Money and good stone can make fine houses. They provide no guarantee of good taste, but after a 1000 years even the worst possible taste has a certain appeal, and the forty gargoyles and grotesques on Winchcombe Parish Church are a reminder of that.

Good stone is plentiful in the Cotswolds - the Cotswolds are Oolitic limestone uplands which have provided some of the finest building stone in England. The great colleges of Oxford are built from it, St. Paul's Cathedral is built from it, and in the Cotswolds it is used to build everything from coffins to cottages to castles.

The money for these fine Cotswold houses came from sheep and wool, and since Roman times that wealth has been used to create one of the most beautiful landscapes in England. Stone doesn't rot or burn. Unless it is carted away (like most of the medieval abbeys!) it stays put and when it serves a purpose, people continue to use it. The massive 13th.C tithe barn in Frocester is still being used as a barn, and inside there is a plate of milk for the farm cat, and no doubt there are mice in the mountains of hay.

Money goes where money is, and although the woollen industry has gone, the Cotswolds have a reputation as a rural retreat for the rich. Some manor houses have become hotels or schools but many are still private residences. Prince Charles lives in the Cotswolds at Highgrove near Tetbury, and Princess Anne at Gatcombe Park near Minchinhampton.

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