Places to Visit

This page is a list of places recommended by Stinchcombe residents of places to visit.

The Cotswolds (The Cotswold website)

The Cotswolds is one of the most beautiful areas of England. It is known and loved by people across the world. It is the largest of 38 Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty in England and Wales. An area of warmth and clarity with stone walls and buildings, open skies, rolling grasslands, beech woods and captivating villages. All of which make it an outstanding English landscape – a landscape once experienced, never forgotten.

The Cotswold Way (The Cotswold Way website)

Just over 100 miles of quintessentially English countryside. Follow the Cotswolds escarpment with its stunning views and charming villages from the beautiful Cotswold market town of Chipping Campden in the north to the World Heritage City of Bath in the south.

Berkeley Castle (The Berkeley Castle website)

Berkeley Castle is one of the most remarkable buildings in Britain. Possibly the most outstanding example of Medieval domestic architecture in the country.

The Slimbridge Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (The WWT website)

The Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust or WWT, was founded in 1946 by the naturalist and artist, the late Sir Peter Scott.  Sir Peter Scott was a visionary conservationist and recognised the importance of taking action to save wetlands and their wildlife as well as encouraging the public to care about the natural world. He pioneered the notion that conservation education should be uplifting and fun for people of all ages and believed wetlands should be enjoyed as well as treated with respect. Hence his creation of Slimbridge Wetland Centre. The birthplace of WWT and located on the estuary of the River Severn.

Tyndale Monument (The North Nibley website)

By the time of his arrest in 1535 Tyndale had translated both the Old and New Testaments. He was sentenced to death and on 16 October 1536 was strangled and burnt at the stake at Vilvorden, near Brussels. His dying prayer: ‘Lord open the King of England’s eyes’ was answered the following year Tyndale’s English Bible was printed in England ‘with the Kings most gracious licence’. The translation of the King James Version of 1611 follows Tyndale’s New Testament very closely. In 1863, the people of Berkeley decided to honour their famous son by building the tower. The Hon Col Berkeley laid the monument’s foundation stone, and the 111ft high tower was completed three years later in 1866.

The Purton Hulks (The Friends of Purton website)

The largest ships graveyard in maritime Britain. The graveyard started with the intentional beaching of a small fleet of semi-redundant timber lighters in the winter of 1909, to strengthen the nearby eroding canal bank. The Purton Ships’ Graveyard eventually numbered some 96 vessels and in turn represent the largest collection of maritime artifacts on the foreshore of mainland Britain today. It is also a fascinating place to go and a photographers paradise!

The Dursley Heritage Centre (The Dursley Heritage website)

The story of Dursley. 1000 years of history in the life of a town. From the middle ages, Dursley was a flourishing Market Town, the centre of the agricultural area of the Severn Vale. Like many Cotswold towns it was a producer of woollen cloth which made the town prosperous.

Following the decline of the woollen industry, its place was taken by the rise of engineering. R.A. Lister became famous for agricultural machinery and engines and Mawdsley’s was well known for its electrical machinery. At the end of the 19th Century Mikael Pedersen came to work for Lister’s and invented his distinctive bicycle, still admired to this day. A restored early example now holds pride of place in the Heritage Centre.

Other industries followed and the town became a centre for employment in the locality. We have displays of machinery and small objects of interest, all made in Dursley, or with very close connections with the town, as well as books to browse and a large video screen showing local scenes and films.

Gloucester Docks (The Canal and River Trust website)

Gloucester Docks, the most inland port in the country is home to old dock buildings, designer shops, cool cafes and fantastic new museums making it a great place for a family day out. Within the complex is our award winning National Waterways Museum, Gloucester charting the fascinating 200-year history of the docks and the Gloucester & Sharpness Canal. The Grade II listed grain warehouse has been renovated, refreshed and rebranded thanks to over £1m from the Heritage Lottery Fund and DCMS/Wolfson Museums & Galleries Improvement Fund.

Gloucester Quays (The Gloucester Quays website)

Set in a stunning waterside location, Gloucester Quays is the cities thriving leisure quarter and features an outlet shopping centre, multi-screen cinema and the Waterways Museum as well as an exciting variety of new bars and restaurants opening throughout the year. Gloucester Quays truly is is a great day out for the whole family, there is so much for everyone to see and explore whatever your age or interests. Whether its enjoying a local ale in a waterfront bar, dining in style at one of the buzzing restaurants or catching a family film at the multi-screen cinema there really is something for everyone!

The Jenner Museum (The Jenner Museum website)

It was from this house in 1796 that Edward Jenner pioneered the vaccination against smallpox. An invention that changed the world. During his life he was also fascinated by geology, ballooning, poetry and natural history. Visit this world important site. Find out about Dr Jenner’s life, his hopes, the setbacks and how he changed the world. Immerse yourself in this beautiful, rural country home and explore where history was made.

Newark Park (The Newark Park website)

From its Tudor origins to today, Newark Park contains elements reflecting 450 years of history. The atmospheric house is still lived in and furnished with an eclectic mix of old and modern. Outside, the wild romantic garden and landscape, with fantastic views to the distant Mendips, are breathtaking.

Owlpen Manor (The Owlpen Manor website)

The famous Tudor manor house (1450-1616)  stands in an early formal garden of magnificent yews at the heart of the estate, steeped in 900 years of history. Owlpen Manor and its cluster of holiday cottages form an exclusive and relaxing hideaway, surrounded by private woods and hills, with many miles of walks in the most beautiful part of the Cotswolds.

Westonbirt Arboretum (The Westonbirt Arboretum website)

Westonbirt, The National Arboretum, managed by the Forestry Commission, is one of the finest collections of temperate trees and shrubs in the world. The 600 acre arboretum is home to 3,000 different species of trees and over 16,000 individual specimens. Westonbirt Arboretum is a place of environmental and historical importance. Its Victorian creator Robert Holford was fascinated by rare and beautiful plants and helped finance expeditions to collect specimens from around the world.

Uley Long Barrow (The English Heritage website)

A partly reconstructed Neolithic chambered mound, 37 metres (120 ft) long. It is atmospherically sited overlooking the Severn Valley. ‘Hetty Pegler’ was its 17th century landowner.

Colesbourne Park (The Colesbourne Park website)

England’s Greatest Snowdrop Park set in the beautiful Churn valley in the heart of the Gloucestershire Cotswolds, Colesbourne Park has been the home of the Elwes family since 1789.  The historic snowdrop collection, started by Henry John Elwes with the discovery of Galanthus elwesii in Turkey in 1874, has been greatly developed by Sir Henry and Lady Elwes in the past 25 years.

It has been called ‘England’s greatest snowdrop garden’ by Country Life.  Now with a collection of 250 varieties, visitors can enjoy the snowdrops throughout the ten acre garden with its woodland and lakeside paths, the Spring Garden and Formal Garden, alongside drifts of cyclamen, hellebores and other winter plants.  The surrounding park, arboretum and nearby church are also open.

Drakestone Point (Drakestone Camp)

Drakestone Camp – Stinchcombe Hill is the scheduled remains of either an Iron Age hillfort or a medieval castle, Stinchcombe. Great views and an easy walk from Stinchcombe Village Hall

Chavenage House (Chavenage)

Chavenage House, Beverston, Gloucestershire is a country house dating from the late 16th century. The house was built in 1576 and is constructed of Cotswold stone, with a Cotswold stone tiled roof.

Woodchester Mansion (Woodchester Park)

William Leigh, a wealthy ship-owner, bought Woodchester Park in 1845. He demolished the standing Georgian house and started building a new mansion. Everything ground to a halt 16 years later when he ran out of money, leaving the Victorian Gothic mansion unfinished. Said to be one of the most haunted places in England read more