Feature
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spring step in our
Puzzlewood
Mike Gartside can barely contain his excitement as a range of events return to Gloucestershire with the easing of lockdown.
Painswick Rococo Gardens
W
hile the natural world wakes up every year in spring, 2021 feels very different. As the daffodils bloom, birds build their nests and lambs leap in the field, we humans are undergoing a more profound re-awakening than usual: the pandemic that has held us in its thrall for the last year is gradually releasing its grip. Families throughout Gloucestershire are experiencing a wave of cautious relief as local attractions announce their reopening dates and we look forward to giving our children more adventurous experiences than those socially-distanced trips to the local park. Of course, outdoor attractions are the first to be allowed to reopen, with Monday 12 April being the first key date ahead of us on the government’s roadmap. Some places, including Batsford Arboretum, Westonbirt Arboretum and Painswick Rococo Gardens have remained open for local people through much of lockdown but are now allowed to welcome people from further afield. While the government is still encouraging us not to travel too far, the rules are open to interpretation and one reasonable approach, it seems to me, is that families from Gloucestershire are now free to travel anywhere 4 EASTER 2021
e Gloucestershire & Warwickshir Steam Railway
within their own county. So what can they look forward to? Painswick Rococo Gardens hosts The Egg Thief Easter egg trail from Friday 2 April-Sunday 18 April, as it’s able to open slightly earlier than most under the “local” rule. Some events continue to use the ingenious adaptations demanded by lockdown. Cheltenham Jazz Festival on 1-2 May is free to view on YouTube, and Gloucester History Festival’s Spring Weekend is also going ahead online. Elsewhere, show producer Car Park Party is teaming up with Birmingham Stage Company to stage a drivein production of David Walliams’ ‘Billionaire Boy’ at Cheltenham Racecourse on Sunday 18 April, while the Southam Car Boot Site near Cheltenham hosts a range of car-based holiday entertainment, from a production of ‘The Wizard of Oz’ to screenings of ‘The Greatest Showman’ and
“On Monday 18 May we can even dare to dream of going indoors.”
Primary Times Gloucestershire
‘Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban’ on Monday 12 and Tuesday 13 April. Equally exciting, the parks, gardens and natural open-air spaces are able to open almost as normal from 12 April on (although all are insisting on advance booking for the time being). It will surely be a more acute pleasure than usual to see those lambs-a-leaping at Cotswold Farm Park from Monday 12 to Sunday 18 April at the tail end of the lambing season. The International Centre for Birds of Prey in Newent shows no hesitation in welcoming visitors from that date, while Sandford Parks Lido, Cheltenham, opens for the summer on Saturday 1 May and Gloucestershire & Warwickshire Steam Railway fires up its engines on Tuesday 13 April. One unusual attraction is a spectacular herd of wooden elephants on one of their first stops on a world tour to highlight the plight of this endangered species, on view at Sudeley Castle from 12 April-Monday 31 May. On Monday 18 May, the next date on the roadmap, we can even dare to dream of going indoors, with the Museum of Gloucester throwing open its doors to the entire venue (its café operating takeaway from the earlier date).
Keep your eyes peeled on Primary Times’ social media and website as many more family attractions, outdoor and in, announce their return over the coming days and weeks. While we must all temper our excitement with a note of caution that the pandemic is not entirely defeated yet, most parents and guardians will be allowing themselves a secret whoop of joy as the possibility of giving our children better out-of-school experiences steadily opens up ahead of them. For more information see our Theatre section (P6) and The Family Guide (P7). Also check Facebook.com/GloucestershirePrimaryTimes for the latest news on activities reopening.
The Internation for Birds of Preyal Centre
