Peter Reardon – illustratör

An A - Z illustrated Town and Village guide to what you can see in the Cotswolds, with word and pen the Author brings to life this wonderful part of England, show and explaining what you can see as you explore the Cotswolds. From the strange sounding Cotswold towns and villages with this guide you will be shown sides of the Cotswolds that the average visitor often misses, the text is brought to life with well over 100 pen and ink sketches of Gargoyles and Hobbit like church entrances, Public monuments to medieval punishment tools, Castles to Magic stones, a life time of local knowledge has gone into this book. The beauty of the Cotswolds is not new, it is not something that has just come about recently, it is, you might even say, as old as the hills themselves.But it is not only beauty to be found in these hills, they are also rich in history, the Romans came, stayed a while and then left. They were about the first to leave us monuments of their advanced way of life that we can understand today, then came the Saxons, the Danes and the Normans. Each left something by which to remember them. In more recent times great houses have been built and are there for all to see.The Cotswolds intriguing, majestic, even cruel in its own way. There is a bigness that is breathtaking, especially during the summer, a loneliness that can be frightening during the winter, but always a grandeur, as powerful as an exciting tale that not one little bit must be missed. Perhaps early man found the excitement of these hills a good reason for settling in them. They offered a natural fortification in many instances for settlements, often with views over the valley of the Severn, where animals could be hunted and fish caught in the river. It is hoped that your visit to the Cotswolds will be most enjoyable, and if, with the help of these pages, more memorable, then the object of this publication will have been achieved