3. SNOWSHILL/BROADWAY/STANTON AND STANWAY
Updated May 2021
Distance from Ilmington and our cottage (www.houfy.com/1016) to Snowshill: 10 miles
Snowshill is an attractive village with Snowshill Manor at its heart. a classic country house and treasure trove: it contains the extraordinary and fascinating collection of objects made by Charles Wade, the architect. The gardens are an Arts and Crafts delight. It is quite a walk from the entrance to the house, so they provide little buggies to ferry those not able or inclined to walk (or if it is raining hard) that distance.
In July/August the lavender fields nearby, are in bloom, and you pass them on the way there from our rental cottage www.houfy.com/1016 near Chipping Campden. There is a café attached to the lavender farm which sells delicious lavender shortbread as well as lavender soaps, bags, and other lavender related things. The lavender fields are not properly visible from the road anymore, so you have to pay to visit them. You will still be able to smell them though, even if you don’t go in!
On that day, you might like to take in Broadway Tower (the view from there is said to be of 16 counties on a clear day but it is pretty spectacular on any day). The tower contains an exhibition on William Morris (who came here on holiday) and, also on the nuclear bunkers of the Royal Observer Corps – with one such bunker on site and open to visitors on weekends.
Broadway village is a large pretty village with lovely buildings, but it is quite touristy in the summer (not as bad as Bourton on the Water though!) It is a big village, like Chipping Campden, architecturally, but with a very wide main street and lots of shops. In the early 20th century John Singer Sargent, Edmund Gosse and Henry James were just some of the artists and writers who gathered here. The Arts and Crafts set too. The furniture designer Gordon Russell grew up in Broadway and had a workshop here, which is now museum of design. The Asmolean museum of Oxford has a ‘little brother’ here – a small museum in the High Street, set in a Tudor mansion. The shopping is great in the High Street too and you won’t go hungry with many hotels, restaurants and tearooms to choose from.
On this outing you can also visit Stanton village and Stanway House (check opening hours online). Stanton village is lovely and there is a great walk from Stanton to Stanway or in the opposite direction (my cottage 'hikes' file gives details of this and many other walks in the area). Stanway House is open on limited days and they have the largest gravity fed fountain in Europe.
You might like to have a drink or lunch or a summer evening meal at The Plough at Ford, an attractive pub much frequented by the jockeys and trainers in the area and it has a fire in the winter on cold days and tables in the garden in summer. Alternatively, try the Mount Inn at Stanton.
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In Ilmington – The community shop (staffed by volunteers) on Grump Street. Sited in the old Catholic Church on the Upper Green. Open from 7.30 in the morning. Fresh local vegetables and meat. Fruit, all everyday items. Newspapers etc. Freshly baked croissants every morning. There is a café attached.
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