town | Life in the English Cotswolds

It may seem odd that having moved from the depths of the countryside to the centre of a town that the first piece I write about after the move should be about escaping back into the wilds. It isn’t that I’m yearning for open space away from the crowds for, to my surprise, I’m finding life in Cheltenham to be remarkably exciting in ways that I didn’t expect, namely people watching, shopping and architecture (well, I half-expected the latter). What has surprised me, however, is how just yards from my front door there are ‘green ways’ that lead up into the hills. I tend to think of them as my escape routes although I’m really loving the change of pace and lifestyle, albeit it’s early days.

*The old railway track is now a green pathway that links the town centre to the countryside*

Cheltenham has a reputation of having more trees than people and I think it could well be true for the photo below of the Promenade, one of the main shopping streets in the town (and a four minute walk from our door) demonstrates this so well. There are numerous parks as well, and these interconnect with the green ways: not only do they give me a way to exit the town it also gives wild animals and birds a route to enter it. In time I shall be writing about the wildlife I come across and the parks in more detail. Suffice to say, that it is something that I hadn’t really considered: I thought I was leaving the world of deer, fox, badger and otter behind but apparently not for all live within the town centre. Of course, I’m not trying to pretend that I don’t have to walk along pavements and sometimes busy roads as well, it is just that I had assumed that would be my only option to reach open country.

*They say Cheltenham has more trees than people. The Promenade, one of the town’s main shopping streets proving the point!*

*Cheltenham from the roof of the Cotswolds showing just how many trees there are in the town*

The path that is so close to my new home, known as the Honeybourne Line, started life in the mid-1800s as the branch line of the railway bringing in services and visitors into the heart of the town. When it closed in 1976 the station was demolished (it’s now the site of our local Waitrose supermarket) and the area gradually became forgotten and overgrown. It wasn’t until the Millenium that various groups and the town council began to clear it to create a traffic-free walking and cycling route. When finally completed it will link several local towns and communities along its 26-mile course.

*The Millennium bridge spanning a busy road junction – part of what will be a 26 mile traffic-free, green route for cyclists and walkers*

My first venture along this path took me northwards to the racecourse. Cheltenham is famous for its horse racing and it is here, each March that the Gold Cup, one of the world’s major sporting events is held. On the day that I walked there was no racing and so I had the place to myself. A public footpath alongside the gallops would have lead me high into the (Cotswold) hills but I chose to turn towards the town, this time choosing a route through Pitville Park with its beautiful lake and spa building. There will be other days, I thought, when I can climb the hills.

*The Cotswolds rise steeply from the very edge of the racecourse* *giving endless walking possibilities*

*The lake at Pittville Park with its beautiful Regency Spa building beyond*

For my second walk I tried to find a way west and although I finally did reach farmland to walk over, this route involved just a few too many roads for my liking. However, I was rewarded with hazy views of the Malvern Hills and also by stumbling across a mid-length long-distance path known as the Cheltenham Circular Path. This, I have since discovered, starts at Pittville Park and would have taken me on a much nicer and quieter route out of town. A little further on I came across a derelict farm to explore before finding myself back on a stretch of the Honeybourne Line to lead me back home.

*It is just possible to see the centuries-old crown of trees on distant May Hill,*
*a solitary outlier of the Malverns* *over 15 miles away*

The third walk was through a different park – Sandford Park. This was also a surprise for the path followed the course of the little River Chelt and led through well-maintained gardens before opening out into a much wilder part of the park, kept that way as part of the flood defences for the town. Rather like the little winding river back in the secret valley the Chelt can rise very rapidly after heavy rain. As with my first walk, I thought I would leave exploring the hills for a later date, but it was such a glorious day and the path so tempting that I climbed the 900 feet to the top. There I was rewarded by stupendous views of not just the Cotswold and Malvern Hills but also, way off in the far-distance, the misty shapes of the Long Myndd and Shropshire Hills, fifty miles away. It is also here that my path linked to the Cotswold Way, another National Trail of over 100 miles length so the possibilities are literally endless.

*It’s hard to believe this is still within the town*
*– a tranquil stretch of the River Chelt by Sandford Park*

*Formal gardens at Sandford Park give way to much wilder, natural areas, rich in wildlife*

When I was a young man before the responsibilities of home ownership, career and all the other things in life that get in the way, I used to spend a lot of my time walking these long-distance paths. Now that I have finally retired, I’m looking forward to spending much more time clocking up the miles although I doubt I shall be walking the 25 miles a day I would do in my youth. Moving to a new area, although still in the Cotswolds, there is much to explore both in the town and the country. The town with its rich history of its development as a spa in the 1800s when the fashionable and wealthy came to ‘take the waters’, the hill country and its villages or the vale of the River Severn – England’s longest river – will give me plenty of walking opportunities and plenty to write about. I can’t wait to get going!

*When I reached this enticing path, I just couldn’t stop myself from exploring further!*

*I reached the top and the Cotswold Way long-distance trail. From here it is possible to walk over 100 miles*

The tag line of my blog and other social media platforms describes me as ‘countryman’ and that’s how I see myself for I have lived in the countryside all my life. One of my earliest memories is at kindergarten, aged four, and being taken on a nature walk. There our teacher introduced us to a row of larch, the perfect tree to spark a small child’s imagination. Soaring into the sky, straight and tall, their drooping branches almost touch the ground – “like gracious ladies curtseying to the mighty oak, the king of trees,” she told us, a description I have never forgotten. An older cousin introduced me to butterflies and birds, collecting eggs and catching butterflies to mount on a board. Back in the 1950s there were no concerns about such things, it was only later that the practice became frowned upon. In my twenties I discovered the writing of Richard Jefferies, the Victorian naturalist; his quote below (and also attached to this favourite photo of myself with my father) sums up so accurately my feelings today.

My childhood home backed first onto wheatfields and later onto a cherry orchard under-grazed by a herd of gentle Guernsey cows. We would walk to the farm to collect pints of their rich, creamy milk and eggs. The first home of my own looked out towards Watlington Hill, one of the high points of the Chilterns and one which I knew well from long walks and family picnics. After a few years I moved up the hill to a home fronting a wild bracken-covered common, its scrubby hawthorn trees the home of dormice. Behind the house were the bluebell beechwoods for which the Chilterns are so famed. After eighteen years there, I moved fifty miles up the road to the Cotswolds and the secret valley, a very different landscape of which I have so often written and blogged about.

*A herd of gentle cows grazed the cherry orchard behind my childhood home*

*John on Watlington Hill, c1965* – *I was rarely without binoculars or camera in my hand*

*Behind my Chilterns home were bluebell woods*, *the glory of spring*

It was here, in this tiny, hidden Cotswold valley, that my horticultural career developed beyond my wildest expectations, where I finally learned to ride a horse properly (I’d ridden badly from childhood) and where I became involved with both the Blenheim and Burghley International Horse Trials. It was here where I was instrumental in the founding of both a County Gardens Trust and a Literary Festival, and where I received my commission to write my book, Why Can’t My Garden Look Like That? It was here where I made new friends and became part of a new family: all of this wouldn’t have been so readily obtained without the constant support and encouragement of my long-suffering partner. In fact, it was him seeing me writing away in a corner one day and asking what is the point if no-one ever read it, that sparked the idea of blogging regularly.

*Working behind the scenes at the Burghley Horse Trials gave me a close-up view of the action*

*Being interviewed at the Chipping Norton Literary Festival*

Considering all of the above, along with my passion for the remote and seemingly empty landscape of Exmoor, a National Park in England’s West Country, it comes as a surprise to many others – and perhaps even more to myself – that I/we shall be moving very shortly not just to a built-up area but to the very centre of a town, Cheltenham. So after twenty-five years in the secret valley I am becoming a ‘townie’. Or, perhaps, a fish out of water? I doubt it somehow for Cheltenham has some very special and unique qualities which I am looking forward to exploring. It will be interesting to see how I adapt to town life and I am also looking forward to sharing my discoveries and thoughts through my writing, so watch this space…

*I feel so at home in remote countryside, how will I fare living in a town?* *This is Scotland, not Exmoor!*

*Perhaps the Caryatids – all thirty-two of them – will watch over me when living in Cheltenham*

Here are a few facts that I have gleaned during my time visiting Cheltenham. First and perhaps of the greatest importance to me, it is very leafy for it boasts more trees than people. It also has numerous green spaces, many award winning and these along with the little river that flows through the town are home to a great array of wildlife: I have been told of brown trout, kingfishers, otters and badgers all living there and, of course, foxes I am sure will pop up everywhere. Peregrine falcons breed on the church towers and, to my surprise, seagulls can be heard with their constant mewing. Another surprise has been the numerous fountains in the town although, perhaps I shouldn’t be, for it was developed in Georgian times for its natural mineral waters, very much like the more famous city of Bath. As a result of this, Cheltenham also boasts some very splendid architecture including its own version of the famous Bath crescent. Finally, Cheltenham is considered one of the Cotswold Gateways for the hills rise steeply from the town’s edge. To the west flows the River Severn, and the Malvern Hills and the Welsh Black Mountains are not far either. There will be so much to explore and write about both of town and of country so Life in the English Cotswolds, after seventeen years, is very much set to continue. I very much hope that you will be joining me on my latest adventure.

*There are more trees than people in Cheltenham. This is one of the main shopping streets, Promenade*

*The Royal Crescent – splendid Georgian architecture lines the streets of Cheltenham*

With so many open, green spaces, walks along the river that made the town so famous (more of that to come in the future), the architecture and fountains, let alone all the festivals and restaurants of which there are many, I think I’ll be fine. In the meantime, I shall remember my two favourite quotes from Richard Jefferies both written in 1885:

i) Those who love nature are the real artists

ii) So it seemed to me as a boy, sweet and new like this each morning; and now after the years that have passed, and the lines they have worn in the forehead, the summer mead shines as bright and fresh as when my foot first touched the grass…