Monday 7th August: Tewkesbury and The Cotswolds
It was a gloriously sunny morning so Mark got out for a ride and I did some yoga before we set off for our day trip to Tewkesbury and the Cotswolds. The plan was to head to Tewkesbury and take a Voice Map self guided walk and then on to Cirencester and take another Voice Map self guided walk. The round trip would be about 3 hours of driving so it would be a full day.
Tewkesbury was our first stop and this was the most beautiful medieval market town. Many old buildings have been preserved here as the Industrial Revolution didn’t advance to this part of the world as there was no nearby rail station. The 1121 AD Tewkesbury Abbey, although somewhat reduced in size from its original footprint thanks to Henry VIII, was most impressive and had initially been a rival to Westminster Abbey. It was the first and most significant stop on our walking tour but we went on to stroll the streets and view a huge array of beautiful historic timber buildings making this a most enjoyable outing and is an activity I would recommend.
It was almost 1 pm by the time we left Tewkesbury and we headed to the Cotswolds and passed through some pretty villages on the way to our next main stop of Cirencester. Stow on the Wold was just a quick drive through but we wished we’d had more time to spend here as it was a most beautiful market town as well. Bibury was another quick stop but it’s another must-see in the area for its beautiful Cotswold buildings.
Our next main stop was at Cirencester and this is considered the capital of the Cotswolds. The Cotswolds is the largest designated area of natural beauty in all of England and Wales and is characterised by images of lush rolling hills and beautiful honey coloured stone cottages.
The word Cotswold is thought to have derived from the coined terms of ‘sheep pen’ and ‘rolling hills’ and it was the Romans who first brought sheep to the area to so as to use fleece to keep themselves warm in the winter. This name for the area is rather appropriate given it was wool that brought the region much of its wealth during the medieval period. There is a term ‘wool churches’ referring to all the churches built using wealth from the wool trade and most of the buildings in the Cotswold are built from the beautiful Cotswold stone; older half-timber houses would be replaced by these impressive stone buildings as the homeowners wealth accumulated.
Cirencester today is a thriving market town and has been a town here since at least the Roman period with remnants of the 49 AD Roman fort still visible in the city. Our guided walk took us on a path through the town and past some of the oldest and most significant building and the old Roman wall and is an activity I would recommend.
It was almost 5 pm by the time we left Cirencester for the one hour trip back to the apartment. Our initial plan had been to have dinner at home but our late return time had us visiting the pub on the corner, The Shakespeare. Where we had a lovely meal. There was quite a festive atmosphere at the pub as it was trivia night and every table was reserved from 7.30 pm so we were lucky to get in and served before the main event. We both had the steak and they were very tasty but it was then home to catch some more of our Netflix series as we were tired after our long day and 10 km of walking.
It had been a full and enjoyable day but one where we had another epiphany. We now realize that this region would have been better approached with a few different short stays through the Cotswolds and Bath area rather than basing ourselves in Bristol. A couple of nights each at Stow on the Wold and Cirencester and, then, Bath would probably have been more to our liking as it turns out. At the time of our planning, though, I had been looking for a place to base for a longer stay so that we weren’t moving as much however, in our opinion, this region doesn’t suit that type of travel, at least not for what we like to see and do. You live and you learn so maybe I’ll be able to help others with their planning for any trip to this area.
Tuesday 8th August: Somerset
It was our last day of sightseeing from Bristol, as we head to Bath tomorrow, but it looked like we’d be needing our raincoats and umbrellas as there was more rain on the way. We’d explored to the north of Bristol yesterday, with our trip up to the Cotswolds, so we decided to head south today. We didn’t want to be back too late, as we had some appointments in the afternoon, so this left us contemplating the Somerset region. We settled first on a visit to Wells, for Mark’s morning coffee, and then on to Cheddar Gorge followed by lunch at Weston-super-Mare on the coast before looping back up to Bristol.
Wells was a pretty medieval and small city but it had one enormous Cathedral and a most impressive Bishop’s Palace which remains the Bishop’s residence to this day. We didn’t pay to enter the Bishop’s Palace but there was a lovely walk around the outer grounds and moat which would have been nice to take had it not been raining and if we weren’t on a time budget. We did visit Wells Cathedral though and, whilst the nave was rather plain, some of the Chapels had the most amazing stained glass windows I’d ever seen.
It was after 11 am by the time we left Wells and headed towards Cheddar Gorge. There were meant to be some interesting trails to walk there but the rain and our time budget made that a less than attractive choice of activity so we had to settle for just a drive-through which was impressive enough. Apparently cheddar cheese has been produced here since 1170 AD and the cheese was stored in the cool of the limestone gorge caves, hence the name. It is quite a tourist destination now for hikers and rock climbers and there are plenty of shops, cafes and restaurants down near the bottom of the gorge.
We didn’t stop at Cheddar Gorge as we wanted to get across to the coast and seaside resort area of Weston-super-Mare for lunch. The main attraction here, apart from the beach, was the Grand Pier initially built to cope with large tidal range. Weston-super-Mare has the second largest tidal range of anywhere in the world apparently. We ended up only having an hour to spend there which didn’t leave much time to explore after our stop for lunch. We thought we’d just walk out to the end of the Pier and back but the 1 GBP coin only entry fee foiled that effort. There is a long and wide beach Promenade so we settled for a short walk there before heading back to the car and then to the apartment. It had been a rather dull day on the weather and on the touring front but we had one last dinner out at Little Hollows Pasta which was just ok. Tomorrow we head to Bath for one night then its on to Heathrow for a night and then on to France.
