Cotswold Happy Families

Cotswold Happy Families is a traditional card game created by Mary Gardiner (d. 2002) based around country crafts and occupations, with full colour illustrations by Chris Rhodes, printed by Willow Press, Gloucestershire (UK), 1997. Characters include the Shepherd, the Ploughman, the Hurdle Maker, the Groom, the Gamekeeper, the Farrier, the Beekeeper, the Stained Glass Maker, the Forester and the Stonewaller. See the Rules►

Above: “Cotswold Happy Families” created by Mary Gardiner and illustrated by Chris Rhodes, printed by Willow Press, 1997. 40 cards + 2 extra cards in box. Following her death in 2002, Mary Gardiner bequeathed her collection of Happy Families and other card games to the Bodleian Library, Oxford   read more →

By Simon Wintle

Member since February 01, 1996

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Curator and editor of the World of Playing Cards since 1996. He is a former committee member of the IPCS and was graphics editor of The Playing-Card journal for many years. He has lived at various times in Chile, England and Wales and is currently living in Extremadura, Spain. Simon's first limited edition pack of playing cards was a replica of a seventeenth century traditional English pack, which he produced from woodblocks and stencils.