![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
smallhobbitKim asked me where I would take her if she visited my neighbourhood, which is another interesting question, because there isn't much for the casual visitor. I live in Gloucester, on the edges, in an area that once was a village and now is just a large housing estate. We live here because the communications are good: buses every 15 minutes to get into the city centre (and they run in the evenings), it's easy to go by train to London or Birmingham and further north (although sometimes it appears that the train company conspires against this), we're five minutes from the motorway (which I drive down every day to work, a 30 minute journey). Our house is a typical estate house, about 15 years old, but it's big enough for the two of us and doesn't require too much maintenance. So from this you can gather that to me home is functional, but not somewhere to show off proudly. It is, however, my peaceful place.
Gloucester itself is an old city; or at least in parts, so I would show any visitor the cathedral and the docks. The docks are quite small, being at the end of the Gloucester-Sharpness ship canal. Boats would sail up the River Severn and thence via the canal into Gloucester. From there the cargoes could be transferred to canal boats and shipped to the Midlands with their new industries. The cathedral is much older, building work having been started in 1089 and continued for the next three centuries.
We live about 10 minutes walk from the canal, so I would almost certainly take a visitor for a walk up one side across a bridge and down the other, a pleasant circuit, with the opportunity to see the ducks and swans, plus other wildlife, together with canal boats and a number of people rowing. There is a pub within walking distance, but the one I would select for lunch is a 15 minute drive away. It is again by the canal, but the cider is better.
I'm not a shopper, and the city centre mostly has chain stores, people going elsewhere if they are looking for something more individual. Most of my shopping is done on the internet, because I object to spending hours of my weekend looking for something I probably can't find. Food shopping is done by my OH at the large local Tesco. We grow organic vegetables at work, so that's my contribution.
Up to just over two years ago we lived in a village in the middle of the countryside, which sounds idyllic. Neither of us has regretted moving one bit.
Gloucester itself is an old city; or at least in parts, so I would show any visitor the cathedral and the docks. The docks are quite small, being at the end of the Gloucester-Sharpness ship canal. Boats would sail up the River Severn and thence via the canal into Gloucester. From there the cargoes could be transferred to canal boats and shipped to the Midlands with their new industries. The cathedral is much older, building work having been started in 1089 and continued for the next three centuries.
We live about 10 minutes walk from the canal, so I would almost certainly take a visitor for a walk up one side across a bridge and down the other, a pleasant circuit, with the opportunity to see the ducks and swans, plus other wildlife, together with canal boats and a number of people rowing. There is a pub within walking distance, but the one I would select for lunch is a 15 minute drive away. It is again by the canal, but the cider is better.
I'm not a shopper, and the city centre mostly has chain stores, people going elsewhere if they are looking for something more individual. Most of my shopping is done on the internet, because I object to spending hours of my weekend looking for something I probably can't find. Food shopping is done by my OH at the large local Tesco. We grow organic vegetables at work, so that's my contribution.
Up to just over two years ago we lived in a village in the middle of the countryside, which sounds idyllic. Neither of us has regretted moving one bit.
