Leasow House, Cotswold bed and breakfast accommodation

Mid week 3 nights for 2

Barbara and Gordon Meekings welcome you to their home, a 16th century Cotswold stone farmhouse for all of your bed and breakfast and accommodation needs, our aim at Leasow House is to ensure that all our guests get the most from their visit to the Cotswolds and in particular their stay with us. Leasow House is just two miles south of Broadway village, this beautiful Cotswold stone farmhouse dates back to the early 1600's and has panoramic views of the surrounding countryside. Here we offer a tranquil haven from the stresses of every day life, The Cotswolds has lots to offer self drive guided tours through the best of the villages, for more energetic there are plenty of country walks or you can just laze around a read books, or the latest edition of 'Cotswold Life'

For the evenings we have a folder in the library with menus from the local pubs and restaurants which give a great variety from humble pub meals to fine 'Rosette' dining at some of the award winning hotels and restaurants, or browse the recommendations in the Dining section of 'Cotswold Life'

At the rear of the house there is ample off road car parking, and guests are welcome to sit in or

Want a few days away exploring the Cotswolds below are some suggestions browse through then

There is so much to see and do in the Cotswolds, with a wide variety of attractions and places to visit, the beautiful cotswold villages of mellow honey coloured stone, fine houses castles and stately homes, gardens open to the public, this page is dedicated to help you plan your stay a Leasow House to enable you to get as much out of your visit to the Cotswolds as possible. To make your stay more memorable have you considered hiring a Classic Car check out www.greatescapescars.co.uk

Every bedroom has a detailed book full of useful information on the area such as a brief description of most of the restaurants and pubs in the area together with directions how to get to them. Most of the major tourist attractions have a least one page giving pictures and relevant information. There is also two guided drives for those with limited time to enable you to get a real taste of the Cotswold's and of course we are on hand for that little bit of extra local knowledge.

The Royal Shakespeare Company at Stratford upon Avon. Book tickets on line, or take their digital tour and learn more about the life and work of William Shakespeare

The Everyman Theatre in Cheltenham you can check the programme and book tickets on line.

The Swan Theatre in Worcester again check the program and book tickets, this theatre also has links with Huntington Hall a small concert hall in Worcester.

If you fancy going to the pictures Cheltenham has an Odeon multi screen complex and Worcester has a Warner Village this link will give you the movie program and start times.

Where to start, we have so many historic houses just a stones throw away, probably the most famous two are Warwick Castle (25 miles approx) open every day except Christmas day and Blenheim Palace in Woodstock home to the Duke of Marlborough and strong family connections with Sir Winston Churchill. Sudeley Castle and rose garden in Winchcombe (7miles), Stanway House (2 miles), Ragley Hall at Alcester - great open air concerts in the summer months. Other castles are Berkeley Castle home to the Berkeley's one of England's oldest families who have given their name to such places at Berkley Square in London, Berkeley Hundred in Virginia and Berkeley University on California. Finally Broughton Castle film set for Shakespeare in Love, The Madness of King George, The Scarlet Pimpernel and 3 men and a little lady.

We are also blessed with lots of gardens such as the National Trust Garden at Hidcote Manor nr Chipping Campden (details on this garden are listed under the South/West Devon/Cornwall leg of their map) Kiftsgate is another garden just across the road from Hidcote, also in our area is Batsford Arboretum. Weston Birt Arboretum is worth the drive down to Tetbury at the right time of year, late spring for the Acers, azaleas and rhododendrons and in Autumn for the winter colours. Malvern a short drive away now hosts two spectacular garden shows said to equal Chelsea - The Spring Garden Show early May and the Autumn Garden Show in November at the Three Counties Show Ground check out their site for exact dates and entrance fees. The latest tourist attraction is the Lavender Farm at Snowshill

On an animal theme we have the Cotswold Rare Breed Farm here there is a collection of rare breed farm animals some close to extinction, for children there is a 'petting corner' and in spring you are able to watch the lambing. Just outside Burford is the Cotswold Wildlife Park this is more of a zoo. In the Stratford direction there is the Butterfly Farm and the Shire Horse Centre. If you are more a hands on person and fancy a hack over the Cotswold hills you can rent horses from Gill Carenza on 0044 (0) 1386 584250 Another very interesting tourist attraction is the Falconry Centre at Batsford just outside Moreton in Marsh. Another day out would be a visit to Berkeley Castle and the Slimbridge Wild Fowl Trust.

Prescott Hill Climb is a day for car enthusiasts, take a picnic and watch the vintage cars race up the hill against the clock. The vintage meeting is in 'August where anything from early Vauxhalls, Bugattis and Aston Martins race up the hill. Why not visit the Gaydon Motor Museum, a museum depicting the British Motor Industry, it has the best collection of classis, vintage and veteran British cars in the world.

For train lovers we have the GWR at Toddington train enthusiast are rebuilding the station and track in their spare time. The train now runs from Toddington to the race course at Cheltenham check out their web site as they sometime run an evening train for 'fine dining' a novel way to go out for dinner and as it is only just down the road worth considering. Not so far away is the Severn Valley railway. On the train theme there is a model railway at Bourton on the Water with a large collection of British and foreign train.

Moving on to the countryside and villages, whilst Stone Henge has been commercialised and you are only allowed to look for a distance, consider the Rollright Stones between Moreton in Marsh and Chipping Norton. The Cotswold's has some wonderful villages many of which used to appear on chocolate boxes some of the best are Snowshill, Upper and Lower Slaughter, Stow on the Wold, Bourton on the Water (very pretty village but in my opinion best view before 10am and after 5pm when the MASS tourists have left) Stanton and Stanway, Broadway, Chipping Camden and Broad Campden of course there are many more further south Bibury and Castle Coombe

Stratford upon Avon has so much to offer the visitor whilst it can be a little 'tacky' and overdone William Shakespeare offers lots of tourist attraction a good site to visit to get some background information is Unravel the Shakespeare Story, this will take you to the Shakespeare Houses. You can visit the Falstaff Experience tales of the bizarre and unusual to unique insights into famous historical events. The Holy Trinity Church is England's most visited Parish Church, and for a bit of fun there is the Teddy Bear Museum.

Worcester home to one of the world's best know sauces, the dark and spicy Worcestershire Sauce, concocted by two chemists Lea and Perrins in 1835. Worcester a also has a lot of history, there is the Cathedral and the Royal Worcester Porcelain factory home to the every popular 'Evesham' design table ware, and across the road form the china factory is the Commandry Museum dedicated to the English Civil War. Worcester was also home to Sir Edward Elgar.

Pershore with its fine Norman Abbey standing along side the River Avon is fames for its elegant Georgian architecture and of course its plums. In the Spring the AA sign the 'Blossom Route' which takes you around all the plum growing villages.

Evesham's history revolves around the Benedictine Monastery founded in the year 714 by Egwin, Bishop of Worcester who was the Abbott of what was to become one of the richest and most powerful Abbey's in the Country. Following the Battle of Evesham on 4th August 1265 during which Simon de Montfort was killed, pilgrims flocked to his shrine. The Dissolution in 1539 saw the ultimate destruction of the Abbey all that is left is the Bell Tower. (Some years ago my husbands company was called upon to demolish some old cottages in Evesham and we rescued some carved Cotswold stone that was used in the construction of the abbey - it now forms part of a garden wall at Leasow House) The Almonry Museum is a superb record of this history.

Cheltenham has much to offer visitors, several lovely parks that have helped Cheltenham win the Britain in Bloom Trophy, the Imperial Gardens where every summer an exhibition of local artists is held. Pittville park with its two scenic lakes. The Pittville Pump Rooms where the spa waters made Cheltenham famous. Cheltenham was also the birthplace of Gustav Holst Also check out the Broadway Web site www.beautifulbroadway.com

We would like to advise guests that we are a totally NON smoking House and we reserve the right to charge clients

for the dry cleaning of curtains and laundering all the bedding if they smoke in the rooms.

©2001 Leasow House
Laverton Meadow, Broadway, Worcestershire, WR12 7NA
Tel: +44(0)1386 584 526 Fax: +44(0)1386 584 596