to add an item to your Itinerary basket.
I'm Rebecca, and I am the Tourism Manager at Visit Gloucester, my collegue Zoe recently wrote a blog of how she enjoyed time with her family and friends in the City, so I though I would share a couple of staycations I have enjoyed recently ...
Firstly, my staycation with my hubby:
Day 1:
Photo Credit of the Cathedral Cloisters - Kevin Lewis
With my history and adventure loving husband. We started off at the Folk of Gloucester Museum (we checked the website closely to make sure it was open) and then headed to the cathedral where we explored the cloisters and the stunning architecture. We had lunch in the Comfy Pew just outside the cathedral gates, their awesome sandwiches are served with chips as a bonus! I love antiques shops and just can't resist a few trinkets or some antique jewelry. So I dragged him to two antiques shops Upstairs Downstairs in the Docks and the Gloucester Antiques Centre on Westgate Street. We had a coffee in Guru Coffee House and recharged our batteries with some people watching.
We stayed in the Thatch Inn at Quedgeley and grabbed a taxi (Andys Cars) to head out for dinner at Hooker and Eight on Westgate Street. It's perfect for us as we both love pizza and this is some of the best pizza in the UK. My husband doesn't eat meat and they have vegan options galore without compromising on taste.
After dinner we headed to Settobello for a glass of wine and a wander round the docks before seeing some live music at Cafe Rene. Then finally, we headed back to the hotel.
Day 2:
My husband also loves to ski so he hit the slopes at the Gloucester Ski Centre whilst I did a bit of shopping in Gloucester Quays Shopping Centre. At lunchtime we met up back in the City and had lunch in the Fountain Inn for some wholesome, home-made pub grub.
We then headed to St Michaels Tower and took a quick peep inside before we visited St Mary De Crypt for another quick meander round the church before heading to the Museum of Gloucester to look at the incredible Roman Sarcofagi and beautiful art objects on the first floor. The front desk, which also doubles as the City's official tourist information point so we chatted to the Team about the range of theCcity's incredible events (such as Bright Nights the annual light festival and Tall Ships the biannual flotilla in the Docks), which we can't wait to explore when I bring him again!
48 hours without the sleepover this time!
Me and my best mum friend have a toddler each. They've just dropped their afternoon naps so we now like to take them out for a day trips, jam packed with stuff to wear them out ready for an early night. We don't live far away so have decided to get the train each day instead of pack up the car and stay overnight.
We arrived and walked through Kings Square to look at the diggers (change to fountains when its finished), we then head straight for the Museum of Gloucester to look at the dinosaurs, do the brass rubbings and play with the toys. It's the perfect choice for little ones. We then head the for the Cathedral to have lunch in the Monks Kitchen! My daughter exclaims 'Ooooh' as we go in the vaulted cafe and immediately picks out the biggest slice of homemade cake! I opt for the cheese ploughmans because it comes with sooooo much cheese and I get a cheese sandwich and insist my daughter shares her chocolate cake with me.
We then wander round the cathedral and do some drawing in the cloister garden of the flowers. The mums pretend to re-enact scenes from Harry Potter whilst the toddlers giggle at Wingardium Leviosa and look bemused.
By this time its heading for about 3pm and we need to recharge our batteries with some strong hot coffee. So we pop up the highstreet to Jamaica Blue on the edge of Kings Walk. They have nice seating and the place is really bright and airy. We are on our way to the futuristic Transport Hub to hope on a bus over to Oxstalls as we have heard they have Soft Play there. We spend a good two hours in the softplay climbing all over foam blocks before heading back to the bus and in to town.
For dinner we have booked a table at Greek on the Docks. We have Souvelaki each with chips and little mitts help us with the giant portions. The setting is perfect for families as the restaurant is big and we can look out of the window and ask the kiddies to play I Spy whilst we in record time finish our dinners. Then its back to the train station and home ready for an early -ish night to recharge for day two.
The next day we are ready to set off. After a lot of excitement and trudging round the city yesterday we vow to have a quieter day today. We start the day with a savoury Crepe and panini in Clementines as I cannot resist their melted cheese.
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After we had savoured our crepes, we headed round the corner and took the kids to The House of the Tailor of Gloucester, which houses the musuem and shop dedicated to Beatrix Potter. It is such a quaint and beautiful venue, stocked full of exhibits and displays that the children adored looking at, as did we through slightly more nostalic eyes! We let the kids choose a small souvenier from the shop, which due to the great choice took them a very long while to finally decide!
We then headed for our last treat of our two day City adventure and walked down to GL1 Leisure Centre so that the kids could enjoy the famous tad pool. It is the perfect place for the little ones, with its slide and bubble jets, with sessions for under 5s and their parents or carers. The kids spent an hour laughing, splashing and basically exhausting themselves, and loving every second of it, whilst we enjoyed watching them, we also knew they would be wiped out and we would have a peaceful journey home!
The kids had the best time, we had the best time, we were all happy shattered. It is so fantastic to take the kids to a CIty where there is so much for them to do, enjoy and experience, and we have literally only scratched the surface!
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