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Cheltenham Races are on next week and the University of Gloucester coincides their reading week so students can either head home or earn money working at the races.
Callum opted to come home so we headed over to collect him … and his washing!
Rather than head into Cheltenham, we decided to stop in Cirencester which is on the way home about 30 mins away from Cheltenham.
I had bought a Treasure Trail last year, one of the 12 trails I bought for £50 (bargain!). You can check to see if there’s been any updates since purchase which proves useful.
Treasure Trails recommended parking on the Abbey Car Park, just off the bypass. We struck lucky and found one space. It was Saturday lunchtime so busy.
From here we made out way to the church. You can see the tower from all over town. The town is very pretty. Lots of old Cotswold stone buildings and seemed to retain it’s oldy-worldy charm. Plenty of independent shops amongst the usual high street shops.
Quite a few very wonky buildings which makes you wonder for how much longer can the remain standing. Mind you, if they’ve been around for 400 years already, another 100 shouldn’t be a problem.
We needed to find a bite to eat and we were spoilt for choice. No shortage of pubs here!
in the end, we settled on The Golden Cross. Not an extensive menu but all bases were covered quite nicely. Callum had the Chicken and Chorizo Pie, Jon the Old Spot sausages and mash and I had the burger. Portions were generous and the food was delicious.
Plenty of small blue plaques littered the town, each giving more information about the building or former famous/infamous residents.
The Treasure Trail took us around the edge of the abbey grounds – exploring the Roman and Tudor history of the town would need to wait for another day. There was an entry fee to pay so it wasn’t something we wanted to rush around for the sake of squeezing it into today’s visit.
The Cotswolds was one of the first locations the Wild About Art Hare sculptures appeared. Several were still dotted about the town. We had completed most of the Hares About Hampshire trails in Southampton and Winchester eight or so years back. .
The hare has held a special place in Cirencester’s history ever since Roman times – and the discovery, in 1971, of a hare mosaic. It has become the symbol of the award winning Corinium Museum where the original hare mosaic is now housed.
The final stretch of the trail took us into the park and the play park. We hadn’t followed the instructions precisely at the end. I wandered off back to where we should have taken a different route, meanwhile Callum and Jon headed off to the other side of the park. Jon’s Spock-like logic ensured he could solve the final clues without completing the final 1/2 mile of the trail!
Just as well, as the weather was starting to turn and made it back to the car before the rain started.
Cirencester is a lovely town and hopefully we’ll be back to explore the museum and Abbey.
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