Exploring the Cotswolds

I’ve really wanted to visit the Cotswolds for a while now, it’s always looked like such a beautiful place to explore, and I’ve seen so many people visit there and say how lovely it is. James has signed up to do a middle distance triathlon in the Cotswolds in August, but I thought it would be a great idea to check out the area before that (and because I really wanted to go!) so I got looking on PetsPyjamas for a dog friendly getaway, and found the lovely Tewksbury Park Hotel.

Tewkesbury Park Hotel

We checked into the hotel with a warm welcome for all of us. The hotel is set on a golf course, and has lovely views over Tewkesbury, including over Tewkesbury Abbey. They are currently carrying out some building works to the side of the hotel but I can honestly say that it didn’t disturb us or effect our stay at all. Obviously, with Fudge, we were put in a dog friendly room, which was a lovely room and had everything you could want, for both humans and dogs! We had a patio door which opened out onto a dog friendly grassed area, which was perfect, I’m sure most dog owners will agree that it can be annoying sometimes when dog friendly areas are miles out the way! There was also a lovely Hunt & Wilson bed for Fudge, and a Hunt & Wilson bowl set, so the dogs get to stay in style too.

The staff were absolutely wonderful during our stay. With Fudge, we could eat our meals in the Piano Lounge, which was a nice quiet area near reception, and again Fudge got a nice Hunt & Wilson bed to chill out on. The food was amazing, we had afternoon tea when we arrived which was lovely, and had a meal from the lounge menu that night. The following night we had a lovely 3 course meal, and we both thoroughly enjoyed all of the food during our stay, it was delicious! It wasn’t just us that got delicious food though, Fudge got a proper chicken dinner both nights, with vegetables and gravy, it genuinely looked very tasty!

We had such a lovely stay at Tewkesbury Park Hotel, and would definitely go back and stay there again, it was such a nice dog friendly stay.

Cotswold Wildlife Park & Gardens

I read about the Wildlife Park in a couple of my favourite blogs – Alfie Bear, and Dapper Maximus, and from the moment I saw it, I knew that we had to go. I absolutely love animals, James and I go to Longleat Safari Park, and Monkey World (both are close where we live) several times a year and never get fed up of it, so the appeal of another animal park, and one that we could take Fudge to, was just too much.

We really weren’t sure what Fudge was going to make of it and at first we thought it would be a long day as she was very confused when she saw the wolverine and really didn’t like the noisy gibbons! But once we got past that, it was brilliant; she loved watching all the different animals, and was having a great time exploring.

James and I personally loved the rhinos on the lawn, it felt like you’re so close to such enormous animals whilst they’re happily grazing away. I also love Red Pandas, so enjoyed watching one climbing around the in its tree, and I think Fudge liked it too!

Our favourite part of the park was the Walled Garden, and this was definitely Fudge’s favourite too. In this area you get to see lots of beautifully coloured birds, lemurs, monkeys, marmosets, prairie dogs, and Fudge’s favourites- penguins, and meerkats, amongst others as well.

Fudge was completely mesmerised with the penguins, and meerkats, she absolutely loved watching them! There was even a penguin that kept walking by the wall past Fudge, and I think she really wanted to make friends with it.

If you’re in the area, you really have to visit, it’s such a great experience, whether you want to take your fur-baby with you or not. Also worth mentioning that it’s very reasonably priced for a day out attraction.

Other places worth visiting

We went to so many lovely places in the Cotswolds, I cannot wait to go back to visit some of them again, and explore some new places. Below are just a few of the other great places that we visited and would recommend.

Bourton-on-the-water – an absolutely gorgeous village that you cannot miss out on visiting. It is so pretty as far as villages go, and has the river running through with some lovely little bridges. There is also so much to see and do whilst you’re there, somewhere that we’ll definitely be going back to.

Bibury – a very picturesque village, which has been previously described as the most beautiful village in England, and a famous one too, it has featured in films including Stardust and Bridget Jones’s Diary. It also has a trout farm which you can pay a visit too, or stop by the trout farm cafe and have a lovely slice of cake!

Winchcombe – a pretty little town worth a visit, and if you do, you really must pop into the Cotswold Bone pet shop, it’s a lovely little pet shop with a big variety of products, and you might even get to meet the gorgeous resident doggy Baxter.

Have fun exploring, and making furry tales..