Cheltenham & Sudeley Castle - April 2008










Well here is our latest girlie trip. A visit to Cheltenham to sample the shops & get a little bit of culture too!
We had a really good deal at the Queen's Hotel in Cheltenham, http://www.mercure.com/ a lovely hotel and very central, only a short walk into town. We enjoyed the breakfasts and had a lovely meal at the restaurant next door - Raymond Blanc's! Pushed the boat out that night, but there are good places, much cheaper, in town too.

The shops are excellent, but that is what you would expect of Cheltenham. We visited the home of Gustav Holst, ( I think the curator was delighted to have a group of women to talk to) and strolled out to the Pitville Pump Room. Great looking place, but disappointing inside, rather bleak.



In the evening we went to the Everyman Theatre for a performance of Wilde's The Importance Of Being Ernest. We enjoyed it, the actors were well cast, with the exception of the female ingenue who had a weird, shrieky voice that was difficult to listen to. http://www.everymantheatre.org.uk/





The next day we awoke to a whiteout, it had snowed overnight and the views from the hotel were much improved. Nothing daunted we set off for Sudeley Castle, about seven miles outside Cheltenham, http://www.sudeleycastle.co.uk/ , the home of Queen Catherine Parr, (Henry VIII's last Queen). It is here that she is buried and the castle is also famous for it's gardens. The snow gave a magical feel to everything, the views were like something out of fairyland. So despite the cold it was definately worth going. We warmed up in the coffee shop and then moved on to Stow-On-The-Wold for a nice lunch. After a little sightseeing we headed for home. All in all another great trip, even if the sat-nav did play up a bit!





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