Sights in Gloucestershire
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National Waterways Museum
A major part of the city's regeneration is taking place at Gloucester Docks, once Britain's largest inland port. Fifteen beautiful Victorian warehouses, many now restored, surround the canal basins and house a series of museums, shops and cafes. The largest warehouse at the docks, Llanthony, is home to the National Waterways Museum, a hands-on kind of place where you can discover the history of Britain's inland waterways. Exhibitions explain what it was like living, working and moving on the water, featuring plenty of historic boats and interactive exhibits that are great for children.
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Cheltenham Racecourse
Cheltenham is more famous in some circles for its horse racing than its architecture, and its racecourse can attract up to 40,000 people a day during the National Hunt Festival, often simply called 'the Festival'. Held in mid-March each year, this is England's premier steeplechase event and is attended by droves of breeders, trainers, riders and spectators. The racecourse is about a mile north of the city centre via Evesham Rd.
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Holst Birthplace Museum
The composer Gustav Holst was born in Cheltenham in 1874, and his childhood home has been turned into a museum celebrating his life and work. The rooms are laid out in typical period fashion and feature much Holst memorabilia, including the piano on which most of The Planets was composed. You can also visit the Victorian kitchen, which explains what life was like 'below stairs'.
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Statue of Edward Wilson
Opposite the Municipal Offices, built as private residences in 1825, is a Statue of Edward Wilson, a local man who joined Captain Scott's ill-fated second expedition to the South Pole. Continuing on from here you'll pass the grandiose Imperial Gardens, built to service the Imperial Spa (now the Queens Hotel), en route to Montpellier, Cheltenham's most fashionable district.
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The Promenade
Famed as one of England's most beautiful streetscapes, The Promenade is a wide, tree-lined boulevard flanked by imposing period buildings. The Municipal Offices, built as private residences in 1825, are among the most striking on this street and face a statue of Edward Wilson (1872-1912), a local man who joined Captain Scott's ill-fated second expedition to the South Pole.
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Gloucester Cathedral
The main reason to visit Gloucester is to see its magnificent Gothic cathedral, a stunning example of English Perpendicular style. Originally the site of a Saxon abbey, a Norman church was built here by a group of Benedictine monks in the 12th century, and when Edward II was murdered in 1327, the church was chosen as his burial place. Edward's tomb proved so popular, however, that Gloucester became a centre of pilgrimage and the income generated from the pious pilgrims financed the church's conversion into the magnificent building seen today.
Inside, the cathedral skilfully combines the best of Norman and Gothic design with sturdy columns creating a sense of gracious soli…
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Pittville Pump Room
Built in 1830 as a centrepiece to a vast estate, the Pittville Pump Room is Cheltenham's finest Regency building. Originally used as a spa and social centre, it is now used as a concert hall and wedding venue. You can wander into the main auditorium and sample the pungent spa waters when the building is not in use for a private event, or just explore the vast parklands and the lake it overlooks. It's best to phone in advance to check the opening hours as the building is about 2 miles from the city centre.
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Gloucester Folk Museum
This folk museum examines domestic life, crafts and industries from 1500 to the present and is housed in a wonderful series of Tudor and Jacobean timber-framed buildings dating from the 16th and 17th centuries.
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Art Gallery & Museum
Cheltenham's excellent Art Gallery & Museum is well worth a visit for its depiction of Cheltenham life through the ages. It also has wonderful displays on William Morris and the Arts and Crafts movement, as well as Dutch and British art, rare Chinese and English ceramics and a section on Edward Wilson's expedition to Antarctica.
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Historic Gloucester Docks
Once Britain's largest inland port, Gloucester docks feature restored Victorian warehouses and a series of shops, cafes and museums, including the excellent National Waterways Museum, a hands-on kind of place where you can discover the history of inland waterways. Boat trips along the canal are also available.
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Caryatids
Along Montpellier Walk, caryatids (draped female figures based on those on the Acropolis in Athens) act as structural supports between the shops, each balancing an elaborately carved cornice on its head.
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Montpellier
Montpellier is Cheltenham's most fashionable district. Along with the handsome architecture of the area, there's a buzzing collection of bars, restaurants and boutiques.
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Hall of Fame Museum
You can visit the Hall of Fame museum, which charts the history of steeplechasing since 1819.
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Out of the Hat
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House of the Tailor of Gloucester
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The Promenade & Montpellier
Famed as one of England's most beautiful streets, the Promenade is a wide, tree-lined boulevard flanked by imposing period buildings. The Municipal Offices, built as private residences in 1825, are among the most striking on this street and they face a statue of Edward Wilson , a local man who joined Captain Scott's ill-fated second expedition to the South Pole.
Continuing on from here, you'll pass the grandiose Imperial Gardens, built to service the Imperial Spa (now the Queens Hotel), en route to Montpellier, Cheltenham's most fashionable district. Along with the handsome architecture of the area, there's a buzzing collection of bars, restaurants and boutiques. Along Mon…
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Tewkesbury Museum
Displays finds from Roman and medieval times as well as a diorama on the Battle of Tewkesbury.
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Tewkesbury Abbey
This magnificent abbey is one of Britain's largest churches, far bigger than many of the country's cathedrals. The Norman abbey, built for the Benedictine monks, was consecrated in 1121 and was one of the last monasteries to be dissolved by Henry VIII. Although many of the monastery buildings were destroyed, the abbey church survived after being bought by the townspeople for the princely sum of £453 in 1542.
The church has a massive 40m-high tower and some spectacular Norman piers and arches in the nave. The Decorated-style chancel dates from the 14th century, however, and still retains much of its original stained glass. The church also features an organ dating from 1631…
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John Moore Countryside Museum
This small museum, set in a wonderfully atmospheric 15th-century dwelling, gives an insight into life in Tudor times and features a fully restored late-medieval home and shop.
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Gloucester City Museum & Art Gallery
The city museum houses everything from dinosaur fossils and Roman artefacts to paintings by the artists Turner and Gainsborough.
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Dean Heritage Centre
For an insight into the history of the forest since the Ice Age, this entertaining museum looks at everything from the forest's geology to Roman occupation, medieval hunting laws, free mining, cottage crafts and industrial coal mining. There's also a reconstructed forest home, adventure playground and art gallery on site.
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Clearwell Caves
Mined for iron ore for more than 4000 years, these caves are a warren of passageways, caverns and pools that help explain the forest's history of mining. There is also a blacksmith's workshop and the possibility of deep-level caving for small groups. The caves are signposted off the B4228 a mile south of Coleford.
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Blackfriars
One of Britain's best-preserved 13th-century Dominican friaries.
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Art Gallery & Museum
Cheltenham's excellent Art Gallery & Museum is well worth a visit for its depiction of Cheltenham life through the ages. It also has wonderful displays on William Morris and the Arts and Crafts Movement, as well as Dutch and British art, rare Chinese and English ceramics and a section on Edward Wilson's expedition to Antarctica. The museum was closed for redevelopment in 2011. Check the website for details on reopening.
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All Saints
In Newland, you can visit the 'Cathedral of the Forest', the 13th-century All Saints church, which was restored and partially rebuilt in the 19th century and houses some fine stained-glass windows, as well as a unique brass depicting a miner with a nelly (tallow candle) in his mouth, a pick in his hand and a billy (backpack) on his back.
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