Holiday rentals in Gloucestershire

Studded with stately homes and private castles, the rolling landscape of Gloucestershire in the southwest of England is home to much beauty, both urban and rural. Along its east run are the Cotswold Hills, where pretty villages with hyphenated names — Stow-on-the-Wold, Moreton-in-Marsh, Bourton-on-the-Water — sit on gently burbling streams, and are ornamented with honey-coloured houses built of the local sandstone. From north to south England’s longest river, the Severn, sits in a vale of lush meadow and orchards, gathering pace as it passes the historic county town of Gloucester (once the country’s most inland port) on its way to the estuary and the Severn Bridge. To the west of the county lies the Wye Valley and the Forest of Dean, which covers 27,000 acres with ancient woodland, including trees that date back to the medieval era. The bounty of its farmland and the heritage of its market towns have left a rich foodie legacy, while Cheltenham, at the centre, has become its flagship town for its incomparable Regency elegance.

Gloucestershire’s countryside lights up in the spring: the Wye Valley and the Forest of Dean are illuminated first with daffodils and then with bluebells, and the gardens of the Cotswold villages burst into bloom. By May visitors can enjoy plenty of sunshine, with summer temperatures peaking in July and August. Gloucestershire has a number of intriguing summer events, including its Tall Ships festival and its Three Choirs Festival. But Cheltenham is the real showstopper, with festivals year round celebrating jazz, classical music, literature, art, and science. From that perspective, there’s always a good time to visit, whether it’s in autumn, when the orchards and arboretums are lovely, or winter, when you cosy up next to a roaring fire.

Tewkesbury

Gloucestershire brims with thousands of years of history, including a number of sites that date back to the Neolithic era. But nowhere feels more historic than this market town, sitting where the Severn and Avon rivers meet. The Norman tower of its 900-year-old abbey looks out over streets of half-timbered Tudor buildings and Georgian townhouses, and each year its residents re-enact the local battle that finally ended the War of the Roses in 1471.

Stanton

Despite their popularity with tourists, you can still find plenty of Cotswold villages untouched by commercialisation, and this is one of them. Its 17th-century houses, some with thatched roofs, sit on quiet lanes alongside a medieval church and a true locals’ pub, while the neighbouring villages of Laverton, Buckland, and Broadway are all within walking distance.

The Severn Bore

This isn’t a destination, but rather an extraordinary phenomenon that can be seen at a number of locations along the River Severn between Gloucester and Newnham-on-Severn. The bore is a natural tidal wave that rolls upstream several times each month, so powerful it attracts surfers to come and ride it, and spectators to come and watch.