| GLOUCESTERSHIRE |
| Barnsley House Garden |
On A433, 4 miles north-east of Cirencester |
A 17th century house of Cotswold stone forms the backdrop to these 4
acre gardens. Features include a Doric temple with lily pool, knot and herb gardens, and a
kitchen garden laid out as a decorative potager with roses, lavender and trained fruit
trees for ornamental effect. The borders in the main garden area are crowded with interest
all the year round; the great seasonal attraction is the laburnum tunnel, seen in golden
splendour during the first two weeks of June. |
| Berkeley Castle |
Off A38, 13 miles south-west of Gloucester |
Berkeley Castle has been the home of the Berkeley family since it was
built more than 800 years ago, and no one could guess its taint of ancient horror. In
1327, Edward II was imprisoned in the dungeons and vilely dispatched by his jailers. The
castle was besieged and captured by Roundheads during the Civil War. Otherwise, however,
the medieval building is remarkably well preserved. The many apartments open to the public
include bedroom, picture gallery, dining room, kitchen and beer cellar. Two drawing rooms
contain gilded furniture of the 18th century, and the Great Hall ceiling rises to more
than 30ft. |
| Chedworth Roman Villa |
Off A429, 6 miles north of Cirencester |
Dating back to about AD 120, the villa was clearly built for a rich
landowner and equipped with all the comforts typical of the Roman invaders, including
hot-air underfloor heating and two forms of bath. Around AD 400, as the Empire crumbled,
such villas were abandoned. Chedworth was no exception, but enough relics have been
excavated to reveal a building with three wings enclosing a rectangular courtyard which
was open to the east. The bath suites and one dining room are particularly well preserved,
with good mosaics. |
| Corinium Museum |
In Cirencester, near town centre |
Corinium Museum, named after the Roman name for Cirencester, displays
an impressive collection of relics in modern galleries. Prize exhibits include two
beautiful mosaics, one depicting the Four Seasons which was found in Dyer Street,
Cirencester, in 1849, and another bearing the motif of a Hare, discovered in Beeches
Road in 1971. To illustrate how such mosaics were crafted, the museum has a life-size
replica of a stone-cutter's shop. |
| Cotswold Countryside Collection |
On A429, in Northleach |
The museum is housed in a former house of correction - an 18th century
country prison whose rather forbidding exterior belies the wealth of interest within.
Displays illustrate rural life in the region, with some fine old Gloucestershire harvest
wagons, reconstructed workshops of the blacksmith and wheelwright, and a country kitchen.
The 19th century courtroom has been preserved, and visitors can see a restored cell block,
complete with life-size effigies of the inmates. |
| Dean Heritage Museum |
On B4227, 2 miles south of Cinderford |
A great green triangle spread between the Severn and the Wye, the
Forest of Dean has never been idle: it wears innumerable scars in the quarries or
'scowles' where from Celtic times Foresters dug for iron ore. Trees were felled in great
number to provide metalworkers with charcoal, and to keep the Tudor fleets afloat. Then,
in Victorian times, the whole area became pitted with coal mines. Centred on a restored
mill building, Dean Heritage Museum contains a wealth of exhibits telling the Forest
story. |
| Gloucester Cathedral |
In centre of Gloucester |
Founded in 1089, Gloucester Cathedral contains some of the most
beautiful Perpendicular architecture in existence. In fact, it is said that the
Perpendicular style was invented here in about 1330, when masons in the South Transept
replaced the Norman windows with larger ones containing vertical tracery. The adjoining
cloisters are equally fine: built between 1367 and 1400 they were the focus of domestic
life in the old abbey . Apart from its architectural splendours, the cathedral is rich in
historic memorials. |
| Gloucester City Museum and Art Gallery |
In centre of Gloucester |
The
City Museum, housed in a fine Victorian Building, will tell you about the
early history of Gloucester. It displays impressive Roman artefacts
including the Rufus Sita tombstone and snakethread flask. You can see the
amazing Celtic Birdlip Mirror, also dinosaurs and fossils, local wildlife
aquarium and the oldest backgammon set in the world. The museum also
boasts antique furniture, glass ceramics and silver in a recently-opened
gallery along with natural history specimens representing Gloucester’s
rich heritage. Throughout the school holidays there will also be special
events and activities for children. There is a regular programme of
special exhibitions.
Admission free. |
| Gloucester Docks |
Near centre of Gloucester |
Gloucester was long important for its inland port. The old customs
house contains the Museum of the Gloucestershire Regiment and another dockside warehouse has been restored as a new
National Waterways Museum. |
| Hidcote Manor Garden |
Off B4632, 4 miles north-east of Chipping Campden |
One of Britain's most influential gardens, Hidcote was laid out by
Major Lawrence Johnston who bought the 17th century estate in 1905 and developed its 10
acres over the next 40 years. The site, high on the Cotswolds, is laid out in a series of
compartments often likened to open-air rooms. Every compartment has its own theme. The
variety of plantings and effects guarantees interest from spring to autumn, and the main
vista ends at wrought-iron gates with fine views beyond. |
| Gloucester Folk Museum |
In centre of Gloucester |
Set
in Tudor timber-framed buildings on three floors, and with a unique
ambience that makes it popular with locals and visitors, Gloucester Folk
Museum is one of the oldest-established museums dedicated to social
history. Local displays cover the social history, crafts, trades and
industries from 1500 to the present. There is a Toys and Childhood gallery
with hands-on toys and a puppet theatre, the Siege of Gloucester,
traditional fishing on the River Severn, treen (small wooden items), the
original pin factory and much more. New buildings have displays on the
ironmonger, dairy, wheelwright and carpenter. There is an attractive
garden with picnic benches. Throughout the school holidays there will also
be special events and activities for children. There is a regular
programme of special exhibitions. Admission free. |
| Littledean Hall |
On A4151, 1.5 miles east of Cinderford |
The front of the house is 17th century but its origins go back much
further. Littledean Hall was the home of the Lords of Dene from before the Norman
Conquest, and contains in the cellar the only remains of a Saxon hall known in England. A
'Ghost Tour' takes in a host of apartments woven with spectral lore, from phantom
bloodstains in the dining room to the Black Boy on the landing. The grounds contain many
trees of great age as well as the recently discovered and restored site of a major Roman
temple. |
| Pittville Pump Room |
In centre of Cheltenham |
The Pump Room was opened in 1830 and became a rendezvous for nobility
and gentry. Green-domed and with a colonnaded facade of golden stone, it remains perhaps
the finest of all Cheltenham's Regency buildings. Inside is a pillared hall, two storeys
high, with a balcony running round the upper level. Spa waters are still available at the
ornate pump on the ground floor. Upstairs, a costume collection illustrates changing
fashions from 1760 to 1960, and a jewellery collection includes cameos, frontlets and
tiaras which recall the elegant Regency age. |
| Prinknash Abbey |
On A46, 3 miles north of Painswick |
The Old Abbey dates back to the 14th century, when it served as a manor
for the Abbots of Gloucester. After the monasteries were dissolved in 1540 Prinknash
passed to a succession of lay owners until 1928 when it was given back to the Benedictines
to serve as a monastery. Many centuries of its history are still imprinted on the
greystone building. The New Abbey is a strikingly modern building consecrated in 1972 and
designed to meet the needs of today's monks. The two abbeys stand amid wooded parkland
which includes a 9 acre bird park with medieval fish ponds. |
| Snowshill Manor |
Off A44, 3 miles south of Broadway |
Snowshill dates mainly from the 17th century, and is known especially
for its contents: a fantastic assortment of handmade curios gathered by the former owner,
Charles Wade, between 1900 and 1951. Samurai armour, mousetraps, cuckoo clocks, Flemish
tapestries, vintage bicycles, lacquer cabinets, narwhal tusks, kettle drums - the
assemblage is astonishing and colonised the house even in Wade's time (he lived in an
outbuilding, without electric light). |
| Sudeley Castle |
On B4632, 6 miles north-east of Cheltenham |
George Brydges, 6th Lord Chandos, held Sudeley for the Royalists during
the Civil War, and although he later defected to Cromwell's side, the victorious
Parliamentarians nevertheless demolished his castle so that it could never again serve as
a hostile stronghold. Surviving from the medieval fortress are the chapel, the ruined
banqueting hall and a 15th century octagon tower holed by a cannon shot. Though much of
the imposing building seen today is a 19th century restoration, it remains richly
evocative and crowded with interest. |
| Tewkesbury Abbey |
On A38, just south of Tewkesbury |
Tewkesbury Abbey has the appearance
of a cathedral with its great
square tower and high fan-vaulted ceiling. This splendid building survived the
Dissolution, and is one of the largest parish churches in England. Built by Benedictine
monks in about AD 1100, the abbey was saved by local townspeople who, at the Dissolution,
bought it from Henry VIII. Its Norman tower is the largest in existence and its nave is a
wonder too with 14 giant columns supporting the rounded arches. There is some fine
medieval stained glass windows, and an immense alter made of marble. |
