I always say you can almost taste the history in the Cotswolds.

The region has been continuously inhabited for at least 6,000 years, and moving through the landscape, the evidence for that is all around you.

Walk along a path, and the familiar bulge of a Neolithic burial mound or ‘tump’ will greet you. Climb to the top of one of its many hills, and chances are you will find yourself walking through the ancient earthworks of an Iron Age hillfort. Wander through its woods, and if you are lucky, you may find a Roman mosaic hidden amongst the trees.

Today, the Cotswolds are designated a National Landscape (formerly an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty). While the region may lack the dramatic vistas of the Brecon Beacons, the Peak District, or the Yorkshire Dales, it makes up for it with a gently rolling landscape of verdant hills that dip into exquisite, secret valleys. Walking through them feels like you have stepped through a portal to a different age.

It is little wonder Tolkien drew so much inspiration from the region when describing The Shire.

One of the Cotswolds’ most distinctive features is its architecture. Hewn from the Jurassic limestone that underpins the entire area, it seems to blossom organically from the green surroundings—as if sung into existence rather than quarried from the ground and built by human hands.

They say you can tell where you are in the region by the hue of the stone, from the honey and burnt sienna tones of the north to the cool silver-greys of the south.

The Cotswolds truly is the quintessence of the English countryside.

While those earlier epochs certainly helped shape the region, its modern form owes most to one in particular.

The Wealth Engine

It was during the Medieval period that the Cotswold saw true prosperity as it was the source of what was, at the time, one of the most valuable commodity on the planet.

It was not gold that was found in its hills but instead ‘the golden fleece’; a honey-tinged coat of the local breed of sheep. Introduced by the Romans, their long, curled manes earned them the moniker ‘Cotswold Lions’. They had a natural affinity for the rare Jurassic limestone grasslands that in the spring and summer will burst forth with a cascade of colours as the wildflowers bloom, with species of flora so rare they are protected by the Wildlife and Countryside act.

As a wine professional, I recognise terroir when I see it.

The combination of hills, meadows