South Gloucestershire – doesn’t have much of a ring to it, does it? Well, it’s a sizeable tract of land north of Bristol that stretches from the Severn estuary in the west to the heart of the Cotswolds in the east, writes Barrie Farnsworth.
I knew nothing about it – and I’m guessing I’m not the only Derbyshire native in that category – and I certainly didn’t perceive it as a tourist destination. Well, how wrong I was and, for once, I’m happy to be proved wrong. Of course, a good hotel is a pre-requisite to a good weekend break, and we were truly blessed in our choice of Tortworth Court, a Victorian country house just off the M5 that was rescued from dereliction only a decade ago and makes a great base for exploring the area.