Tetbury (and a Little Bit of Finland!)

Thankfully, we're not in the pandemic anymore, but my parents and I are continuing with our local outings that we started during the easing of the first lockdown, when it wasn't possible to go on holiday or travel far but it was possible to travel around to local outdoor areas. These outings around Wiltshire and Gloucestershire (and sometimes beyond) gave me an appreciation for the travel adventures that you can have on your doorstep, and how you don't always have to travel a long distance or stay somewhere for a long time in order to enjoy the benefits of a change of scenery. But during the 18 months between February 2022 and August 2023, I was only in the UK for less than 5 weeks in total, so hadn't had many of these local trips for quite a while (although I had local trips in Chile and Malta!)

So it was nice to get back into the routine of taking these little excursions, starting with a trip to the town of Tetbury, a few days after I got back from Malta.

Tetbury is a place I'm sure I've been to a few times before in my life but which I don't really remember, so going there felt like visiting somewhere new!

The main reason why we went there was to visit the Tetbury Goods Shed, an arts centre and café located in an old train station. Most of the station has been left how it was before, which gives the place a nice retro touch. Interestingly, the seating for the café is inside an old train carriage from Finland!

The coffee and vegan cake that I had there were very good.

I also particularly enjoyed seeing all the Finnish posters inside the train, including a rail network map of the Helsinki area. Being there made me feel a bit like I was on a European city break!

After enjoying our time at the café, we went to explore some more of Tetbury. 

Perhaps the most famous sight in Tetbury is the Market House, which was built in 1655 in a neoclassical style. It is quite picturesque with its yellow walls and baskets of flowers.

We also visited the church and met a lovely cat in the church yard!

Another fun thing to see in Tetbury is the Shaun the Sheep statue. (You can find a Gromit one at Cotswold Airport!)

It was also nice to take in the Cotswold scenery of the town.

To sum up, this trip to Tetbury was a fun way to get my UK travels started again!

In other news, I have now accepted a job offer and will soon be starting my first permanent role! The job is based in Bristol so I plan to move there pretty soon, which is quite exciting. I've always really liked the city, and I'm looking forward to exploring more of it and the surrounding area in the future. It also has its own airport, which will be convenient for travelling abroad! And hopefully Claudio will be joining me later in the year and we can start building a life together in the UK, at least for the foreseeable future.

Therefore, I'm making the most of the time I have living here in the countryside, and still have another local trip to write up and will maybe have one or two more before I move. So stay tuned!