The horse racing event Cheltenham Festival is a firm favourite on many an annual calendar and is attended by the great and the good of the racing world as well as Royals and celebrities. But there’s more to Cheltenham than racing and here are some other excellent reasons to love this beautiful town…
It’s home to Cotswolds’ only two Michelin star restaurant Le Champignon Sauvage
No foodie’s trip to Cheltenham is complete without a visit to chef David Everitt-Matthias’ award winning restaurant Le Champignon Sauvage. The Cotswold Life Chef of the Year 2017 is celebrating the restaurant’s 30th anniversary and his two Michelin star restaurant remains at number 16 in the Good Food Guide Top 50 UK Restaurants 2018.
A starter of Cured and seared mackerel, beetroot carpaccio, beetroot jam might be followed by Loin of pork with lapsang souchong, glazed shallots, apple and then carrot cake, walnut puree, cream cheese ice cream. Excellent value set lunch and dinner menus are on offer at £27 and £34 for two and three courses respectively, Tuesday to Friday.
Its elegant architecture and parkland
Some of this town’s most elegant architecture can be found along Suffolk Square and Queen’s Parade on Parabola Road.
To the north is the award-winning Pittville Park where stunning Regency townhouses surround a huge green park. The original gates can still be seen and it houses a boating lake, skate park, tennis courts, golf putting green, a wildlife lake, a menagerie of animals and a huge children’s playground. The park is also home to the Pittville Pump Rooms, and Cheltenham’s spa waters.
The recently renovated gallery and museum, The Wilson
The Wilson houses an internationally significant collection of exceptional quality and variety, including a designated Arts and Crafts Movement collection, fine art collections, and The Paper Store, which houses fascinating archives relating to Antarctic explorer Edward A. Wilson (after whom the museum is named), Cheltenham’s history and the Emery Walker Library.
The many attractions just a few miles out of town including Sudeley Castle
Located eight miles north of Cheltenham, Sudeley Castle is the only private castle in England to have a queen buried within its grounds – Katherine Parr, the last of Henry VIII’s six wives.
The castle rooms and exhibits contain fascinating treasures, from ancient Roman times to the present day and outside, the castle is surrounded by a breathtaking 1,200 acre estate and ten award-winning gardens.
The centrepiece is the Queens Garden, so named because four of England’s queens – Anne Boleyn, Katherine Parr, Lady Jane Grey and Elizabeth I – once walked upon the original Tudor Parterre.
This year’s Cheltenham Festival runs from March 13-16.
Image at the very top of the article credit: ArenaPhotoUK/Bigstock.com.
