Stow-on-the-Wold

Stow-on-the-Wold, according to an ancient rhyme, is where the wind blows cold. The truth of this becomes chilling apparent if you visit Stow, the Cotswolds' highest town (situated at around 754ft / 230 metres) on a grey day in February, but in summer the town has a festive atmosphere, packed with coach trippers or antique hunters coming to browse in the town's many good art and antique galleries. Stow's huge market square testifies to the size of the flocks that used to be driven here for sale between 1107, when Henry I granted the town its charter, and the 1980s, when the Stow House Fairs were finally moved away from the town because of the crime and chaos they created. Wooden stocks survive on the green in Stow's market place as a warning to miscreants.

King's Arms Old Posting House	town cross
	local shops
	Parish Church of St. Edward
Tombstones in the fog