Location: Gloucester, England
This is a quick tour of the cute little English town of Gloucester, with some pretty unique things to do! I adored Gloucester and I’m so happy we stopped there for a few hours!
Actually, we accidentally ended up Gloucester on our way home from a trip to Birmingham! Ben and I love the movie ‘How To Train Your Dragon’, and when tickets became available to a live-in-concert showing, we booked them! Pebble saw her very first live orchestra, and was amazing throughout! It helps that she loves dragons, so she watched the first half fascinated. By the second half she was tired, so me and her were able to go up to a sound booth – essentially a dark room that they occasionally keep empty for families to use. She had a snooze in her pram, whilst I had a stunning view of the whole orchestra. It was a wonderful experience, and something we’re really glad we had the opportunity to do with Pebble.
Anyway! We had a bit of a debacle that night at the hotel, and ended up awake at all hours of the night. As a result we rose a little late, but still in time for breakfast and shockingly for me, I just wanted to leave. Instead of exploring the city, we decided to head on home! However, along the way, fuelled by coffee and snacks, I got my mojo back and we made a last minute decision to drive in Gloucester for a car-break!
If you like this post, be sure to check out our other UK destinations here!
1. Gloucester Cathedral
Opening times:
Monday to Friday: 10am – 5pm / Saturday: 10am – 4pm
Cost:
A voluntary donation of £5
Want to feel like you’ve stepped into a Harry Potter movie? Then this incredible cathedral will do exactly that! I didn’t even realise this town had a cathedral, and we stumbled upon it. Needless to say, set in the middle of the college green, this beautiful building has a history stretching back 1300 years. It’s an awning experience, just walking around the outside, craning our necks to look up at the spires around the clock tower. Step inside however, and you’ll stop in your tracks. It is stunning.
By the time you reach the cloisters you might be scratching your head thinking it looks a little familiar? That’s because my comment earlier about Harry Potter is not entirely random! These looping arches and vaulted ceilings do indeed feature in the movies! I would say that’s a pretty unique thing to do on a visit to Gloucester!
If you want more information on Gloucester Cathedral, or any of these unique things to do, check out the Visit Gloucester website! It has great, useful info on all these places, and more!
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2. The Historic Docks
Opening times:
Always open!
Cost:
Free to stroll around, but there are so many restaurants and cafes that you can dine at!
This is a really cool place. These docks make up the most inland port in the UK, and the canal is surrounded by red brick Victorian warehouses covered in windows. You can visit the National Waterways Museum here for more information about the docks, or take a food break! There are benches scattered around so you can admire the calm of the canal water, lapping gently against the sides of the narrow boats that now populate the waters. We really enjoyed walking around here – it feels stylish somehow! Cargo would once have entered these docks on ships, but now it’s a cool, quirky place to visit!
3. Beatrix Potter’s House of the Tailor of Gloucester
Opening times:
Monday – Saturday 10am till 4pm
Okay so THIS is our personal favourite, and certainly unique, thing to do in Gloucester! We were strolling back to town from the Docks, and I spotted a tiny cute street with British flags strung between the buildings, and people sat at chairs and tables outside cafes. It was adorable, so we turned down it. At the very end, right before heading under a stone archway back to the Cathedral, I literally did a double-take. Because right there, in all its cuteness, was this teeny shop! There, standing out against the pale yellow, was the Tailor of Gloucester, the mouse sat upon his red reel of thread, reading his newspaper. In the window were Jemina Puddleducks and Peter Rabbits. I’d already decided to go inside, but when Pebble cried out, reaching out her little hands, we just had no choice!
This is probably one of the cutest places we’ve ever been. There are big Peter Rabbits dotted around, standing or sitting on chairs. The stairs are narrow and rickety, the floorboards slant, and there are fireplaces giving it a charming feel. Beatrix Potter’s writings are encased under glass, there are old copies of her books and illustrations on display, and paraphernalia of the characters everywhere. It’s a gorgeous place, and we learnt a lot! Pebble had a fun spotting Peter’s, and the women manning the place were friendly and super knowledgeable. Of course, we couldn’t leave without a souvenir, so Pebble chose herself a little Peter Rabbit to take home!
If you know the Beatrix Potter stories, you’ll know how utterly sweet they are. This one is about a little mouse tailor who leaves unfinished garments at night, only to find them sewn together by the morning. It’s apparently one of the author’s favourites!
You can buy the book on Amazon here!
And you can check out the Goodreads page here!
4. Wander around the quaint streets of Gloucester town
Gloucester has a long history, even dating back to Roman times! If you visit the museum you can even see artefacts from this time! Simply wandering the town won’t give you an idea of Roman Gloucester, however, there are super cute, teeny winding cobbled streets. They feel quintessentially English, full of cafes that spill their tables and chairs onto the cobblestones. Plants line the walls, and the Tudor and Victorian buildings slants at angles into one another. I found it utterly adorable!
After our visit, I learnt about a really cool Rainbow Street too. St Mark’s Street has been transformed by local artist Tash Frootko, who in 2020 began painting the entire row of homes bright colours! It attracts a lot of visitors, and I do wish I’d known about it before going to the town. So if you’re looking for unique things to do in Gloucester, wandering the streets and hunting for Rainbow Street is definitely one of them!
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If you have recommendations of places we can visit in the UK, do let us know in the comments! Would you visit Gloucester? 🙂
