"I have to take you to see the long barrow," says Mike, our guide. "If I don't, Roy won't forgive me. He thinks a lot of barrows, does Roy."

So we stop at a farm gate and dutifully leave our Cotswold Safaris 4WD and file through the farm gate to respectfully regard a green hump in the field.

Fortunately Mike's knowledge of barrows - Neolithic burial chambers - is limited. About a tenth of Roy's. I know this because others in my group, travelling in his vehicle, learned substantially more.

You've got to love a place so locked in with history. Here, in the Cotswolds, just a couple of hours west of London, the major connecting road - Fosse Way - is a Roman road named for the ditch that once ran beside it. And the worst thing that could happen in the Slaughters, despite the violent name give them in the Middle Ages, is that you might slip over and sprain your wellie. That's because it's simply a medieval term for a marshy, muddy place.

Not that this place is in a time warp. All the current celebs and blue-bloods choose to live here. Prince Charles hides out at Highgrove, near Tetbury. Stella McCartney, Liz Hurley and Kate Winslet all own property here, and even posh-noshing chef Allan Coxon lives at Evesham.

The place is used to top brass though. There's an impressive list of famous residents, kicked off by Shakespeare at Stratford on Avon, through William Morris, designer and founder of the Arts and Crafts movement, to Winston Churchill who was brought up at Blenheim Palace and now lies in the church cemetery at the nearby village of Bladon.

In fact habitation goes back much further than this. At the head of the Thames we checked out Chedworth Roman Villa, one of the largest in England, where over a kilometre of walls have been unearthed (literally) plus two nicely tiled - they call them mosaic-ed - bathhouses. To bring it to life, around the site there are archers and apothecaries, cooks and servants hard at work and willing to share with visitors all the finer points of ancient life.

Then there's Sudeley Castle and Gardens in Winchcombe that once housed King Ethelred the Unready. Queen Katherine Parr followed and it was also the garrison headquarters of Prince Rupert during the Civil War. A tour of the castle and its life-sized replicas of dear departed royals, and the award-winning gardens is enough to propel you straight to the court of the corpulent King Henry.

But Snowshill Manor, just a few kilometres from the picture book village of Broadway, has to win the Cotswolds' award for pure 'eccentriana'. Charles Paget Wade was an architect -turned-pathological collector - of everything: musical instruments, clocks, toys, bicycles, weavers and spinners tools, even Japanese armour. You name it, he couldn't resist it. This shopaholic would dig around in local markets, even barns to unearth his prizes.

But just in case you thought the Cotswolds were all about power and prestige, pedigrees and the passing of time, spare a thought for the blankets on your bed. During the Middle Ages, when England's economy also rested on wool, the abbeys and monasteries raised sheep. These native sheep with their rich creamy fleeces were much prized, and the area became a merchant's and weaver's dream.

Where I stayed at the deliciously decadent 12-room Hotel on the Park (motto: the only thing we overlook is the park) in lovely Cheltenham, the epicentre of the Cotswolds, another animal was more in evidence. I found a snoozing teddy bear propped amongst my wealth of pillows. There was another lurking in a crook of the stairs, and the biggest one ever supervising the dining room. Not to be outdone, a yellow rubber ducky on the claw-footed bath in my very own bathroom had a label advising me to call Reception if I felt I couldn't leave without one.

One lunch time we visited Stow-on-the-Wold and The Royalist Hotel, the oldest inn in England. Founded as a leper hospice in 947AD, by then it had already been part of a Saxon community for over four centuries. These days an Australian chef, Alan Thompson, and his wife Georgina own it, and of course the restaurant is named 947AD.

It would be so easy to overshoot the gentle Cotswolds. Simple to get on the M4 heading for Wales and miss those golden stone villages ringed by daffodils and hedges, and the long green views.

A detour is in order - just a couple of days stolen from the calendar should do it - for although you may not ever get to feel the same about Roy's long barrows, you can be certain that Charles Paget Wade left a few bargains behind in the local markets. And it would be a shame to miss out on those. Or a meal at 947AD.

- by Sally Hammond who travelled to England with Thai Airways and stayed as a guest of VisitBritain.

FACTFILE:

Where to stay: The Hotel on the Park, Cheltenham.

When: Best time to visit is from April to September.

Who: Cotswold Safari Tours

More information: Visit Britain,  Cotswolds Calling, Cotswolds Tourist Information