I have lived in Cheltenham all of my life apart from moving away for a few months. It’s where all my family are and where my family have lived for many years. After all home is where the heart is and my heart will always be in Cheltenham.
Cheltenham or to give the town its full name Cheltenham Spa is known as the heart of the Cotswolds and home to the world famous Gold Cup Horse racing meeting. For those of you that have never heard of Cheltenham or don’t even know where in the country it is, it’s along the M5 between Birmingham and Bristol in the county of Gloucestershire.
Cheltenham has good transport links with the M5 motorway running from North to South an airport based just outside the town at Staverton and Cheltenham is on the main train line between Birmingham and Bristol, though in my opinion the Train station is located outside of the main town centre and away from any of the important tourist attractions so a taxi or bus is needed. The location of the train station leads to no end of traffic problems during the Gold Cup week.
The History of Cheltenham Cheltenham began as an Anglo-Saxon village over 1200 years ago. In 1226 it became a market town and it wasn’t until 1716 when the discovery of its medicinal spa water that the town really started to take off. These waters were said to cure all kinds of illnesses and by the late 18th Century Cheltenham was one of England’s leading Spas. The town was visited in 1788 by King George III spent about 5 weeks drinking the waters for his health, among other famous visitors were members of the British and Continental Royal Families including Princess Victoria (who later became Queen), Jane Austen, Duke of Wellington and Lord Byron. Cheltenham’s heyday as a Spa town lasted from 1790 to 1840 and around this time the town saw the building of many of its fine Regency buildings. Cheltenham became a reputation for it’s schooling and preaching at the many churches and chapels, The earliest of these schools was The Cheltenham Boys College which opened in around 1841 and this was followed by The Cheltenham Ladies College. Cheltenham has also gained a reputation for its engineering industry with HH Martyn & Co producing wood panelling for The Titanic and along with Dowty Aerospace and Smiths aerospace producing many parts for aircraft. Recent years have seen many business’ make Cheltenham the place for their headquarters such as Kraft, Zurich, UCAS, Chelsea Building Society and The Government Communication Head Quarters (GCHQ) is based in Cheltenham.
Cheltenham is famous for the horse racing, its Spa water and for the Cotswolds that surround the town, but its also got other claims to fame. Cheltenham has other sporting activities such as Cheltenham Town Football Club who play in The Football League Division 3 and Gloucestershire Cricket Club play in Cheltenham in the grounds of The Boys College. Several famous people have been born in the town, Actor Sir Ralph David Richardson who acted in Dr. Zhivago, Anna Karenina amongst others, Richard O’Brien star of The Crystal Maze, Bryan Jones from The Rolling Stones was born here and is buried in the towns cemetery, Kate Thornton from Pop Idol, The composer Gustav Holst, Ernest and William Renshaw Wimbledon tennis champions, Sir Arthur ‘Bomber’ Harris and Jockey Frederick Archer and Antarctic explorer Edward Wilson.
Madonna and Britney Spears have both looked at property on the outskirts of Cheltenham, Liz Hurley, Sharron Davies and Kate Winslett already live in the area and you can regularly see Sharron Davies shopping.
Cheltenham has a very healthy nightlife with people coming from as far away as Bristol, Birmingham, Worcester, Swindon and Oxford for the night out. The nightclubs in the town (for those who maybe plan to have a night out here) include Time – Part of a chain of nightclubs owned by Luminar Leisure this club is located off the High Street opposite Burger King you have to walk up an alleyway to get to the main doors, its normally frequented by Students and has 2 floors 1 playing cheesy music 80s & 90s music and the other playing Club anthems. Po Na Na’s – very small and based in what could be passed off as a house it gets very full and plays Dance Music The Fez Club – Very Cheesy Chemistry – Another Cheesy Club, very big on security this club they have there guards in the streets outside the club. The Office – Is for older clubbers (I have never been in here) Enigma – Is next door to The Office the que’s for this nightclub are always long so it’s best to get there early. Niche – Is a new club that’s based above Burtons plays techno music, I use to go to this club before it became Niche when it use to play Rock music and was called The Attic. Sub tone – Is another club that seems to be based in a house with one bar in what could be a front room and the other bar in the basement it gets very full. The Prom Club – Is another club which tends to attract the older clubbers Equal – Is the town’s Gay bar. The Two Pigs – Though technically not a nightclub it’s a late bar it plays rock music on one floor and cheesy music on another it tends to be frequented by the skateboarders and alternatives.
Along with the nightclubs Cheltenham has lots of pubs many are chains like Yates’s Wine Lodge, Hogs Head, Witherspoons, O’Neills, Casa, Bar Med and The Toad these pubs have there own atmosphere, but there are many other smaller pubs that have there own different atmosphere and these are the ones to try when in Cheltenham, The ones I like are Tailors which one a sports night gets very full but is very friendly, The Frog & Fiddle is very much like a student union bar, The Dawn Run is on the opposite corner to Bar Med and is very Horse Racing orientated.
Places to eat include Petit Blanc owned by Raymond Blanc and The Daffodil are two of the towns best restaurants but along with these the town also have the fast food chains like Burger King, McDonalds, KFC along with the Pizza restaurants Pizza Hut, Bella Pasta and Pizza Express
As for things to do during the day there are the Cotswold hills to explore Cleeve Hill and Leckhampton hill have views that go for miles you can see as far as Wales from Cleeve Cloud, the highest point of the Cotswolds but also a really nice spot to just look at the views or have a picnic is The Devils Chimney on Leckhampton Hill, you can also see the Malvern Hills to the west from most places in Cheltenham. You could also go shopping in the town Cheltenham has many of the chain stores M&S, Debenhams, Next, Woolworth’s, TK Maxx and BHS with 2 big shopping arcades Regent Arcade (being the biggest) & Beechwood Place. In the Regent Arcade there is a beautiful clock that on the hour blows bubbles out and our kids and everyone’s kids always love it. There are a few museums to visit such as The Holst Museum and the Cheltenham Art Gallery and Museum. Also a good place to visit is Pitville Pump Rooms in Pitville Park where you can try the Spa waters for yourself (but beware they are very salty).
People coming to Cheltenham will have plenty of things to keep them busy whether they are coming for the day or weekend, even just exploring the little villages outside of Cheltenham to the North like Bishop’s Cleeve which is on the north side of Cheltenham racecourse, Sudley and its Castle, Moreton in Marsh, Broadway has a lovely tower and Bourton on the Water all have the picture postcard Cotswold stone houses and patchwork quilt fields.
The one downside to the town is that the traffic is a nightmare in rush hours and even worse during the race meetings because of the number of busses and taxis on the road due to the location of the train station.
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