Venues in Gloucestershire; hire a String Quartet
Broadway
The beauty of the mellow, honey-coloured old stone buildings of Broad-wav has lured visitors since the last century—although in those days, before tourism became an accepted industry, the village was known as 'The Painted Lady of the Cotswolds'.
But Broadway is not known just for its pretty houses and tidy gardens. Some of the world's best modern furniture is designed and made there. The industry was started by the Gordon Russell family in 1904 to mend antique furniture for the village inn, the 16th-century Lygon Arms, a former coaching inn. Now its products are-exported throughout the world to such places as Baghdad Palace, embassies in Moscow, and wealthy homes in Eos Angeles. The North Cotswold Hunt meets outside The Lygon Arms, where winter visitors can film huntsmen, horses and hounds.
String Quartets at Bell's House, Coleford, Gloucestershire
String Quartets at Berkeley Castle, Berkeley, Gloucestershire
String Quartets at Calcot Manor Hotel, Tetbury, Gloucestershire
Elmley Castle
A pretty village at the foot of Bredoi Hill. The castle has disappeared, bu the village street has attractive half timbered cottages. The 12th to 15th-cen tury Church of St Mary has some fin English sculpture in the medieval tradi tion. In the park is a herd of fallow deer.
String Quartets at Charingworth Manor, Charingworth, Nr Chipping Campden, Gloucestershire
String Quartets at Cheltenham Park Hotel, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire
String Quartets at Cheltenham Racecourse, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire
Evesham
This market town on the River Avon the centre of the fruit-growing industr of the Vale of Evesham, which is note for the mass of fruit blossom it display in the spring. Despite great expansic the town keeps its elegance. Clo; to the ruined abbey by the river ai fine Georgian houses and a few haL timbered buildings, the best of which is Booth Hall, now restored and occupied by a branch a national bank.
String Quartets at Clearwell Castle, Coleford, Gloucestershire
String Quartets at Cleeveway Manor, Bishops Cleeve, Gloucestershire
String Quartets at Close Hotel, The, Tetbury, Gloucestershire
String Quartets at Cripps Barn, Barnsley, Cirencester, Gloucestershire
Nailsworth
A town nestling in a wooded valley, noted for the Nailsworth Ladder—a chalky hill with a gradient of one in three in places, which is frequently used as a motor trials test hill.
String Quartets at Dark Barn, Gloucester, Gloucestershire
String Quartets at Eastington Hall, Eastington, Gloucestershire
String Quartets at Eastwood Park, Falfield, Wotton-under-Edge, Gloucestershire
String Quartets at Forest Hills Golf Club, Coleford, Gloucestershire
String Quartets at Forest of Dean Model Village, Aylburton, Gloucestershire
String Quartets at Fossebridge Inn, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire
North Cerney
This beautiful spot by the River Churn has some fine old houses and an unusual 12th-century church, with a Norman saddle-back tower, its roof gabled like an ordinary house, to which a belfry was latter added. The church has some fine Norman carving and a 14th-century cross in the churchyard.
String Quartets at Great Tythe Barn, Tetbury, Gloucestershire
String Quartets at Hare and Hounds Hotel, Tetbury, Gloucestershire
String Quartets at Hilton Puckrup Hall, Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire
String Quartets at Hotel du Vin Cheltenham, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire
String Quartets at Malt Shovel Inn, Ruardean, Gloucestershire
String Quartets at Manor By The Lake, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire
Northleach
In the 15th century, Northleach was as important in the wool trade as Cirencester. It has remained a village with narrow, winding streets, changed little since the Middle Ages. There are some fine old buildings, including a group of almshouses from Tudor times and the Blind House, with no windows, once used as a prison. The 15th-century church is one of the finest left by the old wool merchants.
String Quartets at Matara Centre, Kingscote, Nr Tetbury, Gloucestershire
String Quartets at New Inn Hotel, Lechlade, Gloucestershire
String Quartets at Old Rectory Hotel, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire
String Quartets at Owlpen Manor, Near Tetbury & Stroud, Gloucestershire
String Quartets at Pittville Pump Room, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire
String Quartets at Prestbury House Hotel, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire
String Quartets at Queen's Hotel, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire
Sapperton
The River Frome winds its way past this lovely village overlooking Golden Valley, which stretches from Sapperton to Chalford. The overgrown entrance to a 2j-mile tunnel which carries the now-derelict Thames-Severn Canal under the A4iQ is still visible. Daneway House is a stately greystone building with 14th-century walls. At nearby Chalford, along the valley, is a museum of canal lore in a round, tower-like, lock-keeper's cottage.
String Quartets at Ramada Gloucester - Hotel & Country Club, Gloucester, Gloucestershire
String Quartets at Ramada Gloucester, Bowden Hall Country House Hotel, Upton St Leonards, Gloucester, Gloucestershire
String Quartets at Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester, Gloucestershire
String Quartets at Stratton House Hotel, Cirencester, Gloucestershire
String Quartets at Tewkesbury Park Hotel, Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire
String Quartets at The Barn Function Centre, Berkeley, Gloucestershire
Stow-on-the-Wold
This quiet hill-top town in the Cots-wolds was once a bustling centre of the wool industry. Its importance grew in the Middle Ages because it stood at the junction of several main roads. The market square is large, and is hemmed in by a cluster of old houses and inns arranged in higgledy-piggledy fashion. The local saying 'Stow-on-the-Wold, where the wind blows cold' probably explains why the buildings are bunched together. Stow Fair, for centuries one of the biggest livestock markets in Britain, is still held in May and October, but today it is mainly a show, although some trade in horses and farm equipment is still carried on.
String Quartets at The Cheltenham Regency Hotel, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire
String Quartets at The Fleet Inn, Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire
String Quartets at The Frogmill Inn, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire
String Quartets at The Greenway, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire
String Quartets at The Kings Arms, Mickleton, Gloucestershire
String Quartets at The New Inn, Gloucester, Gloucestershire
String Quartets at The Swan Hotel, Bibury, Gloucestershire
String Quartets at The Tudor House, Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire
Tetbury
An Elizabethan market town with fine old buildings. It is famous for its 17th-century town hall built on three rows of pillars, and for the Chipping Steps (Chipping is an Old English word meaning 'market') which lead to the old market. At Beverstone, 2 miles west, are a fine Norman church and the ruins of Beverstone Castle where King Harold stayed in 1051, and which was held by the Berkeleys when it was successfully besieged by King Stephen in 1145.
String Quartets at The Tunnel House, Cirencester, Gloucestershire
String Quartets at Thistle Cheltenham, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire
String Quartets at Thistle Hotel Cheltenham, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire
String Quartets at Tortworth Court Four Pillars Hotel, Tortworth, Wotton-Under-Edge, Gloucestershire
String Quartets at Washbourne Court, Lower Slaughter, Gloucestershire
String Quartets at Westonbirt Arboretum, Tetbury, Gloucestershire
String Quartets at White House Hotel, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire