The beautiful UK town perfect for a staycation where you can find foodie heaven and enrol at gin school
AFTER we add seaweed, pink peppercorns and manuka wood, my partner Steve and I decide 15 ingredients is probably enough and it’s time to get bubbling.
It might sound like we’re in a Hogwarts potions class – but we are, in fact, students at Piston Distillery’s Gin School.
And we’re impressed with the resulting concoction, which we proudly name Curious Gin-cident – although this might be down to the four G&Ts we sampled earlier. Gin school costs £150 for two (Pistondistillery.com)
(Nep)tune in
A taxi whisks us back to our base for the weekend – Neptune Apartments, a Grade-II -listed Georgian building on Cheltenham’s prestigious Promenade.
Each apartment is named after a Cotswold town or village, and ours, The Painswick, is a beautifully decorated one-bed with high ceilings, intricate cornices and very cool lighting, plus a fully equipped kitchen, breakfast bar, comfy sofa and two huge TVs.
We’d like to move in and never leave, but we’re lured outside by the promise of award-winning burgers.
You might have seen The Beefy Boys on TV with Tom Kerridge last year, as they built up to opening their third restaurant here in Cheltenham.
The juicy PBJ Boy, £12.80, comes with two smashed patties (but you can add more if you like), cheese, bacon, bacon jam and chipotle peanut butter, and is totally moreish – as are the poutine fries, £9.50 (Thebeefyboys.com).
Picking up steam
The next morning, we stop off at The Find for a Full Monty breakfast bap, filled with local ingredients, £10.50 (Thefind.co.uk), then head to Sudeley Castle, 20 minutes’ drive away, to walk it off.
Henry VIII’s sixth (and last) wife Catherine Parr lies entombed in the chapel.
Plus, there are beautiful formal gardens, and quirky life-size animal sculptures to spot in the pop-up Animal Ark exhibition. Entry costs £22 per person (Sudeleycastle.co.uk).
At Cheltenham Race Course station, we jump on a steam train (part of the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway) and choo-choo our way to Broadway, a chocolate-box-pretty village.
Here, Cotswold Trading has perfect gifts of locally made body lotion and pampas coasters (Cotswoldtrading.com), before we scoff Tisanes Tearooms’ scones with jam and cream, £3.60 (Tisanes-tearooms.com). Day rover tickets on the steam railway cost £26 per person (Gwsr.com).
Later, we venture to Mr Cambray’s Curiosity – a cafe/bar full of nooks and crannies – (Mrcambrays.co.uk), before sharing plates at Japanese restaurant Kibou, where highlights include chicken thighs with sriracha-mayo dip, £10.90, and an amazing soy honey tuna tartare poke bowl, £15.90 (Kibou.co.uk).
Once home, we nibble on Cotswold brie from Cheltenham’s The Cheese Works (Thecheeseworks.co.uk), relax with a Curious Gin-cident and tonic, and toast a great weekend.
BTW
Stays at Neptune Apartments cost from £64 a night (Neptuneapartments.co.uk).
Plan your trip at Visitcheltenham.com.