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The A46 and the B4070 are equally attractive routes linking Stroud and Cheltenham, but the former has the edge because after four miles you reach the old wool town of PAINSWICK , where ancient buildings jostle for space on narrow streets running downhill off the busy main street. The fame of Painswick's church stems not so much from the building itself as from the surrounding graveyard , where 99 yew trees, cut into bizarre bulbous shapes resembling lollipops, surround a collection of eighteenth-century table-tombs unrivalled in the Cotswolds. However, it's the Rococo Garden (mid-Jan to April, Oct & Nov Wed-Sun 11am-5pm; May-Sept daily 11am-5pm; GBP3.30; ), about half a mile north up the Gloucester road and attached to Painswick House (not open to the public), that ranks as the town's main attraction. Created in the early eighteenth century and later abandoned, the garden is being restored to its original form with the aid of a painting dated 1748. Although unfinished, it's a beautiful example - and the country's only one - of Rococo garden design, a short-lived fashion typified by a mix of formal geometrical shapes and more naturalistic, curving lines. With a vegetable patch as an unusual centrepiece, the Painswick garden spreads across a sheltered gully - for the best vistas, walk around anticlockwise. In February and March people flock to see the snowdrops that smother the slopes beneath the pond, during which time the garden is open daily (call to check exact dates: tel 01452/813204). The best bus service to Painswick is the #46 between Stroud and Cheltenham, which runs hourly during the week and four times on Sundays. The tourist office , housed in an old school at the bottom of the main street (April-Oct Tues-Sun 10am-4pm; tel 01452/813552), can help you find reasonably-priced accommodation if the following places are booked: Thorne Guest House on Friday Street (tel 01452/812476; closed Dec & Jan; GBP50-60), one of the oldest houses in the village, or Cardynham House on St Mary's Street (tel 01452/814006, ; GBP60-70), where all rooms have four-posters or half-testers, and one has a lounge and private pool (GBP120 a night). In the evenings, there's a set meal on offer in the attached Thai restaurant for GBP21.20 (closed Sun & Mon), which is almost the only place to eat in the village - not counting the nearby Royal Oak , reckoned to be the best pub hereabouts.
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