Big Changes Afoot

Posted on August 14, 2026 by johnshortlandwriter

I have now lived in the little stone cottage set in the heart of the secret valley for twenty-six years, far longer than any other house during my lifetime. Its isolation became my refuge when, with my then new partner’s support, I rebuilt my life after a period of huge emotional difficulty. It was here where I made new friends, found new interests, developed my horticultural career and surrounded myself with animals. Soon the two of us will be moving house and leaving the valley forever. More of this later, today it seems appropriate to take a wander around the valley and re-visit some of those happy memories.

*A cold day in the valley viewed from the warmth of our conservatory*

The cottage as regular readers of this blog will know is set in small, deep and well-hidden valley. It is surrounded by fields and by the river which wraps itself around two sides of the house. It is a river of extremes, in places deep and slow, in others clear and fast running. At times its banks are quite straight, whereas along other stretches it is full of bends and meanders, as shown in my blog header. At present, especially because of the prolonged drought, the water levels are low, no doubt before long it will have filled and spilled over to flood the fields and lane. Our house sits high enough never to be threatened by flood, in fact, I rather like it like that for it brings the water birds so much closer.

*When the river floods it floods deep and wide*

When I first came here, the farm of which the cottage is part, concentrated on sheep, my favourite of all farm animals. They were a happy link to past times spent on Exmoor working on a friend’s farm – it was Exmoor where I learnt to lamb, to shear and to embrace remote living. Now, the sheep have gone and beef cattle have taken their place. It is equally lovely to see them grazing just feet away from the windows and their curiosity and friendship are endearing. Calving takes place twice a year – how glad I am that I never learnt how to help with that!

*I really miss not having sheep on the farm – apart from when its snowy!*

Living where we do it was very easy to collect animals, and horses, chickens, guinea fowl and quail, cats, as well as several dogs, all became part of the daily routine. I had always ridden horses since my teens but I had never been a confident rider. That all changed when my partner who is a superb rider and has won numerous competitions, arranged for me to have my own horse and lessons from one of the best teachers in the area. Jo was a strict taskmaster and before long I was able to charge about feeling quite secure on Barney, a gentle giant of horse, an Irish Draught. He was followed by several others including Tux, a retired racehorse straight off the track. He and I would have constant disagreements about what speed we intended to travel but, I’m glad to say, no bones were broken in the process of learning how to control him. The dogs deserve a blog post of their own which no doubt they will get before too long.

*The number of horses kept growing!*
*The little horse to my right is Tux, the very mischievous retired racehorse*
Photo credit: Jane Stilwell

Because it is so quiet here in the valley, wildlife abounds with fox, badger, deer and the occasional otter, as well as some wonderful birdlife. As dusk draws in it is not uncommon to see a fox amble across the meadow and I have learnt where to quietly sit if I want to see them with their cubs. When I was much younger I would also lie on the ground in near total darkness waiting for the badgers to venture out of their setts; these days I am more than happy to just have a fleeting glimpse of a badger without all that discomfort. It is only with the greatest luck that you’ll come across an otter which has happened to me twice. They are wonderful creatures, how privileged I was for a family of them to sit by the river bank and allow me to photograph them. Hare are so common here, that I almost forget just how lucky I am to see them nearly every day.

*Fox with ears pricked to every sound but not noticing me!*

*Otters are occasional visitors but not often seen*

There is so much to mention about the valley – the wild flowers, the dry stone walls or the houses, for example – that my writing of it will not cease with the move. Likewise, I don’t have any plans to change the header of the winding river even though it will be an hour away. And of course I shall still be living on the very edge of the Cotswolds with lots of new places and adventures to share. And then there’s the history, the new place has a fascinating story of its own and the hills there have a very different character to those here in the valley. All the new will have to wait for it is still a month or two before we finally arrive. So, where is this new life going to be taking place? All will be revealed in due course. In the meantime, here is a little teaser: this wonderful fountain which wouldn’t look out of place in Rome is just a four-minute walk from our door. I hope you will all continue to join me as I continue my Life in the English Cotswolds.

*Just one of many fountains within walking distance of our soon-to-be new home*

Still Waters Run Deep

Posted on March 31, 2026 by johnshortlandwriter

I think this title may be a little misleading, for the river that runs past our little stone-built cottage is neither deep nor that still. However, it isn’t like the raging rapids that surge through my other secret valley, the one in my beloved Exmoor. I guess it falls somewhere between the two – perhaps the title should be Still Glides the Stream after the poem by Wordsworth for the water, for much of its course through the valley, does seem to glide rather than flow.

*The river seems to glide past our little stone house rather than flow*

*The river in my other secret valley in the Exmoor National Park is more like a raging torrent*

‘Our’ Cotswold river, the Glyme, starts its course in the hills above the town of Chipping Norton. There is no big fanfare to announce its rising from the ground, instead there is a marshy bit of land and a trickle of water. How surprising it is to think that this is the source of our drinking water and mill wheel power, as well as two beautiful, landscaped lakes created in the 18^th century by Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown. One of these lakes is at Kiddington Hall where, when I first moved to live in this area, I was employed as Head Gardener. Another of the lakes is at Blenheim Palace in Woodstock, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of relatively few Grade 1 listed gardens in the UK. By the time the water has reached these it has flown past our little stone cottage and threaded its way around the series of meanders, the photo of which I use as my blog header.

*There is no big fanfare to tell you that this is the start of a most beautiful river*

*The Italianate gardens at Kiddington Hall at the time I was Head Gardener*. They overlook the river

Nature abounds along the whole length of the river. At its headwaters on a series of natural terraces an abundance of wildflowers grow including the rare native Salvia pratense, more usually thought of as a deservedly popular garden plant. On the banks around our house and elsewhere, orchids can be found as can, on dryer spots, diminutive wild thyme (see my earlier blog, I Know a Bank Where the Wild Thyme Grows). In the river both native White-clawed Crayfish and their larger, hungrier cousins American Crayfish thrive, the latter crowding out the former which are now restricted to the higher reaches. Trout and pike can be caught (although the private fishing rights are jealously guarded) and the much smaller minnows – ‘tiddlers’ to us as children, stickleback and Miller’s Thumb fish are also present.

*Purple spikes of the rare Salvia pratense growing amongst a myriad of other wild flowers by the headwaters of the River Glyme*

It isn’t just flowers and fish that frequent the river for many of the larger mammals live by or near it – four of the six species of wild deer in England roam here: Fallow, Roe, Muntjac and Chinese Water Deer. Roe are native, whereas Fallow were reputedly introduced by the Romans two thousand years ago; the Muntjac and Water Deer are more recent introductions. Badger, Fox and Otter are shy, mostly nocturnal and so are rarely seen other than by the lucky few. Fortunately, I have been one of them! Birdsong, especially at this time of the year, announce the many different species that visit or breed here: Red Kite, Spotted Flycatcher, Kingfisher, Little Egret being just a few of my favourites.

*Otters frequent the river but are shy and rarely seen*

*Red Kite, once hunted to near extinction are now a common sight along the course of the river*

After Kiddington Hall, the river continues to wind its way through the villages of Glympton and Wootton where it is joined by the even smaller River Dorn. A mile upstream of that river is where we stabled our horses and like our own valley, it is secluded and not much frequented despite being very pretty. The Glyme next enters Blenheim Park, and as mentioned earlier, the river has been dammed and landscaped to create the palace’s Queen Pool and Lake. From there it cascades into the larger River Evenlode which in turn flows into the Thames a few miles from Oxford.

*The River Dorn, a tributary of the Glyme, snakes its way through the hils*

*The lake at Blenheim Palace created by the waters of the Glyme*

Human settlement around the banks of the Glyme didn’t just start with the Romans. Evidence of much earlier Britons can be found all along its length. Perhaps one of the most prominent, yet weirdly more often overlooked, is the hoar stone in the village of Enstone. Perhaps the reason for this is that by tradition the Old Soldier, as it is known, takes himself off to the river when thirsty to have a drink (see my blog post on the Old Soldier here). This may well be true for, despite the stones’ huge size, I have often gone past it only later to realise that I hadn’t actually noticed it being there! Further downstream there are earthworks known as Grim’s Ditch, a series of banks and ditches that probably served as boundary markers. When the ditch was being created some 3000 years ago, the Old Soldier was already 2000 years old. I rather like the thought that living and working on the land I and am part of an unbroken chain that dates back five millennia or more.

*This insignificant looking little bridge marks the place where Akeman Street, a road built by the Romans, crosses the River Glyme*

Footnote:
i) Still Glides the Stream is from William Wordsworth sonnet, written in the early 1800s – “….Still glides the stream, and shall forever glide….”
ii) Still Waters Run Deep: a proverb dating from the early 1400s or even earlier. Modern use refers to great passion hiding behind quietness. Originally it suggested that silence often hid danger and Shakespeare (who else!) picks up on this theme in Henry IV – “…smooth runs the water where the brook is deep….show he harbours treason….”

Woodstock and Blenheim Palace

Posted on July 24, 2023 by johnshortlandwriter

Woodstock, a small town in the Oxfordshire Cotswolds, has a long history. The Domesday Book, a survey of England & Wales completed in 1086, describes it as a Royal Forest – a hunting preserve for nobility. Fifty years later the area was enclosed by a high wall, a shooting lodge built, and exotic animals, lions and leopards kept within. Just short of a century later, in 1179, King Henry II built Woodstock Palace and granted a Royal Charter that established a market on its boundary. From thereon, the town developed and prospered. The palace witnessed several important moments in English history including the imprisonment of the then Princess Elizabeth who became Queen Elizabeth the First, and later, it sheltered King James I who had fled London during a plague. By 1653 the Palace had been destroyed by the Roundheads (Parliamentarians) during the English Civil War.

*The original palace at Woodstock built by Henry II in 1179 [Source:Wikipedia]*

The ruins of the palace and its parkland were gifted by the nation to the 1st Duke of Marlborough in recognition of his military triumphs that climaxed with the Battle of Blenheim in 1704. Blenheim Palace, for which Woodstock is now justly famed and visited annually by thousands from all over the world, was built in its place and, with over 180 rooms, it is one of the largest privately-owned houses in England. The birthplace (in 1874) and ancestral home of wartime leader, Sir Winston Churchill, the splendour and history of the Palace was recognised as an UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987.

*Blenheim Palace, one of the largest private houses in England*

With mixed financial fortunes over the centuries, the Palace has seen many changes both internally and externally. The parkland was much altered by the eighteenth-century landscape architect, Capability Brown. The River Glyme that runs through the park was dammed and the Great Lake formed, in the process part-drowning the enormous bridge designed by Vanbrugh. Incidentally, the river is the same one as the little winding river that flows in ‘our (now not so secret!) secret valley’ and used in the header of this blog.

*The dammed tiny River Glyme* *created the Great Lake at Blenheim Palace…*

*…in the process, the huge bridge designed by Vanbrugh was partly submerged*

Despite the centuries that have passed, the town still clusters outside the entrance to Blenheim Palace. Being so small (only 3,500 people live here), it is a great place to explore on foot – something that is missed by most visitors to the Palace who, if they enter the town at all, stay within the two shop-lined streets at its centre. Behind these lie the church and quaint, timbered houses.

*Ancient houses overhang the narrow streets of Woodstock*

*All the old house and cottages differ from one another in appearance*

Of course, it is the Palace that dominates Woodstock despite being barely visible from outside the Park. The entrance that cars and coaches enter by, is splendid enough, but doesn’t match the grandeur of the town gate. Just past the ‘tourist’ entrance (and so rarely noticed) are the splendid almshouses built in 1798 by Catherine, Duchess of Marlborough. A visit to the Woodstock Museum should be on everyone’s agenda too; it contains a dinosaur garden to keep the children happy.

*The gate by which visitors enter is grand enough but…*

*…it doesn’t match the splendour of the ‘town’ gate*

The town has several hotels and makes a good base to explore further afield; Oxford with its universities is only 15 miles away and there are numerous villages and National Trust properties and gardens to visit within the area. For keen hikers two long-distance trails, the Wychwood Way (36 miles) and Shakespeare’s Way (146 miles) pass through the town and, as in most of England, numerous public footpaths criss-cross the countryside where you can roam freely. Walking is one of the best ways to see the Cotswolds and it is great exercise too. All the footpaths connect with one another so you can easily take shorter walks but, if you have the time, it is possible to walk from one end of England to the other!

*The almshouses in Woodstock built in 1798*

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[If you would like specific details of any aspect of staying locally and/or walking routes, places to visit, etc please feel free to contact me and I will do my best to answer your queries]

Sources:
Wikipedia The Long Distance Walkers Association Cotswolds.info The Making of the English Landscape, W G Hoskins