This is a secret that maybe I should keep, but I like to watch British Fashion YouTubers.  Stay with me on this, please.  It is not what you think.

I watch three ladies that live in various parts of the Cotswolds, which is an almost 800 square mile area that is composed of the Cotswold Hills in the southwestern central part of England.  The Cotswolds are known for their beauty, quaint villages, and farms.  It is known for its walking trails and footpaths, stately homes, and beautiful gardens.  Tourism is a major draw.  Homes in the area are clad in Cotswold stone, which is a range of yellow colored limestone, including pale yellow, honey yellow, and richer golden yellow.

Although I have not visited that part of England, it has always been on my radar as a place I would like to explore.  And when my next trip to England is scheduled, the Cotswolds will be included (and of course Highclere Castle).

What I have learned about the Cotswold area by watching my fashion YouTubers is that although your town may not have (fill in the blank…a garden center, a nail salon, a grocery store, a spa), a town 20 -30 miles away will have one.  Each town does seem to have very skilled craftsmen (although it may be only one per craft…a top-rated plumber or expert carpenter, etc.).

All the Cotswold towns seem to be similarly beautiful, but each town has something unique to offer.  Be it a Cathedral, a museum, a distillery, or a wildlife park, each town seems to have something available that is top-of-the-line which the surrounding communities do not offer.  Common threads are quality restaurants, beautiful sights, and lots of history.

Although the area is rural, it is only an hour from London, so any service or item not available in the Cotswolds is only a train ride away.

One day I was daydreaming about how I wished my part of northeast Texas was more like the Cotswolds.  Wouldn’t it be cool to be close to a major city, but yet live in the country?  And to have unique, quality offerings in my town and surrounding towns?  How nice if we could eschew the interstates and take small roads to a neighboring town.

It only took a few seconds of reviewing what I wished was available to me in my part of the world to realize that WE HAVE ALL THAT AND MORE!  We have gorgeous farmland that is dotted with beautiful cows and horses.  We have quality tradesmen, unique towns each with their own charms and offerings, and small, road-less-traveled trails to take us to the towns next door.  Though the traffic to get to Dallas is overwhelming for the roadways, Dallas isn’t that far away.  (Could we not have a railway system similar to England or the northern United States?)

Maybe what we need to do is create a name (maybe the Sulphur River Basin) for a consortium of towns and then market the heck out of the area.  Why aren’t we world famous?  From annual festivals, flatlands, rolling hills, to big sky we have a bit of something for everyone.  The only thing the Cotswolds has on us is age, and that may actually be an advantage for us.

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