Bourton-on-the Water

Yesterday was a glorious day, crisp, bright and sunny so we decided to go to






Bourton-on-the-Water.






It was a good decision.






The village gets very crowded in the summer months, loads of coach parties descending to visit the village that calls itself  'the Venice of the Cotswolds'.






When I first heard that I thought it was hilarious. Why not just accepts Bourton-on-the-Water for its own merits, rather than compare it to somewhere else?

But very pretty it is, and we enjoyed it in solitude in the glorious sunshine.

The first thing we noticed when we left the car park which is on the edge of the village was that the river had burst its banks in places. In this photograph the path we would normally walk on has been completely submerged. The river in the village is very shallow. In the summer when children wade in, the water only comes up to their ankles, so I did not think that this river could change much, but I was obviously wrong.

The honey-coloured Cotswold stone is always so striking in bright sunshine

 

 and the contrast with the green most pleasing.

 

 

 

As you can see, very few people about - in the summer it's impossible to walk on this path

 

and maybe comparisons with Venice are not so far-fetched...

 

 

 

 

What was really amazing yesterday were the shadows cast 

 

 

 

 

you can see them more clearly here

 

 

 

 

I love the reflection of the shadow in the water

 

 

 

 

Subdued autumn colours

 

 

 

 

These little bridges are such a delight

 

 

 

 

The Christmas tree still here, in the middle of the river

 

 

 

 

the golden glow of the branches is stunning

 

 

  

The water was a bit rough here

 

Amazing shadows - something about the light, yesterday

 

 

 

 

We came to this road in search of a ceramics studio we saw advertised and loved the red against the gold of the stone

 

 

 

 

 Enjoying the peace

 

 

 

I was quite pleased to capture the sun's rays in this photograph

 

 

 

 

I have never seen Bourton so deserted - it was such a pleasure having the place to ourselves

 

 

 

 

A family had their picnic under the tree on the left - we admired their fortitude as the day was very cold

 

 

 

We then retraced our steps back to the car.