Countryside

There's plenty to see and do whilst enjoying a relaxing leisure break at the Best Western Stratton House Hotel. The hotel offers tastefully decorated bedrooms, cosy lounges, delicious food and friendly, helpful staff.

Cirencester is full of exquisitely preserved, ancient buildings portraying this old 'wool trade' market town to its best. The famous Cheltenham race course is about 22 miles away, set in its own natural amphitheatre, surrounded by rolling hills.

A weekend or short break in the Cotswolds couldn't come better than a stay in Stratton House Hotel in the capital of the Cotswolds, Cirencester. As you enter the hotel the warm, restful ambience envelopes you and entices you to relax in the cosy lounges and dine in the beautiful restaurant which is renowned for its fine food.

The Stratton House Hotel is an excellent base to explore this part of the country which is granted the status of Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Visitors can marvel at villages retaining the picture-book quaintness that epitomises the area. One such place would be Bibury where visitors flock to see the honey coloured Cotswold stone buildings such as Arlington Row.

Cirencester itself lends itself to a weekend or short break in which you can immerse yourself in the long and illustrious history of the area. The Roman age is brought to life in the Corinium Museum showing Cirencester to have been the second largest city in Roman Britain, bowing only to London. An excellent example of a Roman villa and museum can also be found a short distance away at Yanworth. The local economy ran on local wool production for centuries. Many wealthy merchants built fine churches in the area which became known as Wool Churches for this reason.

Travelling around the area there are many things to see and do including visiting the Great Western Railway Museum, or a visit to the Cotswold Wildlife Park at Burford which is an ideal way to get closer to nature. Indeed there are many opportunities to take in the beauty of the countryside and gardens of Westonbirt Arboretum with its 1700 varieties of trees and plants, or the grounds of St Mary's Abbey which was entirely demolished in the reformation of 1539 still boasts beautifully maintained grounds including lakes and trees providing wonderful habitat for wildfowl.