Feather Beds and Stone Cottages – by Gail Harker and Marilyn Olsen

Our group travelled to Stow-on-the-Wold and to Bourton-on–the-Water to take in the sights. Entering a Cotswold village, one is immediately impressed with a warm sensation created by the color of the golden stone of the buildings. The Cotswolds hills are made of oolitic Jurassic limestone – a kind of limestone made of small grains. A few of us stopped at one of the old Norman churches – St. Edwards Church at Stow-on-the-Wold, built between the 11th and 15th C. This is one of the churches that benefitted from the prosperous wool trade in the area. Our visit to the Cotswolds and other British locations gave us an insight into Britain’s long and well recorded history. We were impressed by many facets of history that unfolded through the stories of the textiles that we saw. Scroll all the way to the end of the poem to see a slideshow Gail Harker
Here is a poem that Marilyn Olsen wrote :
Upon the hillside proudly stood
The fine house of the noble lord
His mighty fireplace blazing
And his wealth securely stored.
While in the valley down below
The shepherd in his smock
Lived in a humble cold stone house
And tended the lordship’s flock.
The lord’s walls were line with tapestries
His garments made with costly threads.
His wife and all his children
Slept in downy feather beds.
While in the shepherd’s cold stone house
His wife carded and spun the yarn.
And his children all slept on mats of straw
With the animals in the barn.
Today the grand house on the hill
Is no longer in royal hands
The mighty fireplace no longer blazes
The estate is public land.
While in the valley down below
The shepherd in his smock
Lives in a much warmer old stone house
And tends his very own flock.
The walls of the house on the hillside
Are still lined with tapestries and garments of golden thread
But only historical pamphlets
Mention the feather beds.
While in the stone cottage in the valley below
The shepherd shears sheep in his barn
His wife in the now warm cottage
Spins wool and sells, to tourists, the yarn. Marilyn Olsen
So lovely to revisit the villages this morning. It was a beautiful day, and peacefully quiet with families enjoying the outdoors. Penny