Cheltenham

Ingrid’s diligent searching through TripAdviser unearthed another gem. We booked into a charming, quintessentially Cotswolds, 16^th century stone inn. The Frogmill sits sweetly on trickle of a creek known grandly as the River Coln at Shipton Oliffe, about 7 miles out of Cheltenham.

The higgledy-piggledy stairs and uneven corridors were both quaint and a bit of a challenge for Dad and his walking stick. Our delightful suite of rooms in the roofspace was accessed by an extremely narrow, uneven and tortuous spiral staircase. We had our own roof terrace where we took our habitual pre-dinner aperitifs. The restaurant touted an association with the celebrity chef, Marco Pierre White. We can only surmise that he has never been in the kitchen as the food was pleasant enough, in a good pub food sort of way, but the service wasn’t.

On our evening walk we came across the idyllic hamlets of Shipton Sollars and Shipton Oliffe with the usual Cotswold stone houses, churches and bridges as well as a couple of rather lovely manor houses to daydream about.

Next morning, after the usual sumptuous English breakfast in the conservatory, we ventured in to Cheltenham, said to be the most complete Regency city in the UK. We discovered that many of the impressive old buildings have been successfully repurposed. One of the most spectacular is the former Montpellier Spa Rotunda which now serves the more prosaic function as a branch of Lloyds bank. The dome was apparently inspired by Rome’s Pantheon and was built by the magnificently named John Buonarotti Papworth.

Making the most of the glorious Spring sunshine, we had lunch at the Central Cross Drive Cafe in the Long Garden area of Pittville Park. We then visited the Pittville Pump Room where a very eager young man regaled us with the history of the building and treated us to a slightly dubious cup of spa water from the original ornate marble and scagliola pump. With some difficulty, we left to continue on our walking tour of the town.

Suffolk Square features terraces with elaborate pediments and balconies, but the most amazing building is the Regency Gothic St James church which has been recently converted to a more spectacular secular use as Zizzi’s Restaurant.

The Daffodil began in 1922 as Cheltenham’s first purpose built picture palace. Most of its exuberant Art Deco features have been retained in its present incarnation as a bar and brasserie. On asking the manageress if I might take a few photos, we were given an enthusiastic tour.

Jamie’s Italian Restaurant is situated in the former County Court building. It has been cleverly refurbished retaining many of the original court elements. Again, a very obliging manager gave us a full tour of the place from the court room with its magnificent, unusual corrugated iron ceiling down to the less magnificent holding cells in the cellars.

We were very much taken with the town, so much so that Ingrid went looking for situation vacant signs outside the prestigious Cheltenham Ladies College. After wandering through a couple of the many town parks, we finished the afternoon with a visit to the Cheltenham Art Gallery and Museum (The Wilson) to see a special exhibition of William Turner sketches.

Foregoing the pleasure of Marco Pierre White’s dubious legacy, we went out that evening to a local country pub and had a very pleasant dinner and bottle of red.

  

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