North Cotswold
A long view from Fish Hill, on the edge of the western escarpment, above Broadway overlooking the Vale of Evesham. If Kent had not thought of the name 'The Garden of England' first, it might well have been adopted by this wide valley through which Shakespeare's Avon flows from Stratford to join the Severn at Tewkesbury. It has indeed much in common with Kent, being a land both of orchards and hop-gardens. And the orchards begin as soon as you cross the hills and begin the descent. In the Middle Ages the Yale must have been as rich in vineyards, for along the river and close under the hills stood five of the largest Benedictine monasteries in England - Evesham, Pershore, Tewkesbury, Gloucester, and Winchcomb and, in addition, the Cistercian house of Hailes. Another narcotic crop beside the grape also flourished exceedingly near Winchcomb in the seventeenth century. That was tobacco. But our colonists in Virginia persuaded the Government to forbid its cultivation. There was much local opposition to this and it was only eradicated by ploughmen being sent under escort of troops to tear the farmers' crops from the soil.