I took a quick trip over to England, and didn’t visit London! I know right? For the most part, my group stayed in the Cotswold’s area, in the town of Gloucester (pronounced “Glawster”). Gloucester is a smaller city located in the county of Gloucestershire, in the Southwest of England.

I wanted to send out a BIG thank you to Hartpury University for setting up this trip and hosting me for the time I was in England.

The city of Gloucester – located east of London, South of Birmingham on the River Severn.

The Air Canada flight from Toronto, Pearson to London, Heathrow was great. It was a red-eye flight, so it made for some intense jet-lag when we arrived. I positioned myself in seats with no one behind me, so reclining was no bother. When it came time to catch some Zzz’s, I popped in my earplugs, and drifted off into dreamland. I can’t stress how much easier it was to sleep with earplugs – it literally cuts out the background sounds of the passengers and aircraft engines. It felt like I was sitting there in a soundless bubble!! Definitely recommend picking up these earplugs if you’re wanting to catch some sleep on your next flight! These are the ones I found most effective and comfortable – https://bit.ly/2IJloHy.

Caught the moon rising up over the Eastern sky! Looked absolutely beautiful!

Whenever I’m flying, I always try to get a window seat to check out the views of the cities, landscapes, and oceans. Downtown Toronto is going to sleep and getting ready for another work week. From left to right, you can see: Toronto Islands, CN Tower, and far off on the right, Ontario Place.

Even though we were over water shortly after take-off, I was able to capture one of my favourite airplane shots. The Moon and Jupiter were dancing around the night sky, with a reflection off the water, and some cool lens flare from the light of the moon. Jupiter is that small dot off to the right side of the moon.

We arrived in London around 9:00 in the morning to a very calm Heathrow airport! I was expecting a lot more hustle and bustle in the airport.

Thank you for the warm welcome to your beautiful country Astronaut Tim Peake!

We walked for an eternity in the belly of Heathrow to pickup our luggage, and before catching our transportation bus, I picked up a new SIM card and plan through Vodafone. It was super easy as I had already unlocked my phone at home. I popped the SIM card in and voila, ready to use in the UK. My pay-as-you-go plan was £25 which gave me – 250 minutes, unlimited texting, and 35GB of data!! No chance I was using 35gb of data in 5 days – so I became the communal hotspot of the group!

Traveller Tip – (in Canada – not sure about other countries) You can call you carrier – Bell, Rogers, Telus, Virgin, Koodo, Fido, etc. and request them to unlock your phone for free. By law, they are mandated to do this complimentary for their clients. This allows you to use use another carrier’s SIM card on your device anywhere in the world. Obviously, standard rates apply for that carrier. I found it a better deal then the Roam from Home option.

Massive metal sculpture in Heathrow Airport. It’s things like this that I love to see in Airports to add that ‘wow’ factor! Good job Heathrow! 🙂

Our bus ride from London to the county of Gloucestershire was very beautiful. We made a quick exit out of the west end of London – no traffic – woohoo! The scenery along the M4 – which took us almost all the way to Gloucestershire – was very similar to that which we have in Canada. It didn’t satisfy my English countryside and historical UK craving. Alas, time to go exploring!

The English countryside

Upon arrival to Gloucester, I checked into the Premier Inn, and although pretty tired, was fueled with an adventurous buzz to go explore the city! The room was great, but there were some things that I wasn’t used to back home. More on that in the full hotel room tour below.

One thing I really liked about the hotel were the “eco-friendly” rooms, where the hotel key card was used to activate the power in the room. When you left for the day, you would remove the key from the wall mount, and the room’s power would turn off. Very nice consideration to the environment!

After settling in to the hotel, I set out to explore Gloucester. Conveniently, the hotel is steps from the brand new Gloucester Quays (pronounced “keys”). In short, the quay and dock area are certainly convenient, providing a variety of options for shopping, food, drinks, and to hang out and relax. The newly completed renovations (2017-2019) are a great addition to the city, but doesn’t give off the small town “UK” vibe I was hoping to get – it kind of felt like I was hanging out in downtown Toronto. For the full UK experience, I had to travel to other neighbouring towns! However, if you’re looking for a modern metropolitan city vibe, this is the place for you!

Gloucester Quays restaurants

“The Docks” at Gloucester Quays. The canals are home to many small boats and “narrowboats”. The canals flow right into the River Severn just north through the Gloucester Lock which makes for a wonderful boat ride down the river!

Making my way through the Quays, on my way to … wait … I don’t want to spoil the surprise – I came into the “old” part of the Gloucester downtown. This area had a bit more of a european vibe, but lacked energy of a bustling city downtown. There were some cafes, shops, and restaurants, but they seemed tired, and not as inviting as the newly renovated Quays. Certainly, these shop owners took a hit when the Quays opened up!

Downtown Gloucester – Southgate st.

Cafe Nero and Costa coffee shops – I’m on team Costa!

I just loved this detail on Bakers Jewellers. Wonder if the carvings ring their bells at the top of the hour?? Wasn’t around to hear it if they do.

Continuing along the downtown, I turned left at Westgate st. where there are more shops, food, and drink options. My destination – College Street. When I turned right on College st., I was in awe of the view before me… I was literally speechless, so instead of trying to describe the scenery, I’ll show you what I saw:

Gloucester Cathedral – the foundations of the present church were laid in 678AD, and the Cathedral was built in 1089-1499AD – for more info into Gloucester Catherdral, check out their website: https://www.gloucestercathedral.org.uk/

Recently having read Ken Follet’s Pillars of the Earth, made the experience much more richer. I couldn’t stop marveling at the carvings, architecture, and the overall grandeur of the catherdral – and I hadn’t even gone inside yet! One of my favourite pictures below is the carvings of the Bishops and the stone accenting all around the entrance. Just unbelievable.

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The impressive feats of architecture continued upon entering the cathedral. I remember my first initial impressions were – “Wow, this is huge!” and “That’s a lot of stained glass!”. I didn’t realize that almost all the exterior windows were stain glass, which made for some impressive interior scenery!

View of the nave and north aisle. Through the doorway would be the choir and further along – the altar.

Unbelievable stain glass work at the back of the Cathedral.

Beautiful stain glass lines the walkways throughout the cloisters. I noticed that some of the glass has warped over time – not sure why this is..

Time was short inside the Cathedral, as they were closing shortly. I saw as much as I could, and even spoke to one of the lady’s working in the gift shop. I learned that one of the biggest tourism draws is fans of the Harry Potter saga often come to check out the set locations where they filmed 3 of the films: The Philosopher’s Stone, The Chamber of Secrets, and The Half-blood Prince. Yup! Sign me up!! Being a huge Harry Potter fan, in combination with my love for “behind-the-scenes” documentaries, I totally fan-boy’d out when I saw some of these locations. If you want to read more about the Harry Potter filming at Gloucester Cathedral, I’ll do a separate post exclusively about it.

Click here to read all about filming Harry Potter at Gloucester Cathedral

Selfie in the corridors of ‘Hogwarts’! They used these hallways in the filming of three of the Harry Potter Films. I mean, how cool, right?

Corridors of the Cloisters. I believe this is the South walk. Can’t begin to describe the level of stonework and the ambiance here. It was magnificent!

Walked down a corridor that was blocked off by a black gate. Decided to take an artsy picture!

After taking in as much of the cathedral as I could, it was time to head back to the Quays to get some drinks and munchies! Our group decided on a French restaurant called “Côte Brasserie”. Fun fact, a Brasserie evolved from the French word “Brewery” which were restaurants which made its own beer. Now, the term is loosely used to define a restaurant that serves beer, other drinks, and plated food. Côte didn’t have a brewery, so really, it’s just a fun way of saying restaurant. 😛

Before making it to Côte, we decided to have a go at an English pub. We went to “The Lord High Constable of England – Wetherspoon”. The Weatherspoon locations around the UK are a chain of pubs that are typically old buildings that are renovated or restored into a pub! Typically they are named after a figure from the local town. In this case, Miles de Gloucester – who was the High Sheriff of Gloucester, and the Lord High Constable of England in the 1100’s. Cool! (If you want to learn more about Weatherspoon locations around the UK, click here: https://www.jdwetherspoon.com/ – Otherwise, enjoy a pint of Guinness when you go!). At £2.25 a pint, this quickly became our local watering hole after our busy days!

Mmm.. Guinness – my beer of choice!

The food there was tasty, and the ambiance was really quite nice! One issue we had was that they weren’t able to split our bills up per person, so we had one big bill at the end. They did end up splitting our drinks and food onto two separate bills – which didn’t really help that much. I would recommend Côte If you’re looking for a nice French style dinner.

Appetizer – Asparagus Tartine – Roasted English asparagus and goats curd served with toasted sourdough bread and a garlic and chive dressing.

Entree – Baked Camembert – Baked whole Camembert with garlic, rosemary and honey, baguette toasts and green salad. Didn’t realize at the time of ordering that the dishes were so similar; I was expecting something a bit different. Accompanying dinner, I had a glass of red wine – the Bordeaux Rouge (very good!).

After dinner our group walked back to our hotel around 8:00pm. With around 3-4 hours of sleep in the last 48 hours, everyone was ready to turn in for the night. For some reason, I had a burst of energy, and was still filled with a sense of adventure and exploration – so I set out into the city. I didn’t know it at the time, but I my “walk” took me right back to the Cathedral to explore more of the grounds and surrounding area.

When I’m travelling, I always like to see how environments change and come to life as the sun goes down. Gloucester Catherdral did not disappoint. While touring the grounds, I could hear the choir practicing inside. The scene was right out of a book. Have a listen below..

Choir practicing during evening walk around Gloucester Cathedral. So magical!

Touring the grounds revealed more of Gloucester’s hidden gems. Notably, there are the Infirmary Arches (below), which are the remains of the hospital of the old Abbey. As the sun set, it made for some great pictures (also below) of the cathedral, the downtown, and the Quays on the walk back to the hotel. Lastly, what could be a better moment to end the evening than church bells to ring in sundown at 10:00pm.

Bells ringing at Gloucester Cathedral – 10:00pm

Infirmary Arches at Gloucester Cathedral

• Sun setting at Gloucester Cathedral

• Sunset at the Cathedral

• Quiet night on College St. in downtown Gloucester

• They tell me the weekend nightlife picks up! (This is a Monday)

• Gloucester Quays at night

• Gloucester Quays at night

• Gloucester Quays at night

• See you in the morning Costa! 🙂