Day 1: Cheltenham to Cirencester
It was rainy this morning so we left a little early to try and avoid the worst of it. Our room was almost ready when we arrived in Cirencester so we went for a little walk up the High Street while we waited. It’s a nice mix of stone and color, with the church Tower dominating at one end.
After moving our stuff into our room we visited the Corinium Museum while it was raining. It was overrun with schoolkids and still interesting. Corinium is the name of the Roman town that preceded Cirencester. The museum is famous for Roman artifacts, especially mosaic floors.
Here are a couple of the life-size figures on display. We liked the butcher’s expression. The Roman soldier was pretty short.
In addition to the Roman section, which included an example of old-school plaster, there was also a section on the Saxon era, including an interactive nine men’s morris game.
We had the best Italian food outside Italy at Amore Mio.
Day 2: Exploring Cirencester
We were ready to walk around 2:00 PM but it started raining so we postponed until 3:00. We saw some side streets on our way to dinner last night, and a few more today. It’s a nice town to wander around.
We headed for the abbey grounds for our main walking destination. It has a large pond and a very large evergreen at one end.
They had an informational sign about Cirencester’s history and mentioned there were still medieval merchants’ houses around, so walked over to Coxwell and Dollar streets to see them.
After that we still had time to visit St John Baptist church. A highlight there was the amazing LEGO model of the local abbey that was shut down by Henry VIII. We had an early dinner of steak and ale pie.
Day 3: Cirencester Park
We’ve met some nice people at breakfast here: an English couple and then an Aussie woman. The breakfast rooms are airy and pleasant and there are lots of nice flowers in the courtyard garden.
Cirencester Park was our walking destination today. It’s a nice walk, with some tourist sites we didn’t visit.
There happened to be a “Wool Weekend” at The Corn Hall so we checked that out. It was mostly yarn, with a couple of spinning wheels and a couple of live sheep. I thought the brown sheep was just a pile of something, until it moved. Today’s excellent Sunday roast was at The Bear Inn.
Day 4: Riverside Walk
We had planned to go to Bibury (supposedly the prettiest village in the world!) today but when we got on the bus and asked for a ticket we learned the buses aren’t running there because of roadwork. So we found a riverside path and did that instead.
Since it was sunny today and there’s such a pleasant courtyard at our B&B, we built in some time to just sit and enjoy it.
We’ve seen signs for a Mop Fair in town today. They closed some of the streets for it. What’s a Mop Fair, you ask? We had the same question. In the old days people who were willing and able to hire out their labor would, on designated days, walk through the streets carrying the tools of their trade to advertise themselves. Nowadays it’s just an excuse for a carnival. It sounds like they’re pretty common in towns throughout England. We had fish and chips at the Malt & Anchor.
Essentials
Lodging
We enjoyed our stay at The Old Brewhouse. We chose one of their modern courtyard rooms because it had a fridge. They also have more traditional rooms in the house itself. Our room (#7) opened onto the sunroom, which was nice when it was chilly and/or wet. Breakfast was great and so was the service. Our bus to London left in the early afternoon and since they didn’t need our room the next day, they told us we could stay as long as we wanted. So kind.
Dining
Cirencester had a surprising number of Italian restaurants and a couple of pubs that sounded good, among other options. We had some of the best Italian food outside Italy at Amore Mio. We ate at The Bear Inn twice, once for an early steak and ale pie and also the excellent three roast dinner. We had nice fish and chips at the Malt & Anchor. I would recommend booking. We were lucky to be seated at The Bear Inn even for an early dinner.
Transportation
Cirencester doesn’t have a train station but does have good bus connections. We took a local bus there from Cheltenham and ended up taking the National Express bus direct to London when we left. There are other train stations nearby. Ironically we chose Cirencester because of its proximity to Bibury and Kelmscott Manor and then were unable to get to either place via bus. Like Cheltenham, Cirencester has good bus connections for the Cotswolds. Cirencester itself is walkable.
