The Cotswolds as you've never seen it – with red-brick buildings and acrobats
While much of the Cotswolds may be rather twee with its cream stone and quaint streets, Stroud is radical and red-brick. And what’s more, the circus is coming to town.
Later this month the big top and hand-painted wagons of Giffords Circus (giffordscircus.com) will roll up and pitch up in the village of Lypiatt, three miles from Stroud, for the last few performances of 2018 – a year that celebrates the 250th anniversary of the world’s first circus. Expect velvet, ostrich plumes, music and laughter.
It promises a medley of Victoriana and the Thirties with a six-piece orchestra, international troupes of acrobats, Tweedy the clown, ponies and dachshunds – not forgetting the turkey. And there’s no need to worry about welfare. With a vet, dentist, farrier, nutritionist and chiropractor all on board, the animals have better healthcare packages than most city bankers – offering the chance to see a traditional circus guilt -free.
Do I need to arrive with 12 clowns in a mini?
Doubtful. Stroud train station – with direct trains from London – is in the centre of town. E-cycle UK (ecycleuk.com) has electric bikes to hire, complete with panniers, perfect for the hills of Stroud’s Five Valleys.
Circus? Electric bikes? I prefer a long walk and a G&T
Stroud has a reputation for being alternative, but there are plenty of mainstream activities. Walking, cycling, and food and drink are year-round attractions. Along the eight-mile Stroudwater navigation (cotswoldcanals.com) you can wander past a handful of former woollen mills (one still making baize for billiard tables).
Refuel with tea and cake at Upper Lock Café (upperlockcafe.co.uk) before following the towpath to the Ocean – not the briny but a water lily-covered pond in Stonehouse, three miles away. Alternatively, turn off at Ebley wharf and go down to the village of Selsley where The Bell Inn (thebellinnselsley.com) has a choice of 97 gins.
All Saints Church, Selsley, has windows by pre-Raphaelite superstars, including William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones. Look out for Judas Iscariot, modelled on a disliked local dealer.
A 45-minute walk from The Bell Inn, Woodchester Valley Vineyard (woodchestervalleyvineyard.co.uk) offers tours and tastings (one-bedroom apartment from £110 per night.) This year, the award-winning vineyard will produce its first pinot noir.
From high on Selsley Common – the scene of a 1839 Chartist rally – there are splendid views towards the Severn. Here, you can join the 102-mile Cotswold Way (nationaltrail.co.uk/cotswold-way).
I’m more of a beer person
Then you’ve come to the right place. Stroud is home to one of only a handful of organic breweries in Britain. In fact, Stroud Brewery has crowdfunded £300,000 to expand into a new canal-side brewery/bar/café on a small industrial estate, due to open early 2019. In the meantime it dispenses hundreds of pints of various brews (and wood-fired pizzas) in nearby utilitarian premises (Thursday, Friday and Saturday only). The Alederflower ale is worth a try (from £15; stroudbrewery.co.uk).
Stroud revels in its revolutionary roots. At the top of the pedestrianised High Street you’ll find a shop selling goods exclusively made in Venezuela, a charity shop raising funds for refugees and the gallery of pop-art inspired Clay Sinclair (claysinclair.com) with his “People’s Republic of Stroud” T-shirts. Nearby Woodruffs claims to be the first wholly organic café in Britain (mains from £7; woodruffsorganiccafe.co.uk).
Organic, vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free diets are well catered for in Stroud. For the gourmand, the Saturday farmers market (fresh-n-local.co.uk) has plenty of stalls selling excellent bread (saltbakehouse.co.uk), superb cheese from Windrush Valley Goat Dairy and tasty smoked fish, meat and hummus from Stroud Smokehouse (stroudsmokehouse.com). If you are self-catering, the market is the place to stock up.
Self-catering? It's not all yurts and tepees is it?
Yes, there is a lovely yurt in the woods on 70-acre Westley Farm, but this bucolic bolthole also has self-catering, two-bedroom cottages (from £700 per week; westleyfarm.co.uk). You can walk from your front door into the Golden Valley and along the former Thames and Severn Canal. The excellent farm shop, Jolly Nice (jollynicefarmshop.com) is a mile away.
Sounds good for children...
It is. Rodborough Parish Church has a window featuring Thomas the Tank Engine. Painswick Rococo Garden (rococogarden.org.uk; £7.50 adults/ £3.60 children) has a wooden climbing castle under trees. Westley Farm holds forest school days (westleyfarm.co.uk; £25) and there are canal boat trips aplenty (cotswoldcanals.com; £5/£3). Museum in the Park has mammoths’ tusks and quizzes (museuminthepark.org.uk; free) while Stratford Park also has an outdoor (unheated) pool (everyoneactive.com).
If it’s too cool to swim, you could pick up a children’s tepee from Malthouse Collective (themalthousecollective.co.uk) and play in the park’s arboretum. Everyone will like Winstones ice cream (winstonesicecream.co.uk) whatever the weather.
And for evenings without them?
Stroud is surrounded by chocolate-box villages of pale southern Cotswolds stone. Painswick, four miles north, is home to the very comfortable The Painswick (telegraph.co.uk/tt-the-painswick-hotel; doubles from £139). The hotel has 16 rooms with views over the Painswick Valley. The staff are friendly and the food superb. Try line-caught Cornish cod with baby leeks (mains from £16).
