For many, the Cotswolds represent the English countryside at its most typical and most attractive. This is a land of rolling hills, green pastures and charming villages with delightful cottages built in honey coloured Cotswold stone, which have remained largely unchanged for the last 300 years. Stretching from Chipping Camden in the north to Bath in the south, the Cotswolds cover a large part of the county of Gloucestershire. There is a wide variety of historic houses to visit here, including the magnificent Blenheim Palace, and the beautifully preserved Jacobean Chastleton House. But it’s the small Cotswold villages – unspoilt places like Broadway, Stow-on-the-Wold and Chipping Norton – that give the area its unique character and continue to attract visitors in such large numbers.