Craving an idyllic Cotswolds escape? This Country’s Charlie Cooper on how he grew to love his hometown – a place that ticks every English countryside fantasy box going
Many of the thousands of tourists who visit the Cotswolds each year are drawn by the area’s tranquillity, and its golden-stone houses nestling in the verdant valleys, seemingly untouched by the passing centuries. Towns such as Chipping Campden, Bourton-on-the-Water, Bibury and Burford are the epitome of picture-postcard perfect England.
But if you were born there, it’s a different story. Just ask Charlie Cooper, who, alongside his sister Daisy, created and starred in This Country – a multi-award-winning BBC Three comedy series about being young in the Cotswolds.
- Charlie in Cirencester Park; Cirencester town. All images: Laura McCluskey
“It’s beautiful, but it was mind-numbingly boring growing up there,” Cooper says. As young actors, the pair moved to London. Only then did they appreciate the lure of their hometown. Returning to his native Cirencester, often referred to as the capital of the Cotswolds, he was able to see it with fresh eyes.
“When Daisy and I moved to London we got so homesick,” he says. “I’ve only started appreciating [the Cotswolds] since we wrote the first series, which became a sort of therapy. I could get everything off my chest about what I hated when I was growing up there, and after I wrote it I suddenly felt at home. What’s funny is that people can’t wait to get out of here, but in fact you’re so lucky if you get to grow up here; it’s one of the prettiest places you can be.”
- Cirencester
Now, he even embraces the traditions that he rejected as a youth. “In the summer there’s something going on every weekend in one of the villages,” he explains. “Every village has an annual fete or a scarecrow festival or a duck race or something, and that is a huge part of the Cotswolds. Me and Daisy once spent a summer, when we had no money, going to every single one of these events – we didn’t realise it at the time, but it was such good material.”
The slow pace of Cotswolds life also has the effect of magnifying local news and gossip. “There’s a village near us that holds a rubber duck race every year,” Cooper says. “They get thousands of ducks, put them in a big net and release them into the river. All the ducks are numbered, and if your duck wins you get a cash prize. One year, the night before the race, a group of lads nicked all the ducks and held them to ransom. The problem was, the organisers couldn’t afford to buy them back, so the event got cancelled. The ducks were never recovered. Every now and then, you see a single bright yellow beak poking out of a bush or a bin.”
Both Cooper and his sister spend much of their spare time making the most of the countryside that surrounds them. “We tend to work in the mornings in our office in Cirencester and then go off in the afternoon to do our own thing. I’ve taken up fishing in the last few years and really love it. We really appreciate the beauty that’s on our doorstep.”
That goes for the area’s history too, which stretches back through the Roman occupation, when Cirencester was known as Corinium. The nearby Chedworth Roman villa is one of the most impressive Roman sites in the UK, but Cooper took his time to become enthusiastic about his ancestors. “When you went to the Corinium Museum as a schoolchild it was just horrendous,” he recalls. “But now, our office is close by and when we get writers’ block we pop into the museum, pay our £5 and go round until we come up with an idea.”
- Cirencester Park
Cirencester’s local monuments are another source of inspiration. “We’ve got one of the largest parish churches in the country [the parish church of St John the Baptist], with a massive spire, plus a Roman amphitheatre, even though that’s basically just two hills,” Cooper says. “When we were at school this was the place that kids would meet up to fight. The Romans must have been very pleased that 2,000 years on, we were still using it for the purpose they intended. There was one girl who was very intimidating, and if you did anything to upset her, you’d have to meet her in the amphitheatre and let her punch you, or she’d make your life a living hell.”
- Cirencester park with St John the Baptist church in the background
So what is Cooper’s perfect destination for a day out in the Cotswolds? “I love Stroud, which is a bit of a hippy town. It’s surrounded by beautiful valleys and we love to go walking there. There’s a village called Slad, which is where Laurie Lee grew up and he wrote Cider with Rosie all about that valley. There’s a pub there called the Woolpack, which is a great place that hasn’t changed in 80 years. The decor’s amazing, the food’s great and so is the local beer from the Stroud Brewery.”
Taking your time to rediscover such simple pleasures is the very essence of the Cotswolds. Slow down, breathe in, check it out.
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