Henry Ford was so enamored with these cottages that he bought one of his own, dismantled it stone by stone, shipped the whole thing to America and reassembled it on his property in Dearborn, Michigan. Ford’s Rose Cottage still stands today, and is one of the oldest buildings in the collection of the Henry Ford museum at Greenfield Village, MI.

I had an opportunity to swing by Greenfield Village this past summer, and, as luck would have it, I snapped these photos.

Rose Cottage was built in the 1600’s and resided in the village of Chedworth, Gloucestershire, England. Henry Ford bought the cottage for $5,000 in 1930. A similar cottage would probably fetch about one million today and would be officially protected by the UK government.

This is a typical Cotswolds Forge, originally built in the early 1600’s and also relocated by Henry Ford to Greenfield Village. This particular forge was continuously operated by a Cotswold ‘Smithy’ for 300 years.

Above is a peek inside the forge. Now, imagine 100 miles of tranquil villages comprised almost entirely of limestone retreats like Rose Cottage. What you end up with is something like this.

This is Arlington Row, a famous collection of Cotswold cottages in the village of Bibury. Supposedly, Henry Ford also tried to buy this entire row and have it shipped to Michigan. We’re glad that he left these in place. It gives us something to admire as we walk from village to village on our Cotswolds Way Tour. To step into the Cotswolds is to step back in time.