Lest you think we are being a bit didactic in declaring Castle Coombe the prettiest village in all of England, let us assure you that we only agree with the people who made the selection some years back. It was the British AA. No, not that AA. It's the British Automobile Association, and their quest to identify the most picturesque little nook in a nation of photogenic byways led them to Castle Coombe, at the foot of the Cotswold Mountains in Southwestern England.
Like most such English villages, Castle Coombe grew up around a manor presided over by a member of the peerage. The Manor House and its out-buildings are in pristine condition today, and they have been converted to lodgings for those with the $300 a night to spare for a room. Needless to say, we visited Castle Coombe often and never spent a night there. We lodged at a pub in the nearby village (more of a crossroads really) called Ford. If you're ever in the vicinity, the White Hart Inn has nice four-poster beds and is only a 30-minute walk (albeit uphill) from Castle Coombe.
We did dine at the Castle Coombe Manor House though, and it had the best food we found anywhere in England. Most memorable of all was a white chocolate mousse with a dark chocolate sauce and raspberry coulis. This was in a nation where dessert, or pudding as they so elegantly called it, ran to things like spotted dick and strawberry fool.
The Manor House sits baronially on acres of land, connected to the village by a meandering lane lined along one side with what used to be servants cottages. Today those cottages have been converted to lodgings, the plushest of which rents for $1,000 a night. It dates back to the 1600's and spans the area where the lane empties out onto the village's main street.
The gardens surrounding the manor are lushly loden year-round. The great lawn, where guests today can play croquet just as the original inhabitants did, is dominated by an ancient cedar. Look closely in this photo to see the tiny speck of a person, and you can appreciate the size of the tree. Alongside the lawn runs a pristine stream, where fisherman reel in trout with predictable glee. The trout are so plentiful that you can stand on the foot bridge in the center of town and watch them flit, then glide, then hover, and occasionally do a little airborne demonstration of spunk.
Up the hill from the manor house sit the sharply terraced formal gardens, complete with follies and benches and statuary. The view from there encompasses the village's most imposing structure, its church. Poking through the grounds and looking at tombstones from the 1700's led to the surprising realization that people lived into their eighties and even nineties back then. As someone pointed out, however, only the privileged, who had the benefit of good diets and whatever medical care was available at the time. They were the ones who could also afford contributions to the church large enough to ensure their burial in the church yard.
Before we leave the manor house for the village proper, there's one curiosity we can't omit. Granite statues of some of the more distinguished former inhabitatns dot the grounds. The one we like best is the statue of a little boy with his dog, and the inscription makes it plain the pet was as much an honoree as the child.
Entering the village from the Manor House grounds, you first come upon the market cross, a pitched-roof stone structure in the middle of the street where buying and selling took place during the wool trade boom, when Castle Coombe was in its heyday. From this central roundabout you can go uphill to the left, or turn right and stroll down the village main street. Whichever way you choose, the houses will be stone, with the occasional beam and mortar construction so common in the 1700's. Let's pick the main street and take a look at the view.
Houses -- many of them now converted to small shops without any alteration to the building exteriors -- line both sides of the street. Doorways are short, built to accommodate the diminutive average height of the village citizenry in those days. Sidewalks and lanes are immaculate, and flowers and gardens appear manicured with a pair of nail scissors.
As you near the foot bridge over the trout stream, you notice what looks like a cove. At least that's what the makers of the film "Dr. Doolittle" thought. They came to Castle Coombe and used the setting pictured here as the seaport. Look for it the next time you rent the movie for your children or grandchildren...or even yourself! The occupants of these houses have the best of all worlds -- they live right on the main street of town, near the heart of the village, yet their recessed lane provides a measure of privacy the English put a very high premium on.
We'll leave you in Castle Coombe and defy you to spend a day or even an afternoon there without being bewitched by it. And if you ever win the lottery, you can always head for the Manor House and a nice long stay. It's our dream retreat, and if we've done it any justice at all, it may have a few new admirers.