The Cotswolds are a range of hills in central England, sometimes called the "heart of England", a hilly area reaching nearly 300 m or 1000 feet. The area has been designated as the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

A district of Gloucestershire is named Cotswold after the hills.

Description

The spine of the Cotswolds runs southwest to northeast through six counties, particularly Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, and southern Warwickshire. The northern edge of the Cotswolds is marked by a steep escarpment down to the Severn valley and the Avon, the eastern boundary by the city of Oxford (the city of dreaming spires), the west by Stroud, and the south by the middle reaches of the Thames Valley and towns such as Cirencester, Lechlade and Fairford.

A Cotswold scene at Bibury in Gloucestershire

The underlying rock, known as Cotswold stone, is a yellow oolitic limestone, and the area is characterised by attractive small towns and villages built of this local stone. The area is particularly good for sheep grazing: in the Middle Ages, the Cotswolds were extremely prosperous from the wool trade. Some of this money was put into the building of churches, so the area has a number of large, handsome Cotswold stone "wool churches". The area remains affluent and has attracted wealthy Londoners and others who own second homes in the area or have chosen to retire to the Cotswolds.

Typical Cotswold towns include Burford, Chipping Norton, Cirencester, Moreton-in-Marsh and Stow-on-the-Wold. The Cotswold village of Chipping Campden is notable for being the home of the Arts and Crafts movement, founded by William Morris at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries.

Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty

The Cotswolds were designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in 1966; which was expanded in 1991 to 2046 square kilometres. The AONB runs from the high Cotswolds, around Bredon Hill and Chipping Campden in the North, then South along the spine of high ground to the 'Bristol' Avon at Bath. The Cotswold Way is a long-distance footpath (approx 103 miles) running the length of the AONB.

See also

• Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty in England
• Geology of the United Kingdom
• UK topics

External links

• Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty Website (http://www.cotswoldsaonb.com/)
• The Cotswolds (http://www.the-cotswolds.org/) - Tourist guide
• Hotels in the Cotswolds (http://www.hotelsinthecotswolds.com/)
• Cotswolds Info (http://www.cotswolds.info/) - Tourist guide
• This is the Cotswolds (http://www.thisisthecotswolds.co.uk/) - Local news and information
• Guide to the Cotswolds from Navito UK (http://www.navito.co.uk/cotswolds/) - Introduction to the Cotswolds plus searchable database for locating Cotswolds pubs, hotels and other businesses and a book shop for maps and books about the Cotswolds.
• Noel Arms Hotel Cotswolds (http://www.noelarmshotel.com/)
• The Cotswold House Hotel (http://www.cotswoldhouse.com/)