Pittvillle Park, Cheltenham
Distance - 3.5km
Whippet behaviour - frantic but reasonable - whippet in the city!! Absolutely overwhelmed. 3/5
Company - hicksonfamily
Difficulty - easy, very flat, accessible with pushchair and wheelchair.
27/3/2021 - A bit of a different one today, I’m usually all about the country walks but I’m working on a series of illustrated maps for The Community Rail Partnership in Gloucestershire so today we were testing a section of a route around Cheltenham. The original theme of the maps was food based, highlighting groovy local independent food businesses on a walking trail, but covid scuppered that as lots of food businesses had to close and we weren’t allowed to be near each other! So the maps became more about agriculture and food generally; picnics in the park, takeaway cafes and farmers markets, farm shops etc. I can’t share the full map at the moment, but here’s a stripped down version for now:
We combined this week with collecting a takeaway from Holee Cow, which was amazing!! Such delicious burgers, and a milk shake as an extra treat, all eaten in the van in a particularly unattractive carpark on North Place..... there was some excellent graffiti to admire though, from last years Cheltenham Paint Festival.
Youngest child moaned throughout about how much he hated cities (we are bumpkins) and the fact that it was too busy!! Lockdown Cheltenham was not actually busy but Pittville park was REALLY busy. It’s such a nice park, and right in the centre of Cheltenham, the luxury of so much space is wonderful and people are clearly making the most of it. The kids playground looked epic and the pump rooms themselves are very pretty. We meandered along by the river and then looped back though town, not the most exciting walk, but unlike youngest I found it pretty exciting to be in a city again after so long at home - even if most things were closed!
One of youngest child’s other complaints was that Cheltenham was ugly, a claim I would strongly refute!! But it’s fair to say that when walking around a city, even one of the most beautiful in the uk, you have to use a slightly different lens, look for the contrasts and enjoy picking out the fun details. And most of all really enjoy the ease with which you can get a decent coffee.
