The Swan at Bibury
The Venue for our wedding is the Swan Hotel in Bibury, which is located in the Cotswolds. A special rate has been organised for people wishing to stay overnight.
Bibury is in fact two villages. Arlington lies to the west of the River Coln while Bibury itself is on the east. From burial mounds nearby we know that the site has been inhabited since prehistoric times and was later a thriving Roman village, as is clear from the many finds in the area. It is likely that a church existed in Bibury as early as 750AD and much of the core of the present church is probably of Saxon origin, built in the late 10th century. In the days of King Charles II, Bibury was as well known as Newmarket for its horseracing - so much so that in 1681 the Newmarket Spring Meeting was switched to Bibury when Parliament met at Oxford, less than an hour's drive away. In the 17th and 18th centuries, Bibury prospered due to the wool trade, and it is during that time that many of the stone cottages were built, together with the Swan Hotel and the bridge over the Coln. Also at this time the Manor Court was held at the Swan and not far from the hotel can be found the village lock-up, a small octagonal stone building. Most of the Swan Hotel as we see it today was completed in the 19th Century.
19th century craftsman, designer and writer, William Morris, crowned Bibury 'the prettiest village in England'. Today, this picturesque Cotswold hamlet continues to evoke such reactions. In the heart of Bibury sits the Swan Hotel, overlooking the River Coln and the arched stone bridge that crosses its shallow waters. Originally built as a row of riverside cottages, the Swan has become renowned as an excellent country hotel, serving superb cuisine.
There are 21 individually furnished bedrooms, each with their own lavish bathroom, and some with large Jacuzzi baths. Most rooms overlook the beautiful River Coln. The rooms all have colour televisions, direct dial telephones, tea and coffee-making facilities and en-suite bathrooms with Molton Brown luxury bath, shower and skincare products
The Cotswolds
The Cotswolds is a range of hills in central England, sometimes called the "Heart of England", an area 25 miles (40 km) across and 90 miles (145 km) long. The area has been designated as the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
The spine of the Cotswolds runs south west to north east through six counties, particularly Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, and southern Warwickshire. The northern and western edges of the Cotswolds are marked by steep escarpments down to the Severn valley and the Warwickshire Avon. This escarpment or scarp feature, sometimes called the Cotswold Edge, is a result of the uplifting (tilting) of the limestone layer, exposing its broken edge. This is a cuesta, in geological terms. The dip slope is to the south east. On the eastern boundary lies the city of Oxford and on the west is Stroud. To the south the middle reaches the Thames Valley and towns such as Cirencester, Lechlade, Tetbury and Fairford are often considered to mark the southern limit of this region. However, key features of the area, especially the characteristic uplift of the Cotswold Edge, can be clearly seen as far south as Bath and towns such as Chipping Sodbury and Marshfield share elements of Cotswold character.
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, in particular fossilised sea urchins. In the Middle Ages, the wool trade made the Cotswolds prosperous; hence the Speaker of the British House of Lords sits on the Woolsack showing where the Medieval wealth of the country came from. Some of this money was put into the building of churches so the area has a number of large, 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 to the Cotswolds.
Typical Cotswold towns are Bourton-on-the-Water, Broadway, Burford, Chipping Norton, Cirencester, Moreton-in-Marsh, Stow-on-the-Wold 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 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries. William Morris lived occasionally in Broadway Tower a folly now part of a country park. Chipping Campden is also known for the annual Cotswold Games, a celebration of sports and games dating back to the early 17th century.