Fine B&B, wide sightseeing options and diverse shopping make Cheltenham a great weekend away

If I were the benevolent dictator of my own country (a regular fantasy, I confess), I would mandate that the predominant architectural style be late Georgian/Regency. I might allow the odd Gothic church or Jacobean garden folly, perhaps an art deco yacht, but my world would, on the whole, be calming, symmetrical, columned and detailed with classical motifs.

It is no wonder, then, that I loved Cheltenham. It is very much like its near neighbour, Bath, but on a smaller scale and without many of the tourists. It has Regency arcades, Georgian parades, domed public spaces and caryatids stoically supporting its shop fronts. An ideal location for sightseeing, with all the delights of the Cotswolds to the East and the exquisite border country of the Wye Valley to the West. Thus, unsurprisingly, it's also home to some fine B&Bs, interesting shopping and good restaurants. A perfect place, then, to while away a bank holiday weekend ... come rain or shine. (We had both.)

Our B&B (pictured at left) was a destination in itself and a highlight of the trip; I wouldn't think of coming back to this part of the world without a return stop there. Hanover House is a member of Wolsey Lodges, a federation of B&Bs I've patronised often in the past because of their philosophy that you should feel like an honoured guest in someone's country home rather than a paying customer. Hosts Veronica and James Ritchie are an absolute delight, and together create a home that comes pretty close to my own ideal.

Gracious yet comfortable public rooms with towering ceilings and large windows gazing onto trees or gardens. Cozy, large bedrooms with plenty of privacy. A hearty and delicious breakfast served communally around the table in the bright and cheery basement kitchen. A table populated, thanks to the place's reputation and Veronica's judicious guest management, with a fascinating, genial mix. One morning, for example, we started our day with an Australian couple on an extended tour of the UK and France, a Chinese exec managing a major construction project in the town and the artistic director and founder of the Pegasus Opera company. (Frankly, I couldn't have planned anything so calculated to delight my partner as bumping into a Wagnerian tenor at breakfast. Sometimes there's nothing so fine as chance.)

Wolsey Lodges will always be my starting point for B&B shopping in the UK, and Hanover House is an exemplar of the reason why. Do try them out if you're in this part of the country.

We could have easily sunk into the over-stuffed couches in that light-dappled lounge and read a good book all day with the strains of Classic FM in the background. But that would have been a waste of some particularly good sightseeing in the area.

We spent most of Saturday wandering about Cheltenham, which turns out to be a great shopping town. It has all of the usual chain shops, many of them in particularly attractive quarters, as well as some unique independent retailers. Our favourite was a place called "Cooking the Books", a bookshop devoted entirely to cookbooks, new and old, and stuffed to the ceilings with stock. On the cultural front, we wandered over to the Holst Birthplace Museum.

By no means a blockbuster, this friendly little museum is worth a look-in if you're interested in the man's music and want to get a peek at a middle class home in one of those regency terraces. It won't take you long. The ground floor is dedicated to the composer and makes his piano the centrepiece; the first offers a look at a late Regency sitting room and bedroom, the second is a nursery. They've kitted out the basement as a working Victorian kitchen, particularly interesting when considering how much time housekeeping actually took 100 years ago. I thought they really missed the opportunity to have Holst's music playing throughout, as part of the point of the exhibits is to remind people that he had a vast body of work beyond "The Planets". It would have been nice to hear. But I suspect even something as simple as a wireless speaker set up is a bit rich for this tiny place that is probably operating on a similarly small budget.
The weather on Saturday had been a miserable mix of chill air and grim drizzle, so our wander up to the famous Barrow Wake Viewpoint to get an expansive panorama of the area didn't work so well. Beguiled by the potential of the place, however, we decided to start our tour from there on the weather-perfect Sunday. This is one of those scenes that reminds you that Britain (and I use the word on purpose, you're looking at both England and Wales here) is one of the most exquisitely beautiful countries on Earth.

We drove on to Hereford, convertible open, blue skies welcoming us. If Barrow Wake shows off one of the world's most gorgeous countries, then the route between Gloucester and Hereford on the A40 and A49 proves it close up. A sinuous yet well-maintained road winds across valleys and through forests. There's the occasional charming pub or village in the distance, but it's mostly a vista of white sheep dotting green hills and, at this time of year, verges exploding with the pinks, yellows and whites of spring-flowering trees. There was one stretch where all this beauty was accompanied by Beethoven's Fifth on the radio, a fitting soundtrack for such visual perfection. We need not ever have arrived in Hereford, so soul-soothing was the getting there.

But arrive we did, to find one of the country's smallest cathedrals, best known for one particular treasure. Of that, more tomorrow...