This guide concentrates on 20 towns and cities of the Cotswolds, explaining the development of the medieval wool trade and the effect it had on these towns and the architecture of their buildings, from humble weavers' cottages to the fine houses of the rich merchants. It also discusses the areas's immensely rich and influential abbeys and churches. Included are stories of the English civil war, tales of ghosts and haunted houses, taverns and inns. Some of the most prominent places of interest to the visitor in each town are dealt with in detail. The towns described are: Bath; Bourton-on-the-Water; Bradford-on-Avon; Broadway; Burford; Cheltenham; Chipping Camden; Chipping Norton; Cirencester; Gloucester; Malmesbury; Minchinhampton; Moreton-in-Marsh; Painswick; Stow-on-the-Wold; Tetbury; Tewkesbury; Winchcombe; Woodstock; and Wotton-under-Edge.