Not the cutesy, cottage-y, village version of the Cotswolds - this time I wanted to explore a couple of the large, proper towns.
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| The glorious vaulted nave of Tewkesbury Abbey |
And so we based ourselves in Cheltenham, once famed as a spa-town during the Regency period, but now better known as a centre of designer boutiques and unfortunately (for those of you who know my feelings on this so-called 'sport') for its horse racing festival.
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| Rows of cafés, pubs and boutiques - the Montpellier area of Cheltenham |
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| The imposing and elegant Queens Hotel |
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| The Montpellier area has an abundance of gorgeous stone buildings, including a whole stretch decorated with these beautiful caryatids from 1840 - there are 32 in total |
We chose to stay in an Air B&B property - a two-bedroom apartment in a Georgian building about 20 minutes walk from the centre of town.
It's pretty hard to beat the proportions of Georgian architecture - those enormous windows and high ceilings. The owners of this apartment have a real flair for design and despite the traffic noise (it's situated on one of Cheltenham's busiest roads), we had a pleasant stay.
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| Home for the weekend - our apartment occupied the entire top floor of this lovely Georgian building |
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| Huge Georgian windows and eclectic furnishings in the lounge |
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| The apartment came with a fully equipped cocktail trolley! The owners tell guests to help themselves, the only proviso being that if you use a whole bottle of anything, you replace it with something similar |
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| Grand-scale artwork in the spacious eat-in kitchen |
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| Kevin examining the guest manual in the lounge |
It's only a couple of hours' drive from Epsom to Cheltenham and the days are getting longer, so after settling into the apartment mid afternoon, we had plenty of daylight left to walk into town and explore.
Sadly, the commercial centre of Cheltenham is pretty disappointing. Despite having large pedestrianised areas and some grand buildings, much of the original architecture has clearly been replaced over the past century and the area suffers from that very British malaise of 'chain store hell'. We have become well acquainted with this problem over the years - the British just love the security of familiar shops, to the extent that you could be teleported to a high street just about anywhere in the UK and you'd have no clue what town you were in, because they all look the same. Sainsbury's, Boots, Wilco, Poundland, Costa, Nero Caffe, White Stuff, Gregg's, Prezzo .... they're all there in every single town, with few exceptions (Shrewsbury, Petworth, Arundel and Chichester get big points for bucking this trend).
Thankfully, on the edge of the city is the lovely area of Montpellier which is lined with restaurants, cafés, independent interior design / homewares stores, fashion boutiques and an alarming preponderance of men's barbers - a sign of the trend for beards in recent years.
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| Sophie Ryder's sculpture The Minotaur and the Hare (1995) |
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| Lovely cast-iron balconies adorn this Regency era row of terraced houses |
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| Ooh-aah! One of the elegant offerings from vibrant designer boutique Beatrice von Tresckow (see also photo below) |
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| Looks like turquoise and orange are this season's colours... |
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| One of the nicer buildings in the generally disappointing commercial centre of Cheltenham (yes, it's a Wetherspoon's pub - awful, cheap food but always in a beautiful building) |
We ended up having dinner in a pizza restaurant located in an old church (yes, one of those chains but one of the better quality ones), whilst a pianist tinkled away on a baby grand above us on the gallery.
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| This little place boasts a dangerous combination of excellent coffee, superb cake, delicious champagne and gorgeous art and homewares |
I love our rented flat in Winchester House but as anybody who ever visited our house back in Australia would know, I do like deep colours on walls. I love me a bit of drama in my interior design!
Our living room in Winchester House has two shades of lilac/amethyst (yes, you read correctly - lilac... *shudder*) and when we first viewed the place I was immediately envisioning ways of covering up as much of the paint as I could. I've done a pretty good job, I have to say. Artwork abounds, together with tall items of furniture.
Our bedroom has one deep coloured feature wall - a sort of turquoise/deep sea-green, but the rest of the room is a pale aqua. The guest bedroom walls are what I like to refer to as 'namby-pamby insipid pale blue'.
Anyway, you get the picture - I sat there in Maison Blanc and had serious paint colour envy.
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| We enjoyed some excellent French pastries at Maison Blanc in Cheltenham on our first morning |
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| Farrow & Ball's Downpipe® in abundance |
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| Shut the front door! An elegant terrace house in Montpellier |
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| The Pittville Pump Room, where you can still sample the waters ... when it's not closed for a private function. Pffffttt! |
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| A magnificent row of 15th century timber-framed buildings in Tewkesbury |
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| You find these lovely tiled floors all over Tewkesbury |
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| Is it just me, or is this doorway carving a lot like those creepy angels from Doctor Who? DON'T BLINK !!! |
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| Gorgeous orange half-timbered building - No. 66 Church Street Date analysis (via tree rings in the wood) reveals it to be from 1475 |
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| Tewkesbury Mill on the River Avon where it meets the Severn |
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| Those Victorians! I love the fact that they even tried to make industrial buildings look appealing with their decorative brickwork etc. This is the former Healings Flour Mill |
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| Anglers at Tewkesbury Mill |
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| Weirdly, Tewkesbury would appear to be the 'Fat Lava' capital of the UK. This kitschy, collectible German 1960/1970s pottery was in great profusion in all the charity stores |
There's a thousand years of history in this amazing town, including being the scene of the decisive battle in the War of the Roses in 1471, between the House of Lancaster and the House of York (the Yorks won, in case you didn't know).
We walked one of the town's heritage trails which took us past buildings ranging from the 15th century to the early 20th century. So much preserved heritage - it's just incredible. Even the industrial buildings on the river have Victorian industrial revolution charm.
All that walking gave us an appetite, and there are plenty of cafés, pubs and restaurants to choose from in Tewkesbury. We were passing a tiny pub with some colourful looking locals inside, which would ordinarily make me keep walking, however the exclusively vegetarian special menu in the window publicising FOUR main course options (and not one of them goat's cheese!) lured me inside. That was a good choice.
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| The Berkeley Arms - our lunch venue |
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| OK, so not haute cuisine - just comforting traditional pub food, but vegetarian! I had the veggie sausages with Yorkshire pudding & onion gravy; Kevin had the potato & cheese pie with rich cheese sauce |
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| The Berkeley Arms is a classy joint |
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| Interior of The Berkeley Arms |
Appetites sated, we waddled outside and on to Tewkesbury's jewel, the Abbey. A truly lovely church, we were happy to wander round admiring its many charms, which were only made more attractive by the fact that there was hardly anybody else there (hence the shot at the top of this blog post - gloriously sans people). *sigh* One day I suppose we'll get used to the fact that not everywhere is as overcrowded as the south-east of England, where we live.
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| Glorious Tewkesbury Abbey, consecrated in 1121 |
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| Ceiling detail - the Yorkist sun royal badge, up there to remind everyone who won The War of the Roses |
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| The Milton Organ - charming the faithful since 1631, originally in Magdalen College, Oxford (the Abbey purchased it in 1737) |
On Sunday we took our time over breakfast in the apartment and then visited Gloucester which was a real surprise. This is a town that not only appears fairly prosperous, but also seems able to walk that fine line of preserving history without actually standing still.
There's a bountiful supply of old buildings but also a vibrant area of redevelopment around the harbour which was really buzzing on a late Sunday morning in February, so that's saying something.
Old warehouses have been converted into modern apartments, the area is generally car-free with multiple footbridges connecting the various docks, and there's a real air of optimism with shopping, bars and restaurants.
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| Like something out of a book of fairytales, huh? Robert Raikes House in Gloucester, dating from the 16th century - once RR's townhouse, now a pub |
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| Gloucester's docklands - still a working harbour but now also a lifestyle precinct |
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| The Candle, a towering sculpture by Wolfgang Buttress, meant to symbolise the cranes, ships' masts and chimneys of the Docks' past |
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| Canal boat in dry-dock |
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| One of the many pedestrianised areas around the regenerated harbour |
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| The New Inn, serving drinks since 1450. It's the most complete surviving example of a mediaeval courtyard inn with galleries in Britain. The announcement of Lady Jane Grey's succession to the throne was made from the Inn gallery in 1553. |
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| This automaton clock's figures represent (L to R): Ireland (the woman in green) / England (John Bull) / Scotland (the dude in the kilt, obviously), and the woman on the end represents Wales. Father time is the figure in the middle |
Lastly, we made our way to Gloucester Cathedral, a towering edifice of gorgeous gothic architecture.
Several of the Harry Potter films were filmed in part here, and it truly is an impressive building - those cloisters with the fan vaulted ceilings! The tombs! The painted ceilings!
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| The Garth with the 15th century tower looming above |
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| The tomb of Osric, Prince of Mercia, who founded the first monastic house on the site of Gloucester Cathedral during 678-679 |
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| The Cloisters, with its magnificent fan vaulting |
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| The tomb of Robert, Duke of Normandy. Kevin was fascinated by the unusual pose - it's meant to depict him in battle, drawing his sword... except he's lying down, so it looks like he's doing a Jane Fonda workout or a Highland Fling! |
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| Part of the monument to Thomas Machen, his wife Christian Baston (see below) and their 13 children |
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| The opulent ceiling of St Andrew's Chapel |
The Cotswolds region just gets more and more appealing. Nearby Bath is our favourite UK city, there are hundreds of beautiful villages, and now we know there are several large towns of great architectural merit and general attractiveness.
If you're ever in the UK and trying to decide where you should focus your interest, you could do a lot worse than visit this rich area - it's within easy reach of London, Oxford, Bristol and Birmingham.
Once again I am feeling very fortunate to have such a wealth of history and beauty within a couple of hours' drive of home. Fingers crossed I get to continue exploring this country - I submitted my application to extend my spouse visa about nine weeks ago and I'm still awaiting a decision. It runs out in April so I'm a tad worried.
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| Kevin admiring Gloucester Cathedral's Nave |
Until next time,
- Maree xo
