Longbrook Barn Farm CL, Cold Aston

Longbrook Barn Farm CL, Cold Aston, Cotswolds.

Friday 3rd March 2023

    It was a little way on a single track road to get to the farm.  The entrance to the site is from the north due to the turn into the driveway.  Money is in an envelope, put into post box at entrance and then through an electric gate to get onto field past working stables.  

    Darren, the horse, bites apparently.  The field is relatively flat.  Just as well as we'd forgotten the spirit level.  There are walks over the fields just outside the entrance.

    Once arrived and set up, we sat down to tea and cake and were treated to a wonderful flight of a red kite.  He stayed around for quite some time and at times came quite close.  It was beautiful to see and I hope he comes back again. Also, saw a kestrel hovering. Lovely! 😊

Barn owl hunting

    After our refreshment, we went to Burford (first 5 pics) to have a look around.  Set on a hill, the town is  mainly one street.  A real surprise was free parking!   It's a lovely town and has some good independent  gift shops.  We bought a Christmas present already!

    Back at the caravan, whilst having another cuppa along came the Barn Owl.  Gorgeous.

    Dinner was at the Plough Inn in the village.  It was a lovely olde world pub.  Mike had steak which he thought was good but chips weren't completely cooked.  I had the vegetarian option which was quite tasty.

 Saturday

    We went to Stow on the Wold.  The lady who runs the farm said there is free parking in the town square and places are vacated regularly but you need to hold your nerve whilst waiting for one. We decided not to chance it and made our way to the car park. Walking from the carpark we came across the Porch House.

 It used to be called the Royalist Hotel and it has been authenticated by the Guinness Book of Records as England’s Oldest Inn being certified as dating back to 947AD. Apparently it also has strange markings on the bar that were supposedly made by witches.

Stow also has a 'Tolkein' door at the church but we didn't get to see that. We were lucky enough to go to the first craft fayre of the year which is held monthly. Free entry and lovely coffee and cakes.

Drive around and saw Wick Rissington which is quite quaint with a very wide street.

 Lower and Upper Slaughter are also very pretty villages. We tried to park in Bourton on the Water but couldn't so didn't see much of that.

    In the afternoon, I did some needle felting that Mike calls 'chuffing - steam engine' as that's what it sounds like apparently.  I created a Barn Owl picture as a reminder of our stay here.

    The electric is quite expensive now and metered Mike made sure to get some more gas.  There's Autogas point at Cirencester Service Station.

Sunday

    Cooked breakfast! Can't beat it but it does leave you full all day which is good unless you want to stay out for a cuppa.

Went to Fairford as we saw a walk in a book left at the site. Fairford is lovely. Old 15th century church with funeral head stone dedicated to the church cat who died aged 17 in 1980.

Followed a walk along the river Coln. Quite fast flowing and saw posters about water voles they are trying to keep from harms way.  Met Tom who was very knowledgeable about the river and the water voles. Followed the directions in the book for the rest of the walk but a housing estate had been out up since it was printed so we had to find our own way. Also saw a statue of a rabbit which on reflection seemed to be like the barons that were set up in Salisbury about 4 years ago.

Found a farm shop on the way back but it was very lardi-daa. Did get some sausages for dinner though.

Returned to Stow (pic at end of Fairford section) to see if I could get a Prinknash tea set I'd seen yesterday but the shop was closed.

Returned to van for a cuppa then I went for a walk around the village. Found a public footpath that went through a field of sheep. It wasn't clear where the path went to and as I thought the sheep maybe pregnant I didn't want to disturb them so wandered back.

Lovely sunset and captured the van with it.

Monday

Going home day so usual cleaning (it's so much easier than doing it in the driveway). The lady came to talk with us, and to get the extra electric money now they have meters. She said we could stay as long as we liked.

Would like to return.