Tewkesbury

Introducing Tewkesbury

Crooked half-timbered houses, buckled roof lines and narrow alleyways lined with medieval buildings give Tudor-heavy Tewkesbury a higgledy-piggledy charm. There’s also a lovely riverside area with ancient passageways leading up to Church St, where you’ll find the town’s most glorious building, the magnificent medieval abbey church.

The tourist office (295027; www.tewkesburybc.gov.uk; 64 Barton St; 9.30am-5pm Mon-Sat, 10-4pm Sun) is housed in a 15th-century timber-framed house, which is also home to a small museum displaying finds from Roman and medieval times.

Each year at the end of May Tewkesbury celebrates the Coopers Hill cheese-rolling competition, a 200-year-old tradition that sees locals running, tumbling and sliding down a local hill in pursuit of a seven-pound block of Double Gloucester cheese. For the truly committed there is also an uphill competition.

Last updated: Feb 17, 2009