The Cotswold area is another beautiful place in England with rolling green hills and breath taking vistas everywhere. They have had a horrible summer this year with heavy rains and many of the villages flooded. Most of it seems to have dried up but you can see piles of wet carpet and ruined furniture in front of houses or pubs. One pub we went into had obvious water damage to the lower part of the wall but because it is made of stone and not the easily destroyed plaster board, it is just a matter of scrapping off the plaster and letting it all dry. They were open for business in any case. 
 I have a friend, Mary, an American that I met a few years ago through some internet friends. A group of us went to a brochantes and it was obvious that Mary and I were the two most into floating around the markets and seeing what we could find. Any time she would come to Paris we would go out and check out the vide greniers and buy our treasures. It is funny that, although we are both Americans, we have never met in the States. We have seen each other in Paris, Provence, Thailand and England. Mary has some friends that she cat sits for in Colorado. They also have a fabulous place in the Cotswolds which is how Maurice and I came to be here sharing the space with two cats, and Mary, of course. They are so funny, all fluffy and flat faced who like to sit in chairs beside us when we eat and who, when they eat their own dinner, have a little flower and feather arrangement sitting beside their dish. The male cat likes men and he immediately made himself at home on Maurice’s lap. 
 So we got to explore the area with Mary. She knows the villages well and we did a circle stopping at lovely little villages , many of which sit on rivers and which got flooded. Most all of them have marvelous little churches and that English architecture that I love so much. All of our lunches were at ancient old pubs which is fun. I almost always have a poughman’s plate which is ham, cheese and a salad along with that sweet English chutney. I love that stuff. I like sweet pickles too which is why it tastes so good to me. It’s really good with ham and cold meats. 
 

What a beautiful area this is.

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The view from the cat’s house.

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This was in the vegetable garden. Each person living in the building had their own plot.

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This is a conservatory on the grounds full of pots of flowers.

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