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Paul Smith

@thechocolateboxes

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formerly paulsmith6367
cottages and beautiful homes in Oxfordshire and surrounding English counties with occasional ventures further afield.

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I have not done a post on Instagram since late May and not really missed it. The declining engagement is undoubtedly to do with Instagram's obsession with adverts and "suggested posts". Nobody gets to see enough of the posts of the people they follow! What's made me post now? Well I was in Devon last week and these pretty cottages put the idea in to my head. The village of Shaldon near Teignmouth and Torquay is a lovely place even on a slightly gloomy October day. I am also on 698 posts - so at some point it would be nice to reach 700. Plus of course it is just nice to say hello to everyone. No finer way to to do that than with a post from the wonderful county of Devonshire. #devon #devonisheaven #shaldon #westcountry #thatchedroof #thatchedcottage #cottagecore #countrylook #october #autumn #england #angleterre #inglaterra #anglia #cottages #chocolatebox #chocolateboxcottages #villages #nature #thisprettyengland #unlimitedbritain #britishvillages by @thechocolateboxes

Today's feature is a pretty Georgian home surrounded by fresh flourishing May foliage in the Worcestershire town of Droitwich Spa. Dodderhill House is very easy on the eye with its whitewashed facade and tasteful blue-grey door. This was an unplanned capture. Sometimes when out and about a beautiful home comes in to view and gets snapped up for my grid. The symmetry of Georgian properties is hard to resist. Droitwich is a spa town a little to the north of the city of Worcester. It is also influenced by the large city of Birmingham to its north to which many people commute. #worcestershire #droitwichspa #england #angleterre #inglaterra #anglia #visitengland #explorebritain #may #sping #nature #villages #cottages #cottagecore #countrylook #chocolatebox #chocolateboxcottages #your_beautifulhouses #georgian #georgianhouse by @thechocolateboxes

There are a number of "calendar homes" that appear fairly regularly on my grid reflecting the changing of the seasons. Ruskin Cottage in North Hinksey is a staple for me in May when the purple wisteria at its gable end is in full froth and flourish. I also try to get back in November when that same wisteria fleetingly turns a sombre, deep butterscotch colour. North Hinksey is a mile or two due west of Oxford but officially outside of the city boundary. Despite this proximity to Oxford it was in Berkshire until 1974 as (obviously) were many places further west and south. As you can see from the other photos it plays host to other pretty cottages. There is also a big and often busy gastropub called The Fishes. Visits here are always a pleasure whatever the season. I hope you enjoy this glimpse at North Hinksey. #northhinksey #oxford #igersoxford #oxfordlens #oxfordshire #berkshire #thatchedcottage #thatchedroof #cottages #villages #nature #cottagecore #chocolatebox #chocolateboxcottages #countrylook #wisteria #wisteriahysteria #may #spring #england #angleterre #anglia #inglaterra #visitengland #explorebritain by @thechocolateboxes

The village of Long Preston in Yorkshire has at its centre a Maypole and a pub bearing the same name. It is the perfect place from which to do a first post for the month of May. Usually I visit this village right at the very start of spring in early March when the snowdrops have declined and the daffodils are hitting their stride. The colours of this western Yorkshire village were much more vivid in early May. The first cottage is my favourite in the settlement but there are countless others that have that sturdy, handsome Yorkshire attractiveness. Long Preston's nearest well-known neighbours are the towns of Skipton and Settle and it is right at the very western fringe of the Yorkshire Dales. Yorkshire villages have a quiet simplicity about them and they are generally populated by unassuming rural Yorkshire folk. Whether it is the village post office, the Maypole pub or any other part of Long Preston there are no airs and graces - just honesty. Yorkshire is by far England's biggest county and the white rose county is a great place to visit #yorkshire #yorkshiredales #cottagecore #chocolateboxcottages #chocolatebox #countrylook #longpreston #nature #villages #cottages #spring #may #maypole #england #angleterre #inglaterra #anglia #anglophile #visitengland #explorebritain by @thechocolateboxes

It is the final period of April and I am today featuring the village that was also front and centre in my last post - Cumnor, just west of Oxford. This time the focus is on the thatched homes in the village. The first home featured here once gathered me the highest number of likes I had ever achieved on an Instagram post. In the present mood of the algorithm I doubt I will get anywhere near that number. It is a beautiful house. All of the others have their own little charms but the first is my favourite. It is tucked away at the end of a side road on the fringe of Cumnor and it took several visits here over the years before I discovered it. April is a lovely month and I am sad to see it go but May is one of the best months of the year. Spring has been dry and bright in England so far. Let us hope this continues. I am looking forward to seeing everyone's wisteria posts. #cumnor #oxfordshire #berkshire #thatchedcottages #thatchedroofs #chocolatebox #chocolateboxcottages #countrylook #cottagecore #nature #villages #cottages #england #angleterre #anglia #inglaterra #anglophile #thisprettyengland #britishvillages #your_beautifulhouses by @thechocolateboxes

Newly grown leaves in April look incredibly fresh and are of a particularly vivid green. I would not ordinarily post an image of a home largely obscured by foliage but I am making an April exception with a lovely property called "Lydcott House" in the Oxfordshire village of Cumnor. I was further encouraged to do this knowing I had a "seasonal contrast" opportunity given I had a picture from the depths of a frosty winter day earlier in the 2020s. Further scenes then follow from this lovely village which is just to the west of the city of Oxford. The final scene of the distant thatched cottage acts as a segway to another post I will undertake from Cumnor, hopefully before the end of April. I hope you all enjoy this image even though the home is not fully visible. If the post does well I may be tempted to revisit Lydcott House and its environs in a future Autumn. #april #spring #cumnor #oxfordshire #berkshire #oxford #visitengland #explorebritain #england #angleterre #inglaterra #anglia #anglophile #nature #villages #cottages #cottagecore #chocolatebox #chocolateboxcottages #countrylook by @thechocolateboxes

Rose Cottage in the Warwickshire village of Honington has to be a contender to be the most famous pretty English home regularly featured on Instagram. I have captured it many times before. The temptation to stop by in the village always exists - but especially from May to July when the garden is in its full and vibrant pomp. I have also pictured in the depths of winter with snow on the ground and in Autumn. Here it is (twice) in the clean, calm air of an April morning. The garden has very definitely emerged from winter but the full colour has yet to arrive. Spring is a journey that we are only half way through! Other homes from this wonderful village follow. Spring blossom was very evident throughout Honington and the soundtrack was one of Goldfinches and Woodpigeons. In all my time there I think I only saw one moving car. I am sure I will be back to Honington again but which month should I choose next time? #warwickshire #honington #england #angleterre #inglaterra #anglia #spring #april #cottagecore #chocolatebox #chocolateboxcottages #countrylook #visitengland #explorebritain #villages #cottages #nature #thatchedcottage #thatchedroof #cotswolds #thecotswolds by @thechocolateboxes

Moreton-in-Marsh in Gloucestershire is one of the larger settlements in the Cotswolds but perhaps a little less of a tourist hot-spot than neighbours such as Stow-on-the-Wold and Bourton-on-the-Water. There are some beautiful homes in the town and three of them appear here. The first is called St David's Lodge and is my favourite. The blue door and its fanlight, the Cotswold stone, the white garden railings and the beautiful windows combine to create its charm. A lovely symmetrical home with a red door follows. Then there is a tiny house that could potentially pass for a Hobbit home in the Shire. Indeed Moreton has its own very special connection to Tolkien's Middle Earth. The fourth image here is of The Bell Inn in the town. This pub is reputed to have been Tolkien's inspiration for The Prancing Pony at Bree in Lord of the Rings. On my visit there was no sign of Strider, dark riders or a landlord called Barliman Butterbur. However the Spring sunshine was a blessing. Since this is my first post of the new month, happy April and happy Easter Sunday to one and all. #easter #eastersunday #lordoftherings #tolkien #spring #april #moretoninmarsh #gloucestershire #cotswolds #thecotswolds #nature #villages #cottages #chocolatebox #chocolateboxcottages #countrylook #cottagecore #visitengland #explorebritain #england #angleterre #inglaterra #anglia #anglophile #thisprettyengland by @thechocolateboxes

The phrase "sun-dappled lawn" is one I have seen crop up a few times in poetry and pose over the years. The first image in this sequence certainly fits that description. This very grand home is in Mobberley which is in the north of England county of Cheshire. A couple of very nearby homes follow on. Most of the posts on my grid are from the south of England or south midlands. Occasional Cheshire homes pop up though as I have close family who live in the county. I am always keen to drive around the leafy lanes of Cheshire and see what architectural delights are on offer. Having looked at the history of Mobberley there are many notable events and people associated with the village but my favourite was that Dave Dee of the 1960s band Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich lived there for a large part of his life. I shall "Hold Tight" from trying to explain the "Legend of Xanadu" but if you want to hear some 1960s music that is still as fresh now as it was then - get them up on You Tube or Spotify. Happy Palm Sunday everyone! #palmsunday #cheshire #mobberley #davedeedozybeakymickandtich #cottagecore #chocolateboxcottages #chocolatebox #countrylook #england #angleterre #inglaterra #anglia #nature #villages #cottages #april #spring #your_beautifulhouses #thisprettengland #cottagesofinstagram #unlimitedbritain by @thechocolateboxes

Most of the time when I take photographs of pretty cottages I have given at least some forethought to what I might capture on my travels. Occasionally though I stumble by chance upon a home and think "that's a beauty". This is exactly what happened while driving through the hamlet of Little Wolford on a bright but bracing March morning recently. In the very far south of Warwickshire this place is neighboured by Great Wolford (they are collectively known as "The Wolfords") and is on the eastern fringe of the Cotwolds. The cottage in the first, second and third picture had me slowing the car down immediately I saw it from the main road through the hamlet. It is at the very top corner of the intriguingly named Rosary Lane. It has a slightly gothic feel but the curving garden path and beautiful front door and porch are where the real charm lies. The garden is showing the very first signs of the Spring joys to come. There then follows a picture of the daffodil laden main road through the village and a distant shot of the biggest building in Little Wolford, the Manor House. It is only a short drive from the Wolfords to the border with Gloucestershire and some of the more famous Cotswolds towns - but these two places are off the tourist, track, rural and sleepy. I am sure the local residents appreciate it that way. I certainly did - Little Wolford and Rosary Lane were an unexpected little treat. #cotswolds #thecotswolds #littlewolford #warwickshire #visitengland #explorebritain #britishvillages #england #angleterre #inglaterra #anglia #countrylook #choclatebox #chocolateboxcottages #cottages #villages #nature #march #spring #daffodils #thisprettyengland #cottagecore #anglophile by @thechocolateboxes

Lancashire is my county of birth and upbringing yet it has never before featured on my grid. It does so today via the splendid coastal town of Grange over Sands. However if you look on a modern day map of England this settlement will appear in the invented county of "Cumbria". Grange is a beautiful place on the northern shore of the River Kent as it enters the Morecambe Bay estuary and the Irish Sea. The tides here are such that the water is very distant at low tide. The sand and mudflats can tempt walkers but they are dangerous. The pretty green trimmed cottages in the first two shots here are on Main Street in Grange. Remaining shots are of the estuary and the railway that runs along the coast. One of them shows a distant Grange from the opposite shore of the river. In 1974 this area known as "Lancashire north of the sands" was absorbed in to the fake newly created county of Cumbria and Grange lost its status as a red rose town as did Barrow, Cartmel, Ulverston and Coniston. At the same time at the opposite end of the county Liverpool, Manchester and other significant towns such as my birthplace of Bolton were also shorn away from Lancs. It was an act of bureaucratic vandalism. However, the monarch remains the Duke of Lancaster and the Duchy reflects the boundaries of the old county. That includes Grange-over-Sands and its neighbouring areas close to the Lake District. The map of real Lancashire is included here. Officialdom may seek to redraw maps at its whim, but Lancashire is Lancashire regardless. #grangeoversands #lakedistrict #lancashire #lancashirenorthofthesands #furness #barrow #countrylook #cottagecore #chocolatebox #chocolateboxcottages #visitengland #explorebritain #march #spring #nature #villages #cottages #seaside #thisprettyengland #britishvillages #england #angleterre #inglaterra #anglia #duchyoflancaster by @thechocolateboxes

What finer place to begin Spring on Instagram than in a north Oxfordshire ironstone village. The town of Banbury in is surrounded by peaceful rural settlements built from this material long ago - meaning they appear as if constructed from gingerbread. One such is Sibford Gower - a place that is known collectively with its neighbour Sibford Ferris as "The Sibfords". The thatched cottage with the yellow door in the first picture is called Pond Cottage - so named because of its proximity to the village pond. In my view it is the highlight of this village and looks resplendent here under blue skies and with an emerging clutch of daffodils. Another thatched cottage follows in this sequence and then there are a couple of scenes from the narrow ironstone lined winding lanes. During my visit to Sibford Gower I barely heard a sound - other than the plaintive chirruping of house sparrows. This was a sound once commonplace across every location in England but now much less so due to the decline in numbers of this bird. It was a pleasure to hear. It was generally a pleasure to dwell for a time in this somnolent corner of north Oxfordshire contemplating the start of Spring. #daffodils #march #spring #ironstone #banbury #sibfordgower #sibfordferris #oxfordshire #visitengland #explorebritain #anglia #england #angleterre #inglaterra #cottagecore #countrylook #chocolatebox #chocolateboxcottages #nature #villages #cottages #thatchedcottage #thatchedroof #thisprettyengland #britishvillages by @thechocolateboxes