As we flew home to Gatwick I compiled a list of what aspects of my Cotswold life I had most missed.

It is a personal one, not long, but including some delights I shall soon enjoy again.

The first is newspapers, with this one heading the list.

It is bright, informative and above all local and as someone to whom the minutia of local life is of considerable interest absolutely indispensable.

The back editions will have been kept for me.

I shall read them from cover to cover.

Secondly is the opportunity to view a well-stocked baker’s window.

It may be Huffkins, Hobbs or Halls or perhaps Walkers in Stroud.

I know I must be cautious about what I purchase and subsequently devour but I can look to my hearts content.

Lardy cake, Chelsea buns, Eccles cakes or something that Whiddets in Cirencester call flat Danish are all mouth-watering prospects.

My thoughts then turn to the Cotswold landscape and beech woods come to mind gracing the slopes of our hills and valleys.

The decent into Dursley, Wotton-under-Edge or Nailsworth are all individually attractive and exciting.

A full pint of beer, perhaps Butcombe or Wye Valley concludes the list.

Rum punch and Banks beer which of course comes in bottles have been recently enjoyed but now there is the prospect of a fine West Country pint.

You could ask if I cherish all these things why do I fly away to foreign parts.

The answer is easy. All parts of the world have interesting aspects that I wish to discover.

At the end of my teenage years I had seen the sea once, never been to London or been in a lift or on an escalator.

Now I am belatedly making up for lost time before old age puts an end to my excursions.

Wonderful places have been visited but always with the deep unshakeable view that the area between Bath and Stratford-on-Avon and Oxford and Bristol cannot be beaten.

Yes the holiday has been wonderful but it is good to be back.