“I remember Phuket as a quiet, empty paradise island, totally undeveloped and with just a couple of little shacks on what is now Patong Beach,” Bill told me.
Bill was regaling me with all this as we cycled together through the incredibly beautiful Cotswold countryside in south-west England to a gruesomely-named village called Upper Slaughter for mid-morning coffees, near to Bourton-on-the-Water where Bill now lives in retirement. We were a long way from Phuket, where we’d first met some 15 years ago, yet the island featured prominently in our conversation as we had both spent many happy years living there.
“I was fortunate enough to retire to Phuket in 1998 and bought some land overlooking Kata Beach on the hillside high above. I discovered an idyllic lifestyle after a much-travelled global career as a director of the famous Pilkington glass company. I built some villas on my land and lived in one of them and sold the others,” he explained.
By now, Bill and I were seated on the stunning greensward lawn in front of the ‘Lords of the Manor’ luxury hotel, which dates back to 1649 and was formerly the House of the land-owning Slaughter family, after whom the village is named. The name ‘Slaughter’ makes it sound like the village has a dark history, but it’s actually just a mispronunciation of the Old English word ‘slothre,’ which simply means a muddy place and came about due to the River Eye which serenely flows through both Upper and Lower Slaughter villages.
We were surrounded by the most fabulous English country garden and trees, a far cry from the abundant tropical verdancy which we had both come to love in Phuket. Our steaming coffees soon arrived, as did a bill for some B540 for the two cappuccinos, also a far cry from prices in Phuket!
“One amazing thing that happened during my Phuket retirement was that at the ripe old age of 62 I had a son with my Lao partner who we named Anan,” Bill told me. “He grew up firstly in Phuket until the age of 12, but then I wanted a secondary education for him at one of the excellent private schools back in England, followed by a British university if he did well enough to get in. So, 10 years ago, in 2015, I moved back to the UK and found this lovely village of Bourton-on-the-Water in the Cotswolds and made it our home.”
Clearly Bill’s plan for his son worked out exceedingly well, as Anan is now a charming and handsome young man of 21 who has just received his honours degree in architecture from the prestigious Oxford Brookes University.
Bourton-on-the-Water is without doubt one of the most beautiful and famous small towns in England, known as the ‘Venice of the Cotswolds’ for its numerous lovely little foot-bridges across the River Windrush which trickles its trout and duck-laden way right through the middle of the town. The houses are built from a gorgeous golden-yellow limestone, unique to this part of this world and the surrounding countryside rolls verdantly to every horizon inviting hikers and cyclists to immerse themselves in its Sylvan bounty.
Bill’s lovely home features a magnificent golden stone courtyard and garden where we ate outdoors once our day’s bike ride had finished. We spent the long summer’s evening enjoying the delicious local cuisine and even local English wines which have evolved to become pretty good in these times of accelerated sunshine and heat in today’s globally-warmed English summers.
From Phuket to Bourton-on-the-Water may seem like a rather long leap of connectivity, but I like to think that this was yet another example of the magic which cycling friendships can weave!
‘Bicycling’ Baz Daniel has been penning his Blazing Saddles column, chronicling his cycling adventures in Phuket and beyond, since 2013.