Half a day, and how you could enjoy it in our fab City!

So, I have used up most of my annual leave, but some of my friends and family fancied spending some time in our amazing City! I think they asked me, obviously to spend time with me I hope, but probably also because of my expert knowledge of all things Gloucester, as by day I am Visit Gloucester’s Senior Marketing Officer! With little leave left to take, I decided to plan a few half day trips with them, here’s what we did:

---

My Niece and Nephew, otherwise known as HB and OC are 5 years and 7 years old, and as such have more energy than the sun at times! So, I thought for us to really enjoy our day, (not to exhaust me too much), I thought I would take them to Ninja Warrior to let off some steam!

We booked online which was straight forward, and I ordered them Ninja headbands as a treat, parking was free, and it was a simple process when we arrived, a few minutes to queue, and then the safety briefing. I quickly headed up to the café to get a good vantage point overlooking the arena, and of course, just had to test their coffee and cake!

I watched them running, jumping, dangling, and challenging themselves on all of the obstacles, clearly making friends along the way! Although adults can join in, I was happy being a spectator on this occasion!

Just about an hour later, two sweating, beaming faces greeted me shouting ‘we are ninjas!’, quickly followed by ‘we are hungry ninjas’, so after a fabulous time, we headed into the City for brunch!

---

The kids love a cooked breakfast, so we parked with ease at Westgate Street Car Park, and strolled a short distance up Westgate Street until we arrived at The Hubble Bubble Coffee House where they serve brunch all day! Hubble Bubble is a quirky and lovely, family run, independent coffee house, just a few minutes away from Gloucester Cathedral.

Photo credit - The Hubble Bubble Coffee House

Unsurprisingly HB ordered her usual American Style Pancakes with Red Berry Fruit Compote, OC ordered Smashed Avocado on Sour Dough Toast with added bacon, very refined tastes for a 7-year-old, and I tried their signature Glous-toaster, a divine combination of Double Gloucester Grilled Cheese sandwich, with their signature garlic butter! With clean plates and huge thumbs up from us all, we said goodbye to the lovely team, and headed back to the car.

‘I had the best time Aunty YoYo’, the last words I heard before HB quickly fell asleep on our journey home, whilst OC was already planning what we could do on his next visit!

---

Next to visit were my Mum and Dad, they love all things, historical and cultural, and they had only ever been to Gloucester once before, and then they spent their time at the Cathedral. My Dad is also partial to slice of cake!

Having recently been lucky enough to partake in a tour of the City for work, I decided to book them onto a tour with the Gloucester Civic Trust: Combined Eastgate Chamber and Gloucester City Guided Walk.

We had been advised to meet at St. Michaels Tower at 11am to meet our guide Jim, along with others who had also booked on to the tour, there were 8 of us in total, so a really nice number.

Now, I am not going to spoil it and tell you too much detail about the tour, I can only urge you to take the opportunity and book yourselves onto one, and that is coming from me, someone who is not known as a history buff and wanders around the City daily, but still new things were pointed out that I had not noticed before! However, a few of my favourite highlights were going ‘aloft’ at 26 Westgate Street, going underground into the chambers at Eastgate, and learning about the Siege of Gloucester! It really was fascinating, and the guides are so passionate and knowledgeable. Another fab thing is that you can book different types of tours depending on your interests, they even run one aimed at kids, maybe HB and OC would like it?!

---

Because we had booked a combined tour, it lasted nearly two hours, but was at a gentle pace, with plenty of stops along the way. My Dad absolutely loved it and confessed that he had learnt so much that he hadn’t previously known, he also confessed that he was then a bit peckish for something sweet - seems a bit of a trait in my family, so I decided to treat them to afternoon tea!

I decided to take them the The March Hare, located on the Oxbode, I was able to show them the King’s Square Development Area en-route. The March Hare is a little gem that I discovered in the early days of working for Visit Gloucester, and the team along with the food are fabulous! It is another of Gloucester’s independently run businesses, priding themselves in quality homemade food, using local produce.

My Dad has the sweetest of tooths/teeth (?!), so he was in seventh heaven with his Gourmet Cream Tea! Large Scones with clotted cream and jam, cake, more cake, and a humorously named ‘DIY Tea Making-Kit’! Preferring a more savoury option, and Mum being Dairy Free, she opted for The March Hare Ploughman’s served with ham and a homemade sausage roll instead of cheese! Pickled onions, real-ale chutney, salad and a doorstep of baker’s bread were all delicious, washed down with a fresh hot coffee. I opted for the homemade quiche, scrummy!
After a lovely few hours, I headed back to the office, and Mum and Dad headed back to the transport hub to make their way home, it was fab to show off just a small slice of the City to them, and they both said they will definitely be back!

---

 So, last on my list of visitors to date was my girl gang, my crew, we love nothing more than laughing, shopping, and eating!

I met the four of them on Longsmith Street, little did they know they were going to spend the next hour locked in a room! I had booked us onto the Zombie Apocalypse at Trapped Escape Rooms, I didn’t think they were quite ready for the other option, The Butcher!!

Well, what can I say, not much to be honest as I don’t want to give you any clues, but I can say … WE DID IT! We escaped in 58 minutes, nothing like cutting it fine! With only a couple of hints required, much laughter, some ‘discussions’ and battles as to who was right, we had the best time! Can highly recommend this, and next time, we might try the scarier one!

---

In true style of my family, and so it seems my friends, we were ready to be fed, I think I maybe the common denominator, so I took them along to Spago Creperia. Spago is in the docks, and is another independent, family run restaurant, we love keeping it local.

We all wanted to try both the tapas and the crepes, and so as good friends do, we decided to order a mixture of both, and share between us all!

Photo Credit - Spago Creperia

The food is divine! We had salmon crepes and chorizo crepes, served with wild fresh rocket, and a big selection of tapas, including gambas, empanadas and patatas bravas, complemented with a glass or two of house drinks, I’d like to say non- alcoholic, but luckily, no work for the rest of that day!

I have been to Spago before, but with the food and atmosphere, my friends agreed that it felt like we were dining out on holiday! They definitely want to visit again.

---

With full stomachs, there was one thing left they wanted to do, and that was to grab some bargains at Gloucester Quays, so we strolled around the beautiful docks, wallets at the ready, and then promptly got lost in a world full of bargains!! It was a super fun day to share with my pals!

---

There really is so much for all ages in the City of Gloucester, I have just touched on a few, so I decided to ask Rebecca, Ellie and Millie, the other members of the Visit Gloucester Team, what they have done with their families and friends to share with you all … watch this space!