Todas as 4as feiras estreia aqui, neste canal, um novo vídeo gravado em Londres e/ou seus arredores. Não Perca!
Vídeo gravado caminhando pelas ruas da graciosa cidade de Witney, num final de tarde de sábado.
Tranquila e silenciosa, essa cidade é o ponto de partida ideal para quem quiser conhecer COTSWOLDS, uma das regiões mais bonitas da Inglaterra, que alguns dizem 'aqui a Inglaterra é mais Inglaterra'. Nos hospedamos num hotel muito confortável (Premier Inn Witney hotel, Ducklington Ln, Witney OX28 4JF), situado a dez minutos de caminhada do centro de Witney. E a cada dia íamos de carro para percorrer um trecho diferente de COTSWOLDS.
Essa região - COTSWOLDS - é classificada como 'Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty - AONB' ou seja, área de Destacada Beleza Natural, reunindo campos, diversos vilarejos e cidades medievais que parecem ter parado no tempo há séculos atrás, tudo muito gracioso e bem preservado.
COTSWOLDS fica situada a pouca distância de Londres - o vídeo mostra um mapa da área - e o ideal é alugar um carro para ir até lá e percorrer cada lugar com calma. Um roteiro de 3 ou 4 dias é suficiente para conhecer a região, parando cerca de duas horas em cada localidade. Embora sejam todas pequenas, tem ótima infraestrutura turística, com pousadas, pequenos hotéis, restaurante e cafés diversos.
Segue abaixo um texto estraído do Wikipedia, em inglês, com mais detalhes sobre a região.
The Cotswolds is a region of central South West England, along a range of rolling hills that rise from the meadows of the upper River Thames to an escarpment above the Severn Valley and the Vale of Evesham. The area is defined by the bedrock of Jurassic limestone that creates a type of grassland habitat that is quarried for the golden-coloured Cotswold stone. The predominantly rural landscape contains stone-built villages, towns, stately homes and gardens featuring the local stone.
Designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) in 1966, the Cotswolds covers 787 square miles (2,038 km2), making it the largest AONB. It is England's third-largest protected landscape, after the Lake District and Yorkshire Dales national parks.Its boundaries are roughly 25 miles (40 km) across and 90 miles (140 km) long, stretching south-west from just south of Stratford-upon-Avon to just south of Bath, near Radstock. It lies across the boundaries of several English counties; mainly Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire, and parts of Wiltshire, Somerset, Worcestershire, and Warwickshire. The highest point is Cleeve Hill at 1,083 ft (330 m), just east of Cheltenham.
During the Middle Ages, thanks to the breed of sheep known as the Cotswold Lion, the Cotswolds became prosperous from the wool trade with the continent, with much of the money made from wool directed towards the building of churches. The most successful era for the wool trade was 1250-1350; much of the wool at that time was sold to Italian merchants. The area still preserves numerous large, handsome Cotswold Stone "wool churches". The affluent area in the 21st century has attracted wealthy Londoners and others who own second homes there or have chosen to retire to the Cotswolds.
The area is characterised by attractive small towns and villages built of the underlying Cotswold stone (a yellow oolitic limestone). This limestone is rich in fossils, particularly of fossilised sea urchins. Cotswold towns include Bourton-on-the-Water, Broadway, Chalford, Charlbury, Chipping Campden, Chipping Norton, Cricklade, Dursley, Malmesbury, Minchinhampton, Moreton-in-Marsh, Nailsworth, Northleach, Painswick, Stow-on-the-Wold, Stroud, Tetbury, Witney, Winchcombe and Wotton-under-Edge. In addition, much of Box lies in the Cotswolds. Bath, Cheltenham, Cirencester, Gloucester, Stroud, and Swindon are larger urban centres that border on, or are virtually surrounded by, the Cotswold AONB.
A 2017 report on employment within the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty stated that the main sources of income were real estate, renting and business activities, manufacturing, and wholesale & retail trade repairs. Some 44% of residents were employed in these sectors. Agriculture is also important; 86% of the land in the AONB is used for this purpose. The primary crops include barley, beans, rape seed oil and wheat, while the raising of sheep is also important; cows and pigs are also reared. The livestock sector has been declining since 2002.
Tourism is a significant part of the economy. The Cotswold District area gained over £373 million from visitor spending on accommodation, £157 million on local attractions and entertainments, and about £100m on travel in 2016.