The Cotswolds stretch across five English counties; Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, Warwickshire, Wiltshire and Worcestershire. It’s about 800 square miles, stretching southwest from near Stratford-upon-Avon to just south of the City of Bath.
It was designated as an AONB in 1966 and forms the best-known section of the outcrop of Oolitic limestone that stretches across England from Lyme Bay in Dorset to the North Sea, in North Yorkshire and Lincolnshire.
The success of the wool trade in the Cotswolds from the Middle Ages onwards is hugely significant. The wealth generated by wool merchants went into bricks and mortar and has left the Cotswolds with a living legacy, the fine architecture carved out in the soft limestone of the houses and churches in Cotswold towns and villages.
About 86% of land in the Cotswolds if farmland with mixed arable farms and 10% of land is woodland. No wonder why it’s packed full of shops offering the best local produce.