A weekend reunion in an equidistant, picturesque location like Cotswolds is a great idea, says JONATHAN SMITH

FEW  things are better than meeting up with old friends for a weekend of shared memories over good food in harmonious surroundings like the Cotswolds.

As "immigrants" from the North to the South-east, it often falls on us to invite chums to spend a few days chez nous. Great fun but also a good deal of work preparing food, sorting and tidying.

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Which is the reason we tried this experiment: why not take a mini-holiday and rent a picturesque cottage more or less equidistant?

No household chores and a new area to discover. The costs would be shared, as would the pleasures.

We chose the Cotswolds, iconically English with its mellow-yellow stone buildings and smell of woodsmoke on crisp spring evenings. We were careful to avoid the temptation of splendid isolation in booking somewhere miles from a town as this would have involved one of our four playing chauffeur.

Home for us was Chesil Mews, a stone's throw from the main street in Chipping Campden with its independent shops, old inns and historic market hall. Picture postcard perfect in Cotswold stone, the two-bedroom modernised cottage had cosy, uncluttered rooms that we did our best to keep tidy, despite us bringing enough clobber to last a month.

It would have been all too easy to become hermits and simply indulge ourselves, soaking in the roll-top bath or combing through the DVDs and board games, but we wanted to use the town as a base to explore the area's chocolate-box villages and stately homes.

Chipping Campden is a thriving centre for artists and craftspeople who arrived around a century ago when designer CR Ashbee moved the workshops of the Guild of Handicraft from the East End of London. Silversmiths, jewellers and cabinetmakers remained and prospered. Ashbee's base was the Old Silk Mill that is still here.

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We made the most of being a short walk from some of the cosiest inns and restaurants in the county.
Top of the list was the Eight Bells Inn with its blazing fire and friendly bar. I can still taste the superb Mad Goose bitter. The Red Lion Inn serves a mean steak and boasts brewery receipts from 1660 when a barrel-and-a-half of ale cost "three shillings and nine pence" (about 13p). Sadly, prices have risen.

There are plenty of enticing eateries from hotel restaurants to classy bistros. We chose a one-off Italian, Caminetto, where the minestrone soup is just like mama used to make and which has the largest home-prepared chicken Kiev I've ever seen.

Chipping Campden is within striking distance of towns and villages such as Broadway, Stow-on-the Wold and Bourton-on-the Water. Close to Broadway is Snowshill Manor, a National Trust treasure with an arts and craft-style garden and terraces and ponds laid out in the early 20th century by Charles Paget Wade as a series of outdoor rooms.
Now run on organic principles, the bright colours and scents excite the senses and with lavender in bloom it looks spectacular. The views from here are impressive.

We went to Oxford, an hour away, with its spires and sleepy river and stopped at Woodstock to visit Blenheim Palace, birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill, on the way back. Tea at The Bear Hotel, once Winnie's watering hole, is a must.

On the last night we succumbed to the lure of the log burner and low beams and stayed in for a superb dinner of home-made Lancashire hotpot with best lamb from the friendly butcher RL Smith just yards from our cottage on High Street.

After three days of catching-up, talking and exploring with our pals we all agreed the Cotswolds is great but even better is meeting up with close friends who live far away without wasting quality time on tedious tidying and cooking.

THE KNOWLEDGE:
Rural Retreats (01386 701177/www.ruralretreats.co.uk) offers a two night break at Chesil Mews from £369 (sleeps four), self-catering. Price includes a hamper on arrival, bottle of wine and toiletries.

 First Great Western (0845 700 0125/www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk) offers return rail from London Paddington to Moreton-in-Marsh from £31.

Cotswolds & Forest of Dean Tourism: 01242 864171/www.cotswolds.com