Cotswold Summer Field - a photo on Flickriver

            A jagged sentinel stands watch over green grass, golden fields and blue skies in mid-summer alongside a typical lane in England's beautiful Cotswolds region.

The Cotswolds are a range of hills in southwestern and west-central England, an area 25 miles (40 km) across and 90 miles (145 km) long. The area has been designated as the Cotswold Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

The area is characterised by attractive small towns and villages built of the underlying Cotswold stone (a yellow oolitic limestone). This limestone is rich in fossils, particularly of fossilised sea urchins. In the Middle Ages the wool trade made the Cotswolds prosperous. Some of this money was put into the building of churches so the area has a number of large and handsome Cotswold stone "wool churches". The area remains affluent and has attracted wealthy people who own second homes in the area or have chosen to retire there. Cotswold towns include Bourton-on-the-Water, Broadway, Burford, Chipping Norton, Cirencester, Moreton-in-Marsh, Northleach, Stow-on-the-Wold, Stroud, and Winchcombe. The town of Chipping Campden is notable for being the home of the Arts and Crafts Movement, founded by William Morris at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries.

The name Cotswold is sometimes attributed the meaning, sheep enclosure in rolling hillsides, incorporating the term, wold, meaning, woodland. The English Place-Name Society has for many years accepted that the term Cotswold is derived from Codesuualt of the twelfth century or other variations on this form, the etymology of which was given, 'Cod's-wold', which is 'Cod's high open land'. Cod was interpreted as an Old English personal name, which may be recognised in further names: Cutsdean, Codeswellan, and Codesbyrig, some of which date back to the eighth century AD. It has subsequently been noticed that "Cod" could derive philologically from a Brittonic female cogname "Cuda", which is the name of a mother goddess thought to have resided in the Cotswold region in Celtic mythology. (Wikipedia)

Whichever origin story you prefer, I would heartily recommend a drive through this beautiful region (and a stay and some hikes, if you are able), the next time you find yourself in England.

Thanks for stopping by!

Taken in: United Kingdom / England (show map)

Taken on: July 13, 2013

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England

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Cotswolds

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blue sky

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Simply Superb

12-50mm f/3.5-6.3 M.Zuiko « less

Sets appears in: • Britain & Ireland • 12-50mm f/3.5-6.3 M.Zuiko lens more » • Olympus OM-D E-M5 • Natural landscapes « less

Groups appears in: • Landscape photography • Trees of Britain and Ireland more » • Sierra Club's Daily Ray of Hope • **Simply Superb (P 1- A 2)** • The Lie of the Land (add one, comment one) • Micro Four Thirds Community • Landscape Beauty ! « less

Camera: Olympus E-M5, f/5.0, 1/500 sec, 22mm (=44mm), ISO 200 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Olympus E-M5
Lens:	OLYMPUS M.12-50mm F3.5-6.3
Aperture:	f/5.0
Exposure Time:	0.002 sec (1/500)
Focal Length:	22mm (35mm equivalent: 44mm)
ISO:	200
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Auto, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Aperture-priority AE
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Sharpness:	Hard
Color Space:	Uncalibrated
Software:	Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4.4 (Macintosh)
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