Great West Way Travel Magazine | Issue 07
Follow the paths through England’s idyllic countryside, quaint villages and elegant towns where our best-kept secrets from the past meet twenty-first-century hospitality.
Follow the paths through England’s idyllic countryside, quaint villages and elegant towns where our best-kept secrets from the past meet twenty-first-century hospitality.
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public from March to November, there is an unusual stately<br />
home laboratory. This is because it was here that Joseph<br />
Priestley, while working as the family tutor, discovered oxygen<br />
in 1774. You can visit the state rooms, library and chapel as<br />
well as the Orangery designed by Robert Adam in the 1760s,<br />
and the room he originally created as a small zoo which is<br />
now a sculpture gallery. Don’t miss their fantastic Halloween<br />
Outdoor Cinema Experiences this October with screenings of<br />
the Disney classic Hocus Pocus, Stanley Kubrick classic, The<br />
Shining and the vampire classic, The Lost Boys.<br />
Berkeley Castle, Gloucestershire<br />
Just half an hour north of Bristol, Berkeley Castle makes an<br />
excellent day out for stays based west of the <strong>Great</strong> <strong>West</strong> <strong>Way</strong><br />
route. Another impressive history, having been lived in by the<br />
same family for nearly 900 years, it is the longest lived-in<br />
family fortress in England.<br />
Surrounded by eight acres of landscaped gardens, including<br />
Queen Elizabeth I’s bowling green and the 8th Earl’s swimming<br />
pool, now an ornamental lily pond with plume fountain.<br />
Explore the Norman Keep complete with the cell in which<br />
King Edward II was held captive and reputedly murdered,<br />
walk through medieval kitchens and the imposing <strong>Great</strong> Hall<br />
and marvel at the elegant State Apartments. See magnificent<br />
furniture, rare paintings by English and Dutch Masters,<br />
Elizabethan tapestries and the world famous Berkeley silver.<br />
There are free guided tours, a Tropical Butterfly House, a host<br />
of seasonal events and you could even stay overnight in their<br />
characterful 9 bedroom town house located on the estate.<br />
Henry II gave the Castle to the Berkeley family in 1153. Below<br />
the gatehouse is a bowling green, where Queen Elizabeth I is<br />
believed to have played. During Christmas Craft Week (5–7<br />
December) there are many festive workshops including luxury<br />
wreath making and creating your very own Christmas Glitter<br />
House.<br />
Cliveden House, Maidenhead<br />
Few hotels are as famous as 300-year-old Cliveden House<br />
– setting of the Profumo affair – or as romantic. Known for<br />
exuberant high-society parties, political scandals and, most<br />
recently, its connection to a certain royal wedding.<br />
Take a room in the Garden Wing and you’ll get views over the<br />
spa garden and – in some – a hot tub tucked privately into<br />
your terrace. There’s also a wonderful restaurant from chef<br />
André Garrett, where English ingredients star on the eightcourse<br />
tasting menu. The trump card here though is the 376-<br />
acre National Trust estate that surrounds the hotel, its formal<br />
gardens the sort of place you could happily lose yourself in<br />
for days. There’s direct access to the River Thames for a jaunt<br />
and a spot of lunch on a vintage boat, and plenty of pleasant<br />
40 <strong>Great</strong><strong>West</strong><strong>Way</strong>.co.uk
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