Golf, docks and cocktails
Kids can play crazy golf gone bonkers at Mr Mulligan’s Lost World. Go downhill fast at Gloucester Ski and Snowboard Centre. Or see the city’s docks and ships close-up with Stand-up Paddleboarding Gloucester. Grown-ups can wander limestone villages, take the trails through Westonbirt Arboretum or sip cocktails at Lily Gin’s.
Country kids
Kick things off at Mr Mulligan’s Lost World in Cheltenham. This is crazy golf on steroids, through a jungle, dark seas and a world of Jurassic creatures. Finish off at the 37th hole with Lost World burgers, or just summon the on-course waiters. Or go downhill fast at Gloucester Ski and Snowboard Centre for just that, plus tubing and snoXross.
Jump into the outdoor pool with high-dive boards at Stratford Park. Follow the maze of narrow pathways and secret gardens with buzzards overhead at Hidcote Manor Gardens. Pack your picnic for Prinknash Bird and Deer Park. Or learn to drive from age four upwards at JDR Karting.
See the world from the water at SUP (Stand-up Paddleboarding) Gloucester, with great views of the historic city docks and a fish-eye view of the tall ships. Grab some more vitamin D at Flyup 417 Bike Park, one of the country’s biggest, or climb the walls at The Warehouse Centre, with five floors of climbing and bouldering.
At the Cotswold Water Park, pick from angling, aerial adventure, paintballing, golf and just about every water sport under the sun. Learn to ride at the Playmate Riding School, decorate pots at Paint it Yourself, dig up some fictional treasure at Tewkesbury Treasure Hunt Trail, or meet the llamas and alpacas at Farmtastic Animal Farm.
For the grown-ups
Nowhere is better than the Cotswolds for a pub lunch. Make it a distance away and you’ll drive through hamlets built from local stone where brooks babble under low bridges and village ponds are home to lines of waddling ducklings. Take a detour for wool churches, antique shops with bell-rung doors, and cake-and-coffee parlours.
For an amazing Grade I-listed Victorian Gothic house hidden in a beautiful Cotswold valley, visit Woodchester Mansion, whose unfinished state reveals all the secrets of its construction. Or head to Westonbirt Arboretum, with seasonal trails through 15,000 tree specimens, 2500 from far-flung corners of the globe.
Try canoeing, kayaking, wakeboarding or windsurfing at Cotswold Water Park. Want to stay dry? How about paintballing, archery, angling or rally driving? Or wind down with a stroll along the promenade at Cheltenham, a day at the races, or sampling the spa town’s continental café culture.
Night owls can enjoy cocktails in Cheltenham at Lily Gin’s or Aquavitae. Enjoy an eclectic list of wines at The Grape Escape. Or shop, dine and play at The Brewery Quarter, the town’s premier destination for eating out, leisure and retail. Closer to home in Stroud, fling some shapes at Warehouse or The Retreat.
