about gloucestershire...

For many Gloucestershire is the Cotswolds , the delightful limestone hills that sweep across the county from Dyrham in the south to Chipping Campden in the north. The Cotswolds are divided into three areas – Northern, Eastern and Southern, and they are one of the most beautiful areas in the UK, with their historic market towns and charming villages, stone-built heritage, rolling hills and sweeping valleys.

In the northern Cotswolds, Stow-on-the-Wold is the highest town in the Cotswold Hills. It is home to many antique shops, art and book shops, galleries, and houses and inns in Cotswold Stone dating from the 17th & 18th centuries. The Royalist Inn, a hotel & pub in the town, is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the oldest inn in England, dating back to 947 AD.

Bourton-on-the-Water one of the busiest areas in the Cotswolds, and is watered by the River Windrush, which flows along the main street beneath a succession of five graceful footbridges, earning for Bourton the title of “the Venice of the Cotswolds”. The village has a lot to offer in the way of attractions, such as Birdland, a sanctuary for birds with a remarkable collection of penguins, a motor museum and a model railway exhibition, all within walking distance of each other and of the main street.

Winchcombe is home to Sudeley Castle, gardens and exhibitions. Little remains of the original medieval castle, but the 15th Century reconstruction of the castle, the ruined banqueting hall, the tithe barn and the Portmare Tower are superb. During its Tudor and Elizabethan heyday, Sudeley was a place of eminence, once being home to Catherine Parr, the only one of Henry VIII’s wives to survive him.

Into the Southern Cotswold is the historic town of Cirencester. Now a busy market town, Cirencester was once the most important city in England after London during Roman occupation. Areas of interest include the Brewery Arts Centre, the Corinium Museum and probably the finest example of geometric landscaping in the country, Cirencester Park.

Painswick is known as “The Queen of the Cotswolds” and sits at the point of transition between the northern and southern Cotswolds. Perched regally at the edge of the steep slopes of Painswick Valley, the town is a hive of activity about the little network of lanes around the 17th century spire of the church. Just outside the town is the Rococo Garden, the magnificent landscaped 18th century garden around Painswick House, and nearby is Painswick Beacon, where there are views across the plain to Gloucester.

Stroud is the head of the Stroud Valley. Its character is dependent upon its history as the manufacturing centre of the Cotswolds, with its fast flowing streams and the mills that straddle them. It is a bustling town of considerable interest, centred in the area around the High Street, close to which you will find the Shambles, the former meat market, and the Tudor Town Hall. There are some good walks to be enjoyed along the Stroudwater canal and on Rodborough Common.

The distinctive character of the Cotswolds spills over into Oxfordshire and Warwickshire, where charming villages of honeyed limestone such as Chipping Norton can be found. Also in this area is Blenheim Palace, a World Heritage site, which has vast gardens and is famous for the birthplace of Winston Churchill.

Burford, just off the Oxford road, is a sedate cascade of handsome inns and charming cottages. The wide main street, lined with good shops and pubs, passes the church to the right before crossing the Windrush on a medeval bridge of 1322. The nearby quarries produce some of the most notable stone in the Cotswolds. Much of that stone was used in some of England’s finest buildings – Blenheim Palace, St Paul’s Cathedral and various Oxford colleges.

At the most Easterly point of the Cotswolds is Woodstock, a small town most famous as the home of the Churchill family. With a fine assortment of houses and inns, it is worthy of some exploration.

With a number of other first class activities in the area, the Cotswolds have a good network of easily accessible main roads and motorways nearby.

The Severn Vale, with its brick houses and half-timbered cottages, lies between the Cotswold escarpment and the River Severn, Britain’s longest river. It consists of Cheltenham, the City of Gloucester and Tewkesbury. Cheltenham Spa is the historic and most complete Regency Town in England – a town within a park, offering beautiful tree-lined roads and floral displays, Cheltenham is the host of many internationally acclaimed music and literature festivals as well as cricket and horseracing events, including the Gold Cup.

It is renowned for its stylish shopping at the famous Promenade, specialising in shops with brand names, whilst individual and specialist boutiques are located in elegant Montpellier, where fashionable bars and high-quality restaurants accommodate for all tastes and appetites. Pubs are plentiful and the theatres and cinema combine to provide a cosmopolitan town centre, surrounded by an area of national beauty.

The City of Gloucester has a vibrant, lively atmosphere that combines a rich historic past with all of the excitement and attractions of a city full of life. The magnificent Norman Gloucester Cathedral is in the heart of the city and nearby are the recently regenerated historic Gloucester Docks, where Victorian warehouses stand in Britain’s most inland port. On the north by the Severn is The Vale of Berkeley, which is dominated by the Norman Berkeley Castle, said to be the oldest inhabited castle in Britain. There is also the Slimbridge Wildfowl Trust nearby, which has the world’s largest and most varied collection of wildfowl.

Tewkesbury is renowned for having one of the best medieval black and white townscapes in the country, dominated by the 12th Century Abbey. It boasts a bustling thriving high street and a weekly market, adding to the artistic heritage and rich architecture.

The Royal Forest of Dean is one of England’s few remaining ancient forests, covering 27,000 acres of woodland. Nestling between the Wye Valley, Severn Valley & Vale of Leadon, the Forest of Dean boasts a spectacular range of outdoor leisure activities, attractions combined with uniquely fascinating history and heritage, as well as year-round festivals.