Chipping Campden
Chipping Campden is the 'flower of the villages of all England'. Truly unspoilt, it has many beautiful buildings and an impressive 15th-century church. The long and flowing main street gives this typical Cotswold market town its shape and style.
Nearby is Dovers Hill. Set high above Chipping Campden this was once the site for the Cotswold 'Olympic' Games! Attended by up to 30,000 people in their hey-day, the games were established during the reign of James I by Robert Dover, a local lawyer with anti-Puritan sentiments. Games included such demanding sports as 'shin kicking', and 'jumping in bags'. The games were cancelled during the Civil War, re-established with the Restoration of the Monarchy, halted in 1851 by a disapproving local vicar, and again revived in 1951, although at a fraction of their former size. Visitors today can witness the festivities on the first Friday after Whitsun.
Four miles out of Chipping Campden lies Hidcote Manor Gardens, with a delightful series of small gardens, each holding different and rare plants and shrubs. The famous horticulturist Major Lawrence Johnson created the gardens in the early twentieth century. Notable for rare shrubs and trees, and 'old' roses.
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