When we went away for a few days recently there were only a few places that we definitely wanted to explore but when we looked at the map we realised there were so many towns nearby that it was daft not to take the opportunity to visit them while we were so far down south. Evesham was one of the places we spotted on the map. A hop and a skip from where we were, unfortunately it was raining heavily by the time we got there and it isn’t the sort of place where you can go into a department store to dry off. The photo below is of The Almonry, a 14th century building, and I managed to snap it in a lull in the downpour.

Evesham is in Worcestershire, apple growing country and I realised that we would be there at the perfect time for the blossom but unfortunately it wasn’t possible to stop the car whenever we saw the trees in bloom. They looked very pretty, even through the rain.

Driving out of Evesham towards Chipping Norton is quite a climb for a car and you can look down at the Vale of Evesham which I imagine is a good view on a clear day.

I had heard people raving about the beauties of the Cotswold hills and you travel through them to get to Chipping Norton but I have to say that they didn’t seem much to write home about. Mind you I was brought up in the west of Scotland and I don’t think you can beat those hills for beauty anywhere in Britain – well that’s my opinion anyway!

One lovely thing though was the colour of the Cotswold stone, it’s a really lovely warm golden honey colour. There are villages with all of the houses built of Cotswold stone and they must look very pretty when the sun is shining on them, if it ever does.

These two photos are of the main street in Chipping Norton you can read about the town here. It’s quite a bustling place with a few bookshops, second hand and new and it’s very historic and worthwhile having a look at if you’re in that area.

There are just a few buildings of Cotswold stone here.

We managed to visit quite a few English counties that we hadn’t been to before. I now have a mental list which I’m ticking off as we go. This was Worcestershire and Oxfordshire, the next visit will be Stratford-on-Avon, Warwickshire.