Cotswolds Photography

[Don Kellogg]

I will be visiting the Cotswolds by car October 5-3. I am wondering if anyone was any tips about where to stay and recommendations as to various venues and general photographic "hot spots". Would it be worthwhile to have a local photographic guide and if so who? Are there any publications that would be helpful? Thanks for any help.

Don Kellogg

[tlitody]

cotswolds is quite a big area. Can you be more specific. I used to live in Cheltenham and also on the southern edge so know some places. It really depends what you are loking to see. Obviously you have the really touristy spots:

Stratford-upon-Avon (home of shakespeare on northern boundary).
Pretty villages and little towns everywhere:
Stow-on-the-Wold
Moreton-in-the-Marsh
Burford
Bibury (a must for the weavers cottages (arlington row))
Chipping Norton
Chipping Camden
Painswick
Minchinhampton
North Leach
Withington
Cirencester
There are too many to list. They are all very pretty. Low dry stones walls (for sheep containment) everywhere and old listed buildings of Cotswold Stone. All very chocolate box lid like.
Cheltenham is worth a visit for festivals (Literature in October some time)
Gloucester Cathedral is impressive and good for LF inside and in cloisters.
Gloucester docks is very photogenic with a lot of old boats(at upper reaches of navigable river severn).
Bath at SW end of cotswolds is full of interesting things to see.
Oxfordshire and Oxford form part of cotswolds (costwold stone buildings)
Cirencester market town and famous cirencester park(open to public) and royals are often to be seen playing polo(if you want to see how the other half live).
Westonbirt arboretum is a must in autumn for the colours. Just near Prince Charles' pad at Higrove House,Tetbury(not open to public).
Lacock Abbey home Fox Talbot with photography museum.

Where to stay? Depends on budget and Cotswolds is not cheap. There are lots of little Inns some of which have high class catering but don't expect cheap cos you'll struggle to find anything.

Near cirencester you have:
Bathurst Arms, North Cerney
Crown of Crucis, Ampney Crucis
Bibury Court Hotel, Bibury
Queens Hotel, Cheltenham
Barnsley House, Barnsley, Cirencester (not the Barnsley up north)
Swan Hotel, Bibury

and if you really want to splash out then:
http://www.lowerslaughter.co.uk/


There will be places in all the other little towns or villages too. Too many to list.

http://www.the-cotswolds.org/

Oh musn't forget Castle Combe voted prettiest village in England I beleive. Mind the parrot in the pub. It likes to bite peoples fingers off.

[Steve Gledhill]

Don,

Lovely area to photograph - endless possibilities. I live on the NW edge of the Cotswolds. I have some images from the Cotswolds on 3 pages of my website - http://www.virtuallygrey.co.uk/portfolio65493.html The first page also links to a blog I created whilst walking the 204 miles Cotswold Way (there and back). You might get some ideas from there.

And everything tlitody says I agree with.

PM me if you'd like to talk about options. Where in the world are you from?

[Pete Watkins]

Don't forget the Rollright Stones near Little Compton. Fantastic Neolithic stone circle. Take some divining rods, you won't believe it. No problem using L.F. gear here. If you walk round the path to the Whispering Knights they're surrounded by old railings and you would need to be handy with Photoshop or whatever to get rid of them. If you go on a Tuesday it's market day in nearby Moreton in the Marsh.
Have fun,
Pete.

[Steven Tribe]

There are plenty of large and small National Trust (Both Houses and Gardens of various periods) properties in the area.
These have a day each week when they are closed. If you approach the local office (email) of the Trust, you can almost certainly get a pass for any that look interesting and match your taste in subjects. There are plenty of staff around these days (cleaning teams etc.) so you can get assistance. Mention the photography objective. I would recommend Dyrham Park, which has two architects for the two main facades, landscaped grounds with fallow deer, formal baroque garden, separate church, decrepit churchyard and the no-nonsense villages of Dyrham and Hinton.
Just NE of Bath.

[tlitody]

this site gives much interesting background to the area and also many links to all the places of interest.
http://www.cotswoldsaonb.org.uk/