Painswick, Queen of the Cotswolds

My mate Dave and I met in Painswick today. It's a Cotswold stone town of handsome Georgian buildings once owned by wool and cloth merchants. The mills of Painswick were never converted to steam, and it bears no sign of being a former industrial town. Situated on the Cotswold Way, about 4 miles from Stroud, the town is popular with tourists, walkers and retired people, but lacks a bank, a library, a village shop other than the convenience store, and other basic amenities.

What it does have is two pubs; several restaurants; at least one tea shop, and an antiques shop! We chose the bistro because it offered a bargain two course lunch (we both had prawns in filo pastry, and swordfish steak with saute potatoes) and wine. Then because Dave is a three-course sort of man, we went to a coffee shop and had carrot and marmalade cake served on vintage plates (1906, apparently) and various pots of tea. We tried to visit the Gloucestershire Guild of Craftsmen gallery, but it is relocating to Cheltenham, apparently. This is a pity, as it was alway so handy for presents and one-off items.

It started to rain, and Dave got the bus back to Cheltenham, and while I waited for the Stroud bus, I blipped the Town Hall and the War Memorial from the churchyard. 99 clipped yews grow in this churchyard: apparently 100 are planted, but "the devil takes the hundredth". Indeed! Note the filled-in windows in the building, a result of the local window tax; and the real bird in the sky. I used the dramatic filter built into my compact, and then dramatised it a bit more in Photogene, but by the time I got home, the weather had turned to 'rain for the foreseeable future' so I guess we were lucky to have a few hours of not being rained on.

The hayfever, or cold, or whatever it was, is lifting, and I'm feeling a bit brighter. Hurrah! I shall now attempt to catch up with blippers everywhere.