It was the day, finally, for us to explore the small towns of Cotswolds, made famous by Condé Nast, Lonely Planet and all those other travel media inspirers online, bucket list creators and purveyors all. When we planned this trip over the past months I relied much on research and social media suggestions to find the best towns there are, and Chipping Campden came up consistently enough it had to be in our list as well. So on an early Sunday morning, braving church-going traffic and other quaintness-seekers, we drove north for our first taste of what the Cotswolds is famous for.

Our first stop didn’t disappoint in the least. Parking was a slight challenge but the walk to the center of town, streets nearly empty, unfailingly sunny, and with a little cool breeze, was worth the trip in itself, with the centre typical of practiced English quaintness, as much as it could possibly get. It was a good start to the day.