A Weekend in the Cotswolds (2023)

In October 2023, I spent the weekend in the Cotswolds with a couple of my closest mates from uni. We'd initially planned to spend a weekend in the countryside over the summer, however this ended up falling through and we'd postponed to the first weekend of October, which worked perfectly as there were fewer flies and the weather was more conducive to a weekend in a cabin. Our accommodation was a cosy lodge in the middle of a farm, with minimal electricity which was the getaway we needed.

Friday

Although my friends managed to get the Friday off work so arrived in the afternoon, I ended up being very busy so had to meet them in the evening. I left right as London's rush hour commenced and the drive ended up taking 3.5 hours, mostly down country roads. I'm not used to driving down country roads in the dark so was thrown off, and only on the return journey did I realise that I still had 'avoid motorways' ticked from my previous weekend driving in Belgium.

Despite the gruelling drive, I arrived around 8.45pm and was greeted with pizza that my friends had ordered just in time. They'd also gone to a supermarket and bought various snacks for our stay, which was appreciated. We then got a bonfire going and roasted some marshmallows for s'mores, which was very wholesome. That evening, we each gave a life update in the form of a PowerPoint presentation, after having been inspired by various tiktoks, which was very entertaining but also a great way to catch up over some drinks before bed.

Saturday

We started the following day with some scrambled eggs on toast, coffee, orange juice and bananas, courtesy of my friend Char. We then drove to Burford, a very picturesque town in the Cotswolds filled with traffic. After a little wander around the high street, we headed to a beautiful village called Bourton-on-the-Water, which was also very cute but chock-a-block with cars. We explored the village with tea in hand and once we'd seen everything that we wanted to see, we headed back to our little lodge.

The hot tub was heated by a log fire so whilst that got going, we enjoyed a spread of snacks and sandwiches. We then went in the hot tub, however the water got progressively hotter until I could barely dip my toes in. Eventually, two of us built up the courage to reenter (after adding in a lot of cold water), and although we acclimatised, we both felt very dizzy for a while. The fact that we'd mainly drunk alcohol instead of water probably didn't help. As dusk arrived, we eventually got out of the hot tub, put on face masks, and then played various card and board games while we snacked and drank, including Irish snap, dobble, and the hat game, to round off the evening.

Sunday

Sunday rolled around faster than any of us could've imagined and after breakfast we doled out the remainder of the snacks we'd bought (which was a lot in hindsight) and packed up. We left at 11am but didn't want to part ways just yet, so instead decided to drive to a nearby market-town: Stow-on-the-Wold. This idyllic town was slightly hectic as some roads were closed, however we were very lucky to find free parking spaces and then treated ourselves to a Sunday roast at Sheep on Sheep Street, which was delicious.

Unfortunately, thereafter we had to make our way back to our respective cities, so I drove back to London with one friend, whilst the other headed back to Leicester. The entire weekend was very wholesome and enjoyable, and the perfect way to reunite after a few months apart. The fact that the weather was good and it didn't rain was just the cherry on top.