For those of you who don’t know, the area in which we are living in England is known as the “Cotsolds,” which I think is British for “ridiculously cute villages.”  One of the great things to do in the Cotswolds is to go on walks along combinations of public paths, fields, and quiet lanes.  On Sunday, we drove to the tiny village of Minster Lovell to have a bit of a walk.

There are lots of gates and fences along the way to make sure that the sheep stay in the right fields.  This type of gate is called a “kissing gate,” which the girls found very funny.

 

We had read that the paths can sometimes be muddy, and at the last minute we decided that we better all wear our wellies just be on the safe side.  The girls’ wellies are getting too small, so we had been reluctant to wear them.  It turned out to be the right call.

Much of the path followed the Windrush river, and the girls found a cool tree to climb on.  From there, they enjoyed shooting rocks into the water with their slingshots.  Yeah, about those slingshots.  When we were at the castle in Prague, I bought the girls slingshots.  Time will tell if this turns out to have been a terrible idea.  But so far, they’ve been great fun!

The path soon passed through the ruins of Minster Lovell Hall, which dates back to the 1400s.

After passing through some fields and another even smaller village (Crawley), we walked along a small country road that offered lovely views of the English countryside.

Yep, there are some lambs in that picture.  Julie, Lydie, and Cassie loved the lambs.  Seriously loved the lambs.  There’s no denying that they were cute.

Julie said she felt bad about the lamb she bought at a farmer’s market the day before.  We had it tonight, though, and it was delicious.  The country lane continued a bit further before we turned onto a path.

After following the path through some fields, we found ourselves back on a small road. The road had some gravel on the edge, so we had to stop for some more target practice.

I suppose we’re all better off if they’re accurate.  It was a wonderful walk,  with spring clearly starting to take off.

We left and headed straight to a store to buy more wellies for the girls.  We can’t wait to go on another Cotswold walk!

-Will