CITY LIVING
TRAVEL TALK
Careering Around The Cotswolds Nyima Pratten
Pittville Pump Room, Cheltenham
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egin your jaunt in Cheltenham Spa, the Regency spa town renowned for its world famous horse races and Literature Festival, and beloved by the British royals and well-to-do Londoners. Although this large, developed town is located at the edge of the Cotswolds and has little in the way of classic Cotswold stone houses, it is referred to as the ‘centre of the Cotswolds”, and is a good location to base yourself for further excursions in the local area. Cheltenham Spa rose to prominence as a spa town due to the discovery of its mineral springs in 1716. A subsequent visit by King George III, and the royal party, cemented its status as a fashionable and affluent town. Regency architecture and listed buildings are still prevalent today. The best example of Regency architecture from this boom time is Pittville Pump Room where you can still visit the impressive pump room to sample the salty, thick, spa water in the main auditorium and imagine that you are royalty from a bygone era. Cheltenham is also a centre for arts and culture with music, science and arts festivals going on throughout the year. The affluent town also offers great shopping with many stylish and upmarket boutiques, bars and restaurants based around Montpellier and the Promenade. Make sure you also check out a new piece of graffiti art that is believed to have been created by the infamous, yet elusive, Banksy outside a public phone box on the corner of Hewlett Road and Fairview Road. It depicts three secret service agents eavesdropping and recording conversations, and is a swipe at the establishment as GCHQ (Government Communications Headquarters) is based in the spa town. The only way to properly experience the Cotswolds is to
rent a car and take a highspeed journey along the winding country roads, weaving around hills and meadows like a wild roller coaster before being spat out into tiny hamlets and parishes at different junctions along the way. And the absolutely best way to do this is to rent a convertible car, and feel the country air flow through your hair as you tackle the highspeed turns and smell the unadulterated odour of the countryside in all its manure and glory!
The first stop for us was Sudeley Castle and Gardens. The immaculately kept historical grounds offers something for everyone along with a beautiful, unobstructed vista of the Cotswold hills and small hamlets dotted around the sprawling meadows. A children’s play area can be found on the walk to the castle. This in itself is worth mentioning as the best children’s play area we have ever seen, built in the style of a medieval castle with castle walls, gatehouses, turrets and towers, which will leave even adults feeling like they are in an episode of Game Of Thrones. History buffs may also get excited over the fact that Sudeley Castle is the only private castle in England to have a Queen buried in its grounds; Catherine Parr, Henry VIII’s sixth wife. There are also Roman ruins, once buried, on display. The beautiful manicured lawns and rose garden provide a wonderful backdrop to the stately pile and it is easy to spend a sunny afternoon here marvelling at the beautiful colours provided by Mother Nature. The pheasantry is also well worth a visit with a collection of rare and endangered species from around the world. A five minute drive from Sudeley Castle is Broadway, perhaps one of the most famous Cotswold villages. This picturesque town is often full to the brim with tourist busses and enthusiastic Japanese sightseers due to the
Bourton on the Water
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A scenic two hour drive west from the capital, London, is a quaint, picturesque group of villages made up of 18th and 19th century honey-coloured Cotswo ld limestone and thatched cottages. Surrounded by rolling hills, luscious green meadows and expansi ve blue skies, the little villages that cling to the Seve rn Valley make up the Cotswolds; a designated Are a of Outstanding Natural Beauty in England and Wal es. On a warm summer’s day, there really is no plac e better in the whole of the United Kingdom.
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handsome High Street and limestone church, so it may be well avoided during peak season. You would, however, miss out on the treasure that is Broadway Deli at St. Patrick’s, a charming convenience story-cum-deli-cum-tea room that offers local, organic produce including cheese, chutney, wines and meat along with a rustic eatery offering tea and larger meals, so be this decision on your own head. Another location to while away some free time in an attractive Cotswold town is Bourton on the Water. Although it is not quite the “Venice of the Cotswolds” they claim it to be, the town has its own unique charm and should not try to pass itself off as a continental cousin. The River Windrush, runs through the main strip of the village, which provides ducks and young children the perfect paddling spot in the summer months. There are tea rooms dotted up and down the main throughway and you really must pop in for a traditional British afternoon tea of cucumber sandwiches, Victoria sponge cake, scones with fresh, locally produced clotted cream and jam along with a selection of teas. The village also has the wonderful Dragonfly Maze made up of high hedges, which will trap you for hours until you work out the secret coded messages on the floor to unlock the secret in the central plinth. There is also Birdland, the Cotswold Motor Museum and the Model Village, if you want to feel like Godzilla towering over Bourton on the Water, all interesting tourist attractions making Bourton on the Water an easy place to lose track of time. A trip to the Cotswolds is a window into a quintessentially British and unspoilt countryside of England. The fresh air, clean water and surrounding greenery is a godsend to the lungs and really blows away the cobwebs stored up from a stuffy city. You will truly appreciate the vast array of natural colours that you forgot existed as you hurtle past green and yellow crops in the all-encompassing fields, abundant flora and fauna, grazing animals and the bright blue sky punctuated by puffy, pure white, marshmallow clouds.
Broadway Deli at St. Patrick’s
Sudely Castle
Bourton on the Water
Broadway
Sudeley Castle
Banksy, Cheltenham
Afternoon tea, Bourton on the Water
Sudeley Castle play area
Cotswold stone house, Bourton on the Water
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