The Cotswolds are a region of beautiful stone villages scattered among undulating limestone hills about 100 kilometers west of London. Appearing much as they did hundreds of years ago, the stone villages of the Cotswolds provide a unique view of 17th- and 18th-century England. Although it is now chiefly a tourist destination, it was the wool trade and later the cloth weaving industry that originally made the Cotswolds famous. Most of the stone buildings were built with a honey-colored Jurassic limestone quarried in the surrounding hills. These limestones are still quarried and are available in many forms.
