Briarfields Touring Park

Well. Where do we start? At least a day in Cheltenham first, we think – more if you’re coming to have a flutter at the racecourse just four miles away or jazzing it up at one of the many festivals.

Catch the bus early to take in as much as poss: a morning coveting the art, furniture, crafts and jewellery at Cheltenham Art Gallery and Museum, many created by Cotswold craftspeople inspired by William Morris, should build up an appetite for lunch and an afternoon of shopping around The Brewery, Bath Road and in the well-lined High Street.

Harry Potter fans and the history-inclined will likely want an hour or two at medieval Gloucester Cathedral, used in the first and second films (see if you recognise the Cloisters). Away from Hogwarts, the cathedral has an award-winning exhibition centre, exhibitions and guided tours, and regular events and concerts including The Three Choirs Festival, one of the oldest classical choral music festivals in the world.

The Gloucester Docks and award-winning Waterways Museum is also a good afternoon out for heritage fans, while the more modern can find plenty to occupy them at the waterside retail park Gloucester Quays.

Plunge into the countryside next for a couple of days in the Cotswolds, where you’ll find acres of things to do whatever your inclination such as punting around local villages like Chipping Camden and Bourton-on-the-Water, or visiting the many museums ranging from Roman to motoring times.

Wildlife options abound too, particularly for birders, with the Cotswold Falconry Centre at the Batsford Arboretum, geese and swans at Slimbridge Wetland Centre, and Birdland Park and Gardens in Bourton-on-the-Water where twitchers can see rare birds from around the world, including England’s only group of king penguins.

Finally, take a day or two in the ancient Forest of Dean (Harry Potter and co ended up here too), one of the oldest woodlands in the country, to go underground at the old mines of the Clearwell Caves, hire a bike to hit the forest tracks, or, more relaxingly, take the four and a half mile trip from Lydney to Parkend on the Dean Forest Railway.