Is Cheltenham a good place to live?

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If you are considering moving to Cheltenham then you are likely to ask the question, is Cheltenham a good place to live?

Cheltenham prides herself in having very good schools, great transport links and being the Centre of the Cotswold. These factors make Cheltenham popular with families and a good place to live.

As well, Cheltenham is the most complete Regency Town in Britain.

When you are thinking about moving to a new area, it is often wise to check with people that have experience living in the area you will like to move to.

For more than 3 years we’ve been living about 8 miles away from Cheltenham. I work in Cheltenham and so also does my wife. Our boys attend school in Cheltenham.

Also, we regularly attend the Sunday celebration at Trinity Church in Cheltenham.

The reason why we don’t live in Cheltenham is just that the house prices are too pricey.

We do have friends in Cheltenham who we visit regularly so we really know our way around Cheltenham.

As we regularly go to Cheltenham and are in constant communication with people who live in Cheltenham, I can give you my thoughts and experience of Cheltenham.

 

Family Living

Cheltenham is a very family-friendly town. There are a lot of play areas and green spaces where kids can play. The most popular one is the Pitville Park play area.

Pitville Park play area is very big with a variety of activities to do. They have a little cafe where a cold and hot drink can be bought, as well as snacks.

Cheltenham crime rate is low compared to a lot of towns of its size in the UK.

The average crime rate recorded in Cheltenham was 62.37. This figure is lower than the UK average which is 67.81.

The figure above might not be telling the true story. I think Cheltenham is much safer than the data suggest. There are some rough areas in Cheltenham but there are more good areas than the bad ones.

Just like any town or city you go, there will always be the nice and the not too nice areas.

As well, the crime rate in Cheltenham is lower than that of Gloucester.

With the low crime rate compared to the UK average, Cheltenham is a good place to raise children.

I shot some photos at Montpellier Park with my two boys, in one of the photos below you will see a black camera bag on the park chair. We forgot to take the bag with us. We left the park and was close to where we park our car when I suddenly realised we left the bag at the pack. On our return to the park, the bag was still there on the chair we left it.

This is a good example of how safe Cheltenham is.

Parks, Gardens and Open spaces

Transportation

Cheltenham is not different from a lot of other British towns in terms have transportation.

Just like most British towns, Cheltenham Royal Well Bus and Coach Station is located in the centre of the town.

It offers good local bus connections around town, to the railway station and beyond Cheltenham.

If you are someone like me that don’t like driving, you will be fine because the bus service is easily accessible in Cheltenham and run regularly.

The Cheltenham railway station is also located close to the town centre, it is about 1 mile to the town centre.

The train station is on Bristol-to-Birmingham Main Line, it runs regularl

y moving people to various location throughout the UK.

Its an hour and a half to Cardiff in the west, and two hours and ten minutes to London Paddington to the east.

The train station is about 10min walk from the Cheltenham main shopping and leisure area. From the Racecourse, its a 40-minute bus journey away.

The M5 motorway is located close to Cheltenham which makes commuting easy for people working outside Cheltenham. The M5 motorway is also very useful for easily moving in and out of Cheltenham.

Through Junction 10 and 11 you can get into Cheltenham and you can be out through Junction 11.

From Cheltenham, you can easily visit many of the quintessentially English Cotswold villages. As someone who lives in the area, I do enjoy travelling with our boys to the Cotswolds villages because of easy access from Cheltenham whenever we are around Cheltenham.

 

Festivals

Cheltenham is the home of festivals. The biggest of all the festival is the one that takes place at the Cheltenham Racecourse in March of every year.

I remember attending the festival a few years ago and it was a very great experience for me. I definitely enjoyed the atmosphere.

There are other festivals in Cheltenham which will depend on your interest.

I love the science festival and the literature festival. As a family man, I take our boys to these festivals and it’s very great to participate in some of the science activities at the science festival.

Schools around the area also take their pupils to the science and literature festivals.

There are other festivals like the Jazz festival which people that love music will enjoy. For food lovers, you will feel delighted about the Food Festivals which include the Chili festival.

 

Leisure and Shopping

My first impression of Cheltenham shopping centre was a very positive one. Cheltenham is the centre of the Cotswold which host people from all around the Cotswold.

You will fall in love with the Promenade. It was listed by Google as one of the best shopping streets in the UK.

Montpellier Arcade is one of the oldest purpose-built shopping arcades in England.

There are a lot of other shopping areas within the Cheltenham Town Centre. If you move to Cheltenham or on a visit, you could consider The Promenade, Montpellier, The Suffolks and Bath Road.

There are high-quality local shops which sell quality products. And if you are looking for the well known established brands, you will find them in Cheltenham shopping area.

 

The Architecture

There is no doubt that Cheltenham is the most complete Regency Town in Britain.

The wrought-iron veranda and balcony and the facades are just some of the evidence of the Regency era architecture that can still be seen in Cheltenham today.

Some of the evidence of the Regency Architecture in Cheltenham is the Georgian style of the townhouse on Royal Crescent, St Georges House Bayshill Road, Cheltenham municipal offices and a lot of other buildings.

The amazing architecture and the historic buildings in Cheltenham makes it popular with affluent people. Ordinary people like myself are also welcome in Cheltenham so if you are thinking about living in Cheltenham you will love the Regency Architecture in Cheltenham.

Healthcare

The National Health Authority (NHS) is the primary provider of healthcare in the UK. There is an NHS Hospital in Cheltenham which is close to the centre of the town on Sandford Road.

Cheltenham General Hospital mainly serves people of Cheltenham and surroundings. There is also Gloucestershire General Hospital which is about 8miles from Cheltenham. Gloucestershire Royal Hospital is bigger than Cheltenham General Hospital.

There are also other private healthcare providers who have a hospital or clinic in Cheltenham. Among them are Nuffield Health and Spire Healthcare.

Restaurant

In my household, we do a lot of cooking at home so we do not eat out that much. However, we do treat to other delicacies by sometimes eating out.

There are a variety of restaurants in Cheltenham depending on your budget.

If you are looking for fine restaurants you could try one of the following Lumiere, Prithvi (upmarket Indian restaurant), Grill 49.

If you are on a low budget, the majority of the big supermarket also have good food. We have tried the one at Waitrose at Honeybourne Way, which as at the time of writing this blog post has just been refurbished and it is very neat and beautiful.

You could also try the one at Morrisons at Up Heatley.

 

Pub

As an immigrant in the UK, one of the first things I noticed is the British love for pubs. Actually, I first found out about the word pub on a scrabble board back in my home country. On my arrival in the UK, one of the things I was looking forward to is seeing what a pub look like.

You might be looking for nice pubs if you visit Cheltenham or thinking about living in Cheltenham. Few of the most charming pubs in Cheltenham are The Beehive, Montpellier Villas, The Vine, High Street, Wild Beer at Jessop House, Cambray Place.

You might want to consider looking at the list of 12 of the most charming Pubs in Cheltenham here.

Place of Worship

If religion is your thing and you’re interested in where to worship in Cheltenham. You might want to consider the Trinity, Cheltenham which is at the heart of Cheltenham.

Perhaps I am biased because I attend Trinity myself. Seriously, Trinity is a great church which you will love. The band is great and I do enjoy the celebration every Sunday at Cheltenham.

One of the things I love at Trinity is the kid’s church where children are divided into various school years. This help kids to learn age-appropriate values. They also have times when all the children regardless of age have big worship together.

Trinity is a very family-friendly church and there is something for everyone regardless of marital status or age. And there is a youth group for young adults.

Trinity isn’t the only church in Cheltenham. There are a lot of other churches you might want to consider.

 

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