The-Accountant-Sep-Oct-2017-Final

TRAVEL
One perennial favourite, open during the
summer, is The Old New Inn, which is more
than 300 years old, and features two bars,
a beer garden and a verandah that fronts
onto the high street. It is also the home of
an amazing Model Village, at the side of
the establishment, which is a one-ninth
scale model of the whole of the centre
of Bourton-On-The-Water, and which
celebrates its 80th anniversary this year.
many months, and one of the features that
adds to its realism is the dwarf bonsai trees
spaced throughout it. Visitors can amble
through the Model Village, stooping to
peer into the houses to admire the detail,
or posing for photographs that make them
look like giants.
One of the best things about the
Cotswolds is that the eye-watering prices
for accommodation in even the least
attractive British city have not yet reached
these green villages, and bed and board
can be found in an almost infinite choice
of little hotels and guest houses at prices
that would be regarded as fair in East
Africa. Although Bourton-On-The-Water
is the most popular destination for visitors
to the Cotswolds, that does not mean that
it ever gets crowded, and the type of visitor
that the village draws to it tends to exhibit
restrained behaviour, because tranquility is
one of the biggest attractions. The Royal
Agricultural University at Cirencester
has guest accommodation from only $50
per room including breakfast, but other
places to stay in the Cotswolds include
campsites, caravan sites, guest cottages
and boutique hotels, ranging up to fivestar
luxury accommodation.
Many of the houses and business
premises in Bourton-On-The-Water are
centuries old, and distinctive dressed
honey-coloured limestone has been the
preferred building material over the
years. The shallow River Windrush flows
through the village, and there are several
low stone footbridges over which visitors
can stroll, and from which the clear, fastflowing
waters can be fully appreciated.
The environment is so quiet that the gentle
babbling of the river can be clearly heard,
competing only with the birdsong from
the surrounding trees. Over the centuries,
many of the buildings have been lovingly
restored and converted to new uses.
There was once a water mill in the village,
with a waterwheel powered by the River
Windrush. Founded in the 18th Century,
the mill was to see several refurbishments
over the years. As technology advanced, it
was converted to steam power, and then
to diesel, but shut down as a mill for the
final tie in 1949. It then became a store
and farmers’ cooperative outlet before it
fell into disuse in the early 1970s. The old
mill buildings were neglected for several
years in the 1970s, but in this highlyadmired
conservation area, nothing is ever
permanently discarded. The old mill is now
home to a fascinating museum of vintage
cars, classic signs, and old toys, many of
which were collected in Southern Africa by
an English expatriate, Mike Cavanagh, who
shipped his collection back home when he
retired from his job in South Africa and, in
1978, it became the core of a unique display
of lovingly restored and preserved classic
vehicles and motoring curiosities. When
Mike retired for the second time in 1999,
he sold the museum to the Civil Service
Motoring association Limited, who have
run it ever since, expanding and improving
it all the time.
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