The "Four Shires" of the Cotswolds make up an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and this rural region is also packed with manmade cultural treasures: castles and country houses, gardens and estates, Roman ruins and the historic Fosse Way. Author Caroline Mills shares her love of the Cotswolds with an enthusiastic, personal narrative guiding visitors from market towns to elegant abbeys, cheese-rolling competitions to Rollright Stones, Civil War battle sites to Prince Charles's organic farm. This is a colourful guidebook that offers far more than dry practicalities; Mills interviews local craftsmen and characters, and reveals local stories and folklore. She shows the rewards to be had from "slow" breaks that allow you to get under the skin of the region, and highlights restaurants and cafés that use locally produced ingredients. Visitors can enjoy a performance by the Royal Shakespeare Company, find out more about the Cotswold Lion or discover the source of the River Thames.