Being from Newcastle, my phonically correct accent offered that 'Bib' not 'Buy' was correct.....it wasn't, apparently, as the pompous hands-on-hip resident sternly told us it is pronounced Buy-bury, act-ual-ly
I absolutely
love the Cotswolds area of the UK, truly stunning, so couldn't believe when we
arrive in Bibury that this is my first time here. It is picture postcard
beautiful, in fact if Disney ever wanted to open a stereotyped theme park of
an English village they don't need to bother. It has been done Walt, it's called
Bibury.
The
Coln River seems to bubble up from behind the Trout Farm, where you can
catch, whack and cook your sport for a price. The river then ambles down under
the bridge passing bending stone cottages with ducks and swans hitching a lift
on its watery back.
The locals where
less welcoming than the view though; we had the terse lady who corrected our
pronunciation (unfortunately it was after my guests had already done two 'takes
to camera'), then some guy stomping past us sarcastically blurting out, "in England
it is customary to say good morning back". We hadn't heard his first greeting
and after a short exchange of views and my explanation of English eccentricity
(I'm sure that's what I called him) we moved on. On top of that they tend to
drive very quickly towards strangers in Bibury with a determined 'bloody
tourists' look on their faces.
When working
around Heathrow airport I notice that many of the locals have 'NO 3rd RUNWAY'
signs. This leads me to ask 'is there anyone living near Heathrow, or any of
our major airports, that didn't know the airport was there when they bought the
house?' Same goes for Bibury, I would view the property and then ask myself
whether the constant throng of tourists would bother me....it would....so I
wouldn't buy there. What I'm basically saying is you made your Laura Ashley
bed, mate, so you lie in it.
On that note
and to take their point, try to be in Bibury as early as we did because by 11am
it goes from sleepy village to city centre rush hour mayhem. Coach loads
of Japanese photographers pile in to snap the scenery. They arrive in 50 seat
coaches and for 20 scurrying minutes it is a Kodak bloodbath, they don't see
the actual village until they get home and have picked up from Snappy Snaps.
They then follow the umbrella back to the coach only to be replaced
by another diesel pumping monstrosity as soon as a space appears. The
inadequate roads block quickly and the already tight bridge becomes the focal
point for angry motorists and reversing mini buses.
Bibury lacks
the commercialism of better advertised Cotswolds luminaries such
as Broadway and Stow on the Wild so doesn't have endless crafty gift
shops, art galleries and tea rooms which is refreshing and means
coffee has to be taken in either the Trout Farm (fish delicious, coffee not) or
one of the two hotels which is expensive (though the Swan Hotel garden alone is
worth the money just to be able to sit back and re-caffeine while watching the
carnage).
Bibury is a
truly beautiful place if you arrive early or after 4pm, don't speak to the
locals and have already had a coffee. It is a must see place on any visit to
the Cotswolds but....you wouldn't want to live there
