1 October 2026

Last full day of our week, we drove to Bourton on Water -

the Water being the Windrush river, again -

First stop after a wander around the village was the Motoring Museum. I had not imagined that a museum dedicated to the motoring history of the 20th century would turn out to be as interesting or well curated as we found this.

 

Above an Austin and below a Riley from the 30s

Every section was curated with such detail - artefacts and decorations from the period, and a great selection of music soundtracks from the era.

Here a caravan from the 50s decked out inside with nostalgic and also authentic memorabilia -

The swinging sixties were well represented, musical bangers from the decade thumping out -

and here a campervan (I think the Dormobile) from the 60s looking like it had just been vacated -

The wee boy posed happily next to his car, one hand possessively on a headlamp -

and looked competent and serious about driving a tractor -

Afterwards he had his nappy changed in the boot of my fab hire vehicle, and looked pretty happy about the novelty of the spot -

Cream tea was had (coffee in my case), as required in the Cotswolds -

before driving on to Stow-on-the-Wold. 

I liked the inclusivity of this welcome notice in the entrance to St Edwards church in Stow -

We had to look at the Tolkien door, of course, that inspired the Doors of Durin in Lord of the Rings -

though I found this stained glass window next to it more beautiful -

A spot of shopping was done in Stow, as we found heading off into smaller streets took us away from the coach-loads of tourists to quieter spots -

Driving back to Burford for the last time, I stopped the car momentarily in its tracks to snap this view from the steering wheel, knowing that the memory of hours of driving along impossibly narrow country lanes through farmlands with my tiny grandchild taking everything in behind me would be one of the happiest from our week.