Travel Dispatch - The Cotswolds, England
Anne Marie Brown, The Upgrade
My happy place is the British countryside. I’ve long said that I will one day retire to a honey-stone cottage in the Cotswolds, keep ducks and chickens, and spend my days taking long walks, reading Agatha Christie, and writing poetry. My husband is a Colorado boy through and through and refuses to move across the pond, so until I’m old, retired, or widowed, I must be content with occasional trips to England to pretend I live there. And yes, I do dress like this at home in Denver.
My first experience with this area was in 2007, when I studied abroad in London and my mother met me at the end of the program for a two-week trip through the Cotswolds, Lake District, and York. Having just studied 18th century British literature, I was enamored with the houses of Keats and Wordsworth. My mother, the consummate horticulturist, took us on long garden tours in between visits to opulent manor homes and cozy pubs. I lost her four years ago, and that trip remains my happiest memory of her.
In the summer of 2025, I returned for my 40th birthday with some girlfriends, and we gallivanted through Stow-on-the-Wold and Daylesford, shopping our little hearts out. This past week, I went again on Molly Carr’s Belle Vie retreat.
As a professional travel planner, the greatest gift I can give myself is a trip that I don’t plan, run by someone who is as much of a professional planner as I am. Molly is that person. It takes a lot for me to set my load down and let someone else steer a trip, but I felt completely at ease this week. Every detail came from Molly’s research and planning, and I highly encourage any woman to attend one of her Belle Vie trips.
