Gloucestershire County
(Historic)

 Map Reference: (51.824407, -2.143158)

Gloucestershire is a maritime county in the south-west of England. Gloucestershire has three distinct parts. The most celebrated is the Cotswold Hills, which cover the east of the county and spread into neighbouring counties. The Cotswolds are famed for the beauty of their villages and the landscape. Cotswold stone is used ubiquitously producing picture-postcard, honey-coloured towns and villages, among them being Bibury, Bourton-on-the-Water, Chipping Camden, Lower Slaughter, Stow-on-the-Wold, Stroud and Winchcombe. Cirencester was once the Roman town of Corinium. The Severn Vale by contrast is flat and shaped by the great River Severn, cutting deep into the shire: Gloucester though apparently inland is a sea port on the river, while further north is historic Tewkesbury. Cheltenham is famous as a spa town. The city of Bristol is the county's largest centre of culture, employment and education. Bristol is split between Gloucestershire and Somerset with the larger part, north of the old course of the Avon, in Gloucestershire. The Severn Vale is dotted with picturesque villages. West of the Severn is the Forest of Dean, one of the largest surviving ancient woodlands in Britain.