The Porch House, Cotswolds, England

The Cotswolds is a rural area of south central England covering parts of 6 counties, notably Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire. Its rolling hills and grasslands harbor glorious thatched medieval villages riddled with beautiful old mansions of honey-colored stone, thatched cottages, atmospheric churches, and rickety old pubs. If you've ever coveted exposed beams or lusted after a cream tea in the mid-afternoon, there's no finer place to fulfill your fantasies.

Before You Go Out Of Town: Tips on Burglar Proofing Your Home

There are things we never forget. One such memory occurred for me in the winter of 1979, just a few months after our family moved to Dallas. I was in the 8th grade. 

It was a cold, dark night when a ringing telephone woke us up. No - it wasn't our telephone, it was our neighbors. My Dad looked out the bedroom window to find a man crawling through the window next door. Our neighbors were being robbed! The burglar had gotten our neighbor's telephone number and someone was ring the phone as he was robbing them. This was his way of knowing no one was in the house.