[4]The original Cotswold cottages were built for rural laborers, including farmers who reared sheep.

[1] Additionally, the rural location of the Cotswold region limited access to building materials.

Classical influences to the exteriors included the use of stucco on walls, which often replaced the limewash on original buildings.

[6] The interiors also changed, as Cotswold-style buildings came to have higher and wider lights and “loftier” rooms.

This allowed architects to save on costs due to stone being expensive during the Arts and Crafts movement.

[8][1] Lead, on the other hand, was scarce throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, so it is not utilized in any traditional buildings of the Cotswold style.

This technique gives a range of color to the Cotswold style due to the amount of iron oxide in the limestone layer.

[citation needed] Henry Ford is noted to have appreciated the "distinctive architectural style and attractive weathered appearance of typical Cotswold buildings," whose stone elements "all blended together unbroken by other visible construction materials.

The walls had to compensate by being thicker than the slates in Cotswold traditional houses in order for the building to be supported.