{"id":17962,"date":"2022-08-04T12:56:12","date_gmt":"2022-08-04T10:56:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/?post_type=purple_issue&p=17962"},"modified":"2022-08-04T12:56:12","modified_gmt":"2022-08-04T10:56:12","slug":"sleepy-cotswolds-by-rail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/2022\/08\/04\/sleepy-cotswolds-by-rail\/","title":{"rendered":"Sleepy Cotswolds by rail"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
TRAIN: <\/strong>Cotswold Line, Oxfordshire\/Gloucestershire <\/span><\/h5>\n\n

Sleepy Cotswolds by rail<\/h2>\n\n

There\u2019s no better way to relish the dreamy days of late summer than with an evocative scenic journey through the hills of the Cotswolds, hopping from one honey-stoned village to the next, says Ben <\/strong>Lerwill <\/strong><\/p>\n\n

\"\"
Adlestrop Station is now defunct, but the charming GWR bench and station sign can still be seen adorning the village bus shelter<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

It doesn\u2019t take long for the Cotswold Line to start showing off. Snaking north from its starting point of central Oxford, the line soon passes the wildlife-rich expanse of Port Meadow \u2013 an area of common land said to have been unploughed since the days of the Domesday <\/em>Book. <\/em>It then delves into the green crinkles of the Evenlode Valley, where rising fields and hawk-flown woods furl out on both sides of the track. <\/p>\n\n

The line runs to Worcester and beyond, but here we\u2019re focusing on the initial stretch between Oxford and Moreton-in-Marsh. <\/p>\n\n

BUSES, BRUNEL AND BEER <\/strong><\/h5>\n\n

Hanborough is the first stop. Disembark to visit the brilliant Oxford Bus Museum, a nostalgia-heavy collection of restored charabancs and buses set in warehouses in the station\u2019s old goods yard. <\/p>\n\n

It\u2019s run by volunteers and could easily absorb you for a couple of hours. <\/p>\n\n

The line then winds through a couple of little-used village stops before reaching the more substantial station at pretty Charlbury, designed by Brunel and these days frequented by well-heeled visitors to the nearby chic hotel, Soho Farmhouse. From this point, the landscapes widen and the views expand, as the Cotswolds appear in all their sheepy finery. Expect vast oaks standing solo in grass meadows, hamlets glimpsed beyond farm gates, and errant Labradors sniffing happily down country lanes. More tiny stations whizz by \u2013 there goes Ascott-under-Wychwood, now Shipton \u2013 before a stop at foodie favourite Kingham. <\/p>\n\n

POETIC LANDS <\/strong><\/h5>\n\n

As the train continues north, it then passes the site of the now-defunct Adlestrop Station, preserved in Edward Thomas\u2019 evocative 1917 poem: Yes. <\/em>I <\/em>remember <\/em>Adlestrop <\/em>\u2013 <\/em>The <\/em>name, <\/em>because <\/em>one <\/em>afternoon <\/em>\/<\/em>Of heat the express-train drew up there\/ Unwontedly. It was late June.<\/p>\n\n

For the cherry on your Cotswolds cake, journey\u2019s end is the honeyed town of Moreton-in-Marsh, where the high street is laden with large lime trees and a range of tearooms in which to refuel. <\/p>\n\n

Route details: Cotswold Line <\/strong>
Trains depart Oxford to Moreton-in-Marsh at least once an hour. Buy the Cotswolds Discoverer One-Day Pass for \u00a310.50. <\/p>\n\n

\n\n

Ben Lerwill is a travel writer and children\u2019s author based in Oxfordshire.<\/p>\n\n

Photo: Alamy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s no better way to relish the dreamy days of late summer than with an evocative scenic journey through the hills of the Cotswolds, hopping from one honey-stoned village to the next, says Ben Lerwill 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no better way to relish the dreamy days of late summer than with an evocative scenic journey through the hills of the Cotswolds, hopping from one honey-stoned village to the next, says Ben 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