Retiree spends 50 summers in a row in the Cotswolds (From Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard)

Barbara Clements from St Albans has been visiting Sudgrove Cottages in Miserden for 50 years

12:00pm Sunday 28th October 2012 in Cotswolds news By Ian Craig

A RETIRED headteacher from Hertfordshire loves the Cotswolds so much she has spent her holidays here every year – for 50 years in a row.

Barbara Clements, from St Albans, first visited Sudgrove Cottages in Miserden with her mother Emily in 1962, and has been coming back every year, often more than once a year, ever since.

Barbara, who has been visiting for the past week with her friend Kathleen Elliott, said she had fallen in love with the peaceful surroundings of the Cotswolds countryside.

“I really like it – it’s like a second home to me,” she said.

“It's so nice here if the weather's bad we can just stay in and still enjoy ourselves.”

Barbara has such a connection to the area that, when her mother died in 1990, a tree was planted in his memory in the gardens of the cottages, run by husband-and-wife team Martin and Carol Ractliffe.

The 88-year-old Barbara said she had travelled across the world to locations including the Holy Land, Australia, Canada and Barbados, but always came back to the Cotswolds.

“There's lots of interesting little villages and churches,” she said.

“I particularly love visiting Westonbirt Arboretum, as well as Tetbury and Tewkesbury Abbey.

“I'll be coming as long as I can – I'd love to celebrate my 100th birthday here.”