Stroud

Stroud made its money dyeing army uniforms scarlet and has since turned into the kind of town where a co-founder of Extinction Rebellion is just a neighbour. It is built down the sides of five valleys, so every trip for milk is a hill walk you never agreed to and every argument comes with a view. Buyers arrive for the Cotswold postcode and find the Cotswolds with the polish sanded off and the politics turned up.