A Short Tour of the Cotswolds

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Nigel H-J
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A Short Tour of the Cotswolds

Post by Nigel H-J »

When aged 15 I started work in the Cotswolds spending around 2 years there before deciding to join the RAF.

Have not been down to the Cotswolds for a good many years so as Orbx released TE South I could not resist taking a flight down memory lane.

Took off from Gloucester Airport flying the Cessna 172 and from my road map (yes, I do have a road map as well as a satnav I'll have you know) and flew VFR to:

Little Rissington, a former RAF Base which was an advanced flying training station and home to Geoffrey Wellum (First Light) whilst learning on the Harvard prior to his posting to No 92 Squadron and of course the station was well known as home to the Red Arrows when they had the Gnats.
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From Little Risssington I flew down to Bourton-on-the-Water famous for its' model village and also the Birdland park and Gardens, I spent about six months working at the Manse Hotel and used to wander around the model village and Birdland when not on duty, always a busy village but quieter during the winter months. Looking to the top of the village the road that runs left to right is the Foss-way.
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From there I flew along the Foss-way to Stow-on-the-Wold, one famous saying of the village is 'Stow-on-the-Wold where the wind blows cold' and I can tell you it certainly did as it stands on a 800ft hill!!

This is where I spent 18 months working at the Talbot Hotel situated in the square, (there was and maybe still is) the stocks and once, as a joke, members of the staff locked me in them and left me for a good few hours!! The Talbot Hotel was named after the Talbot Dog which is now extinct and we had 2 quite large statues of them in the dinning room made out of porcelain. Yo-betide any of us if we broke them!!
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From Stow I lflew to what used to be the Langstone Carriage Stables in Kingham which was run by Ian McCauley, he had a collection of carriages including an old British stagecoach using it for weddings and once took part in a documentary by ATV 'Following the Fossway'. On my time off from work I used to go and help clean out the stables and often was rewarded by being able to take out one of the horses for an hours ride along the country lanes by myself. I did have my favourite horse which was called Silver Boy a half Arabian and he used to love to gallop and you could feel him straining to go as soon as we got onto the grass. There was one occasion whilst riding one horse that was known as LB, short for Lazy Boy. How true that was for he would not even trot but was quite happy to take a leisurely stroll, that is until one day when I had resigned myself to a boring ride a tractor backfired in a field. I tell you now, that bl**dy horse literally flew!! :-O

If you look at the picture, on the right of the railway bridge is where Langston Carriage Stables used to be, I think it is now an old peoples home.
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Finally (now you can breath a sigh of delight....nearly there....nearly finished) over to Moreton-in-the-Marsh, used to go there a few times as my sister once worked at the Manor Hotel situated along the main road (Foss-Way) before joining B.O.A.C. as an air stewardess. I used to go down to the village to catch the train home to Nottingham when I had enough time off.

In the foreground you can see the remains of an RAF Station which is now used by the Fire Service College as a training base. It is also believed that this Former RAF Base inspired the title of the radio show Much Binding in the Marsh.
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Finally back to Gloucester Airport.
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Regards

Nigel.
I used to be an optimist but with age I am now a grumpy old pessimist.

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Re: A Short Tour of the Cotswolds

Post by Swanoir »

Lovely! Thanks for that Nigel :thumbsup:

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Re: A Short Tour of the Cotswolds

Post by FlyTexas »

What a great trip down memory lane. Thanks for the ride, Nigel! :hello:

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Re: A Short Tour of the Cotswolds

Post by Aharon »

Excellent description of each screenshot with beautiful ground textures. :welldone: :welldone: :welldone: :welldone:

I always believe that specific descriptions accompanying screenshots make an extremely efficient and enjoyable flight report!

Regards,

Aharon

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Re: A Short Tour of the Cotswolds

Post by Aharon »

And what do you use for amazing ground textures, please?

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Re: A Short Tour of the Cotswolds

Post by Tako_Kichi »

Thanks for bringing back a lot of memories Nigel. Way back in 1979 I got married for the first time and as money was tight (new to us house, marriage costs etc.) we decided to spend a few days in Bourton-on-the-Water as our honeymoon. We visited all othe places you mentioned, plus many more, during our 3 or 4 day stay.

I can't remember the name of the hotel we stayed at but the 'Manse' sounds very familiar, I do remember it's location though. If you enter the village from the upstream end of the river and then turn left over the first small bridge you are faced with a slightly complex road junction. One road goes off to the right alongside the river bank and another road goes straight ahead but then immediately forms a 'Y' junction as the road splits into two (there may even have been a road to the left after the bridge too). The hotel we stayed at sat in the top of the 'Y' with a road running either side of it. The right-hand road went past the front of the hotel and the left-hand road went past the hotel car park. Does that location sound familiar to you at all Nigel and can you remember the name of the hotel?

We did re-visit the area several years later but that time we decided to do a larger tour of the Cotswolds and stayed at B-and-B's for one night here, one night there as we moved around.

EDIT: I just had a look at B-o-t-W in Google Maps and found the place we stayed at. It is now called the Kingsbridge Inn but I swear it wasn't going by that name back in '79!
Larry

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Nigel H-J
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Re: A Short Tour of the Cotswolds

Post by Nigel H-J »

Hello Aharon, many thanks for your kind comments, I don't use ground textures these are literally out of the box from Orbx True Earth England South.

I have installed re-shaders but found that they are somewhat too bright for my liking but that was after I had done the flight to the Cotswolds though I am still trying out the shader settings.

Here is the link to Orbx True Earth South. There are 2 more to come out and they will be Central and North which covers Scotland. They will also be doing Ireland as well but think that may also come in 2 stages due to the large download.If you run P3d True Earth for that will be coming towards December time, if you fly Europe especially England, then to my mind it is well worth the money and really enjoyable flying low and slow just to take in the scenery. This is the link though for X plane 11 only: https://orbxdirect.com/product/gbr-south-xp11

Hello Larry, many thanks for your reply, just had a look on Google as it has been a very long time since I was last down there, probably 40 years ago and 55 years since I left!! Frightening how quickly life goes isn't it? :-O

Looking at the site 'link at the end' it revived my memory, it was actually called 'Old Manse Hotel' so that maybe may ring a bell if you stayed there.

During the short the time I worked there it was owned by a lady but cannot remember her name though I still remember the names of the manager and some of the staff who worked at the Talbot Hotel in Stow-on-the-Wold.

Hope the map helps and also of their website. Will be interested if this is the one you stayed at.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Old+M ... -1.7586726

https://www.greenekinginns.co.uk/hotels ... nse-hotel/

Regards
Nigel.
I used to be an optimist but with age I am now a grumpy old pessimist.

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Re: A Short Tour of the Cotswolds

Post by Airspeed »

Thanks for that, Nigel!
Very good to see that the scenery does actually represent the real world. :thumbsup:

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Re: A Short Tour of the Cotswolds

Post by Tako_Kichi »

Nigel H-J wrote:
24 Oct 2018, 18:31
Hello Larry, many thanks for your reply, just had a look on Google as it has been a very long time since I was last down there, probably 40 years ago and 55 years since I left!! Frightening how quickly life goes isn't it? :-O

Looking at the site 'link at the end' it revived my memory, it was actually called 'Old Manse Hotel' so that maybe may ring a bell if you stayed there.

During the short the time I worked there it was owned by a lady but cannot remember her name though I still remember the names of the manager and some of the staff who worked at the Talbot Hotel in Stow-on-the-Wold.

Hope the map helps and also of their website. Will be interested if this is the one you stayed at.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Old+M ... -1.7586726

https://www.greenekinginns.co.uk/hotels ... nse-hotel/

Regards
Nigel.
Hi Nigel, I checked your links and the Old Manse was at the opposite end of the row to the hotel we stayed at.

I'm pretty sure this is where we stayed: https://www.google.com/maps/@51.8835841 ... 312!8i6656
Larry

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Nigel H-J
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Re: A Short Tour of the Cotswolds

Post by Nigel H-J »

Thanks for that, Nigel!
Very good to see that the scenery does actually represent the real world. :thumbsup:
The only word that I can describe it is 'Fantastic' even the trees look much better than some of the X Plane ones'. It is only a pity that they are not doing TE for FSX unless of course they can find a way round 32 bit applications as was hoping for one so I could still fly my favourite aircraft in this scenery.

Might be tempted to purchase P3d depending on reviews on how TE actually works in it.

Hi Larry, cannot even remember that hotel!! :lol: If having to choose between the 2 villages either Stow or Bourton I think Stow would be my choice, Bourton is too commercialised for my liking even though it wins hands down for scenery with the River Windrush passing through the centre, (they call it a river? more like a brook to me or even a beck but certainly not a river...........surely not) :dunno: ! and of the buildings made from Cotswold Stone (same as in Stow) gives a wonderful period effect to the area. Stow-on-the-Wold can be equally busy but there are only shops and no attractions as in Bourton. If I ever had the chance to move though it would not be down to the Cotswolds even though the area is a delightful place but would really like to move down to the Wye Valley between Monmouth and Chepstow, but that is another story!

Regards
Nigel.
I used to be an optimist but with age I am now a grumpy old pessimist.

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