In the New Cotswolds

 Yesterday I was walking in a corner of rural Bedfordshire that is being spoken of (at least on the Property pages) as 'the new Cotswolds', or 'the affordable Cotswolds'. It's an area of rolling countryside, pasture and arable, gentle hills and patches of woodland, punctuated by attractive stone-built villages replete with thatched cottages – and, of course, churches. There were four churches on our (pretty short) route, so it looked set to be a good church crawl – but no, we had reckoned without the dear old Church of England and its 'if in doubt, lock them out' policy of keeping churches closed. Three of the four churches were firmly closed and locked, and the only one open was no longer serving as a church but as a kind of outdoor centre with visitors' accommodation – bunk beds cleverly tucked away in the aisles, and even bean bags in the chancel. The conversion had been nicely done, leaving the essential structure of the church still readable – but even so...Not to have seen the inside of one actual church was seriously disappointing, especially as all were fine medieval buildings. 
  I've inveighed before against the C of E's habit of keeping so many (most?) of its churches closed to the world, even though the ecclesiastical insurers generally advise that it's better to leave them open, at least during the day. I believe I wrote about it with some vehemence in my book, The Mother of Beauty – and that was before the Covid madness swept the land and all churches were, deplorably, closed and locked and all public worship banned, demonstrating to the world that Health and Safety was more important than anything a church could offer. Even when churches were allowed to reopen, ludicrous restrictions and practices remained in force, making the experience of church visiting, let alone attending a service – where such a thing was on offer – awkward and restrained at best. Happily those days are gone – at least until the next health panic – but far too many churches remain closed and locked.
  Other than that, the walk in the new Cotswolds was delightful – and the butterflies were out in numbers in the meadows and hedgerows: plenty of Ringlets flying with the Meadow Browns, a few Skippers, Commas aplenty, Peacocks, Tortoiseshells, Red Admirals and a Painted Lady – and, best of all, Marbled Whites galore, my first of the year.