Cotswold Hills

Cotswold Hills, also Cotswolds, range of limestone hills, western England, extending about 80 km (50 mi) north-east of Bath. They reach a high point of 330 m (1,083 ft) at Cleeve Cloud, near Cheltenham, from which they descend slowly to an average of 185 m (600 ft) eastwards towards Oxford. Famous for their many beautiful churches and villages built from the local oolitic limestone, the Cotswolds were once a prosperous centre of England's wool trade. The Cotswold breed of sheep originated here. Several rivers rise in the Cotswolds, mostly flowing initially in a south-eastern direction; these include the Avon and the Thames.