On Her Own

This is for travelers like me who have become saturated with group/tour travel with the accompanying pell mell rush through European countries. I had been doing that for more than six years when I suddenly found the prospect of additional travel repugnant. One lucky day I discovered in Jerry Hulse’s column a mention of cottages for rent in the marvelous Cotswold area of England.

I arranged for accommodation at a very old cottage a few miles from Bristol and eight miles from Bath. In June I found myself in the most beautiful cottage I had ever seen. The house huddled in a green haven of a valley, with a gentle trout stream flowing just feet from my front door. My landlady/hostess could not have done more for me than my own relatives. We toured the countryside for usually an eight-hour day, all for $45 a day. I filled my eyes with gentle reminders of other days, with not a sign of tainted air.

Next June I will be going back to a 300-year-old manor house in Bath, taking my sister to share this rare experience. Then to Paris, then returning to London to a large house with all the amenities of home, a survivor of the fire of 1666. The company offering these accommodations, 30% cheaper than a hotel, is Landmark Trust, Shottesbrooke, Maidenhead, Berkshire, England.

LESLIE W. ELLIOTT

Long Beach