know two things about the garden at Highgrove--that
it is organic and that, notoriously, the Prince of Wales
talks to the plants he grows there. As The Garden at Highgrove lavishly
demonstrates, it is a garden of very considerable interest
and beauty, blending idiosyncratic touches
The Gardens of William Morris takes a close look at just how
much his designs were influenced by gardens and plants, and
also how his fabric , wallpaper and carpet designs in turn
influenced garden design....It is the sort of book that educates
and informs without being heavy going , and is ideal for
dipping in and out whenever the fancy takes you.
This fully illustrated book of Cotswold cycle rides is designed
for families, but the rides can be enjoyed by anyone who would
like a short ride in the countryside. Most rides are between
10 and 15 miles long, and all can be ridden in an afternoon
or a morning. They are on quiet country roads, though some
go across classified roads or have a short stretch along one;
one or two rides have a short stretch on a bridle path.
Designed particularly for those who like country pubs, this book
contains Cotswold cycle rides that are between ten and 16 miles
long. They are mainly on quiet country roads, though some cross
classified roads. The book also features tips and advice.
Simon Jenkins's England's Thousand Best Houses is a sumptuous,
encyclopaedic treasure trove of a book--an indispensable guide
for anyone who has ever enjoyed nosing around any of England's
great abbeys, halls, castles and homes.
...Honeypot Cottages offer a delightful selection of holiday cottages in and around the North Cotswolds market town of Chipping Campden, Broadway and surrounding villages....
Similarly
if USA based - 
When 
Now
the author Anthony Holden continues this unique series with
a third, even more dramatic portrait of the ever-changing 
