Cheltenham Racecourse, Gloucestershire

We woke late this morning and as a result we were late arriving at the Park & Ride on the Cheltenham side of the M5. This fact alone, the location that is, made me doubt whether this was a transport hub for Cheltenham or for Gloucester, our choice of destination for the day. After much conversation with waiting passengers and the driver of a bus that was not ours, we established we could indeed catch the #99 and duly be delivered to the centre of Gloucester. This is the bus that travels between the two hospitals, the one in Cheltenham and the one in Gloucester, for which we paid the grand sum of £2 for us both.

Alighting from the bus in the city, home to just under 130,000 people, we stood in front of a map board on a nearby street and were soon taken in hand by a couple of slightly more senior years than ourselves. Mrs Samaritan turned out to be a city guide and her husband equally affable and knowledgeable. They took us up into the centre of the city, each of them giving each of us a running commentary on the wonders of their home as we went, and left us outside the Information Centre which we had been seeking. What a double bonus so far; the low fare and the amazing welcome!

Two years ago we had called in to Gloucester when we were rushing about the country in a hired motorhome and been restricted with time and parking. Then we had visited the Waterway Museum and driven around the Cathedral; today we wished to give these more attention. So our first port of call was the Cathedral.

This we found to be surrounded in workers, fences and dust. The entire exterior groundwork is being transformed from car park to expansive paved courtyard and will be wonderful when it is completed. For now it is a little off putting and would have remained so had our experience inside been a whole lot less than that today. As we entered the one door open to the public, we were handed over to our own personal guide, Rupert, a retired science teacher and fount of historical and architectural knowledge about this grand edifice. 

Gloucester Cathedral, previously the Cathedral Church of St Peter and the Holy and Indivisible Trinity, has its origins in a Christian structure dating from the late 670s, however it was William the Conqueror who had a group of Benedictine monks found an abbey here, the work begun in 1089. Again like all such structures, it has evolved over the years, changes triggered by fire and collapse, but none so great as the interment of one of England’s least favoured kings, Edward II, a nasty piece of works, who did manage to father an heir but was otherwise more interested in pleasing his lover, Piers Gaveston, who met with a very nasty end. Edward II was also to meet a similar grisly end at nearby Berkeley Castle in 1327. The King’s body was hastily brought to the abbey church and his son, Edward III, was equally hastily crowned king, his nine year old head still small enough to suit his mother’s amulet as a crown rather than the standard headdress.

Of course the true story of the glorious king’s demise was kept from the masses, and the fact his remains lay in this hallowed ground brought pilgrims from afar, bearing bribes for heavenly prayers and business to the hostelry of the town, all proving that there is often a silver lining to most bad luck stories.

Henry VIII’s dissolution had no ill effect on the abbey church; he realised that it would not be a good political move to desecrate the burial place of his forefather, and instead appointed a Bishop conferring the status of Cathedral on the abbey church.  

There are many wonderful architectural features of the cathedral; the wonderful stained glass window dating from 1350, making it one of the oldest left in the country, wonderful fan vaulted ceilings in the cloisters, these themselves the loveliest we have seen, so very light. These obviously caught the fancy of the scene selectors for the Harry Potter movies, because the cloisters have featured in a couple of these very popular movies. The organ is also an eye catcher, dating from 1666 and is the only complete 17^th century cathedral organ case surviving in the country. 

But much of the cathedral is out of bounds or screened by maintenance scaffolding and would be better viewed next year, if the visitor can wait that long.

After Rupert left us to our own devices, we took advantage of the cleared weather and dined al fresco in the lovely lawn inside the cloisters, before setting off to our next destination, the Gloucester Docks.

The Docks, once the deepest and widest in the world, are home to fourteen or fifteen warehouses built for storing grain following the opening of the Sharpness Canal on the River Severn in 1827, creating Britain’s most inland port. Most have been turned into offices and shops, and the Llanthony Warehouse is now occupied by the National Waterways Museum. Since we visited the museum two years ago, over £1 million from the Heritage Lottery Fund and a Museums & Galleries Improvement Fund has been spent on bringing the museum into the 21^st century. 

While I accept the previous version of the museum, then covering at least three floors of the warehouse, was dated, it was full of wonderful stories of people, families, workers and other related folk of the heyday of the docks and canals. Today we found the museum to have been reduced to two floors, and stripped of at least half of its resources, although those that do remain are tastefully curated in a very up to date manner. I guess the designers were working on the fact that the older littered style of museums creates overload and brain clutter; this is probably true but the reason we had returned for a second visit. 

After spending less time than we had expected within the walls of this renewed temple to the waterways, we wandered along about the docks, watching a narrow-boat make its entrance in the very large lock, a lock that could have accommodated at least twelve times the number of craft. From here we returned to the city centre and called into the Museum of Gloucester, paying the AOP entry fee of £3 each, and I only mention this because quite frankly, it does not deserve an entry fee at all. There is a good little exhibition on the town’s Roman era, and there is apparently quite a good art collection. Alas, the art gallery is currently occupied by an exhibition about dinosaurs, something that did not appeal at all. Covered in the price is entry to the city’s other museum, the Museum of Life aka Folk Museum, and had the hour not been so advanced, we would have walked across to that and probably felt less ripped off. 

But it was time to make our way back to the bus station, which we did passing through the streets, the few market stalls being packed up but the young people now freed of the educational shackles for the day and the place still buzzing. We poked our nose into the New Inn, a pub not “new” at all, originally built as a Pilgrim’s Inn to house those visitors to the shrine of King Edward II. It was rebuilt in 1455, and has seen much activity, history and vibrant trade through the subsequent ages. It is said that William Shakespeare once appeared here when strolling minstrels were popular and plays were staged in the courtyard. The inn even boasted the city’s first tennis court during Tudor times.

It was at the New Inn in 1553 that Lady Jane Grey heard the news that would lead to her untimely death.  She was manipulated by the Duke of Northumberland who had ambitions to rule the country through her. He arranged a marriage for her to his son and persuaded the twelve year old Edward VI who was dying of tuberculosis, to sign a will bequeathing the crown to her. The young king soon died and it was from the gallery of the New Inn that Lady Jane was proclaimed the new Queen. It was not long before her cause was weakened as support for her rival, Mary, escalated throughout the land. In 1554, Mary, new Queen of England, reluctantly passed sentence on her rival and Lady Jane and her husband were beheaded in the Tower of London. They say ghosts roam the inn; there is nothing like a ghost or two to encourage custom. 

Boarding the bus, we were greeted by a driver with a different attitude to the one earlier in the morning. We were apparently under sold tickets and should have paid £3 each for our fare; he made sure we did for the return, muttering about the slackness of his colleague. Needless to say we were no longer as impressed with Gloucester’s Park & Ride facility.