Gloucestershire - Cirencester

Gloucestershire - Cirencester | Gloucester

The Cotswolds is an area in central south England and has unique features derived from the local Cotswold stone; the predominantly rural landscape contains stone built villages, historical towns, stately homes and gardens. This is a huge area and spans several counties. This time over easter we decided to visit Gloucestershire. Not it's entirely as it is massive by itself, but we decided to make Gloucester (the main city of Gloucestershire) our base in driving around the small towns and villages. There are many farming communities in this part of the UK so it is common to see vegetable farms or animal farms and see tractors on the road too.

It's the season of beautiful yellow rapeseed oil and we passed by countless yellow fields

Taken from our car hence the window reflection

How awesome was that our good friend Ben is a Gloucester boy and when the Geesons heard we were going to his hometown they were excited and volunteered to go home, visit Ben's parents and also bring the Ongs around. Such a great idea! K love staying in manor houses and so we chose a manor hotel in this nearby village called Down Hatherly which is a 15min drive to his parents' where they would be staying.

We visited Cirencester ("Siren-ces-ter") first, before going to Gloucester ("Glor-ster") and then checking in at Down Hatherly. We also did a quick pit stop at Birdlip Hill which gives a beautiful view of the valley below.

Beautiful day

The Geesons, as you would know well by now :)

I kinda like this shot of the boys

Gabby said I would love Cirencester and indeed it is very pretty, well, more of pretty shops but because it was Good Friday, all the shops closed early (by 4pm!) and we didn't see much. Maybe because Prince Charles lives nearby on his estate, there is a certain associated poshness to this town.

Town of Cirencester where Prince Charles lives on his Dutchy Estate

Their town hall was called The Corn Hall

We did however stop by for some pub grub which I am not usually a big fan of, but this one was actually quite good! We ordered some sweet potato skins with melted cheese and mushrooms which was really good. The fish and chips which K shared with me was such a big portion that our late lunch became more of a full blown lunch/ early dinner.

A sample of a pretty shop

A pretty tea room but we were all more keen for savoury food

Ben walked us around Gloucester, the town which he grew up in. It's always nice to have a local touch when you visit places. The best thing? No need to think and decide where to go. Just follow. hehe

As it was quite late in the evening when we arrived, we decided to go to a pub for a drink (the only kind of place opened at this time) before going to our hotel.

Gloucester Cathedral

The next morning, the plan between K and me was to take a morning jog along the fields, go back for a nice breakfast, and then visit Ben's parents. It was chilly at maybe 10deg and gosh after 10min or so I started huffing and puffing.. so bad Bel, so bad :(

Jogged straight back to the manor house and went straight for our English breakfast. Well, not quite English cos smoked kipper was on the menu and K actually ordered that. I don't think I can eat a whole smoked fish for breakfast!

Asked him how was it and the only response was "many bones".

Ben's parents live in this village called Rudford and it is really a village. I was surprised to hear that there are no shops, not even a village pub. Their nearest town is Gloucester so everything they need is from there. Ben even drove us past his primary school, one mile away (1.6km) and he said he would walk to school everyday. It was very interesting, getting to know him and his life as a boy in this village. Naturally they have a sizeable garden which his parents have kept immaculate. They have 2 cats, a dog (Benson - they seem to love this name "Ben"?!), some birds, and two big fat hamsters. His father is a carpenter and so all the wooden sheds we saw were made by him (very impressive), and while there, we tried to get some gardening tips from him (hehe). Right behind their garden is a huge piece of farmland. This is truly in the countryside! I asked Ben if he had a culture shock when he moved from here to London and he said yes to a certain extent. I can imagine. It's the same country but the places and lifestyle and people are so different. At night in this place, there are no street lamps and when you look up in the sky you see all the beautiful stars, something you cannot see in London.

We told Ben our travel guide that we would love to do a little bit of home shopping whilst in Gloucester. We are still furnishing our house (the soft touches) and thanks to Gabby's recommendation there are two stores which are not available in London and so I really wanted to check them out if possible. Of course, sight seeing first. Ben brought us to this place called Puzzle Maze which I thought in my head: a beautiful garden with high hedges designed like a maze for people to walk through. Similar to the one at Hampton Court Palace which I have been to before. Hmm okay, it's very different haha.. it's a forest basically and you walk around and pretty much get lost inside. K loves the forests here, he always imagines there are elves and gets all excited which I cannot understand. It was nice to marvel at the flora and fauna. Kids were running around and literally the young and old were in this puzzle maze. For me, it was more Enid Blyton come alive. I remember all the toadstools, fairies, the occasional bunny or squirrel that could talk and the oh oh the magical faraway tree! Ooh all these childhood reading suddenly come to mind. :)