A day well spent at Cheltenham

Join Sian Ellis as she takes a trip to Cheltenham

Cheltenham is hailed as England’s most complete Regency town: built for leisure and pleasure to cater for visitors to the spas that flourished after King George III, having suffered “a pretty smart bilious attack”, spent five weeks here “taking the waters”.

Jane Austen, Lord Byron, The Duke of Wellington, Princess (later Queen) Victoria, and other royals, literati and glitterati flocked here to see and be seen. Today the Cotswold town’s handsome heritage combines with a vibrant festival and arts scene.

Spa Heritage Strolls

With tree-lined streets and landscaped parks designed for the Georgian beau monde to promenade in their studied elegance, the heart of Cheltenham is easily explored on foot, and themed tours led by The Cheltenham Promenaders can offer lively introductions to local history and anecdote in the company of a costumed guide. 

Cheltenham transformed from an essentially medieval manor village into a spa resort from 1716 after a sharp-witted farmer, spotting pigeons pecking at salt deposits around a spring, leapt on the Georgians’ spa craze bandwagon and began charging visitors to drink the iron-rich mineral waters. Further spas sprang up around town as doctors recommended Cheltenham’s waters as a cure for everything from pimples to gout and bilious disorders; George III’s sojourn with his entourage in 1788 added the royal seal of approval. 

As you explore – with a guide or solo – you’ll discover superb architecture all around: sweeping classical terraces, the leafy Promenade, stucco and stone villas and townhouses embellished with intricate ironwork balconies and verandas. Built to accommodate the fashionable crowds who came to sip and socialise, the streetscapes epitomise the sophisticated style of the later Georgian era before, during and after the Regency 1811–1820: the period when the flamboyant Prince Regent ruled the country on behalf of an ailing George III.

Take a 20-minute walk (6 mins by bus) north from the town centre to the iconic Pittville Pump Room, the grandest survival of the town’s numerous spa buildings. Overlooking a sweeping ornamental park, it was intended by banker Joseph Pitt to be the centrepiece of a new town (called Pittville) that he planned to rival Cheltenham. Financial problems severely curtailed Pitt’s ambitions but the Pump Room, completed in 1830 and echoing the style of a colonnaded Greek temple, provided popular mineral water ‘cures’, balls and other entertainments. 

Today the Pump Room hosts events and weddings, and you can still sample the (somewhat unpleasant tasting) water, though the title of a humorous 19th-century cartoon depicting discombobulated gentlefolk in a state of haste might put you off: “Effects of Cheltenham waters or tis necessary to quicken your motions after the second glass. Get home as fast as you can.” Altogether more palatable is a mid-morning coffee and pastry in the Heritage Café and Bar.

After a wander around the park and lake, head back into town, stopping en route at the Holst Birthplace Museum on Clarence Road. Composer Gustav Holst was born here in 1874 and his contemporary world is evoked through a series of Victorian rooms as well as the piano on which he created his famous The Planets suite. You can also view a perfectly preserved Regency sitting room, complete with original wood block-printed wallpaper. 

Gardens and galleries

If the weather is fine, buy a snack (there are plenty of cafés) and have a picnic lunch in one of Cheltenham’s fine parks. The colourful Imperial Gardens is a favourite, originally landscaped as a pleasure garden for users of the former Sherborne / Imperial Spa (where the Queen’s Hotel now stands), and in summer The Garden Bar serves light meals, ice cream and drinks.

Stroll off lunch along the adjacent tree-lined Promenade and Long Gardens, to the grandiose Municipal Buildings and exuberant Neptune Fountain leaping with sea horses, mermen and the eponymous Greek god. Along The Promenade you’ll also spot a bronze statue of Cheltenham-born Edward Wilson who perished with Captain Robert Falcon Scott on his ill-fated Antarctic expedition of 1910–1912. 

Take a cue and visit The Wilson Art Gallery & Museum on Clarence Street (not to be confused with Clarence Road to the north), where you can find out more about the part played by Wilson, a naturalist and artist, in the ‘heroic age of Antarctic exploration’ around the turn of the 19th/20th centuries. 

The gallery and museum is also home to a renowned collection of the British Arts and Crafts Movement inspired by William Morris – the Cotswolds was a hotspot – from beautiful furniture to jewellery and pottery. Browse for special souvenirs at the nearby Guild Gallery Shop featuring work by modern designer-makers of the Gloucestershire Guild of Craftsmen, which developed out of the local Arts and Crafts Movement.

The Gardens Gallery in Montpellier Gardens hosts work by local and upcoming artists, and there’s retail therapy aplenty around town: fashion and lifestyle in Montpellier, independent boutiques and cafés of the artisan Suffolks quarter, and well-known brands on the High Street and Promenade. 

Tea and theatre

For a luxury treat book afternoon tea in The Ivy Montpellier Brasserie whose Rotunda dome recalls its previous incarnations as a spa and dance hall; or savour scones served with local strawberry jam and clotted cream in the neo-classical Queen’s Hotel, declared “one of the noblest buildings of its kind in Europe” when it opened in 1838. 

Alternatively (or additionally!) tuck into a pre-show meal in Matchams Restaurant at The Everyman Theatre before settling down to some drama, opera, ballet or comedy – check what’s on. The Everyman’s gilded main auditorium is a sumptuous masterpiece by the celebrated Victorian / Edwardian designer of theatres and music halls Frank Matcham. Cheltenham Playhouse (once a bathhouse!) and Cheltenham Town Hall are further options for evening entertainment, and many pubs host live music sessions. 

Staying longer

Why not channel the spa vibe? The Greenway Hotel & Spa and Ellenborough Park are two local hotels that feature pools, sauna and steam rooms, and a range of pampering and wellbeing experiences. 

Also check the calendar for Cheltenham Racecourse, “the home of jump racing”, or chuff off into the Cotswolds countryside aboard the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway.