Blooming Lovely

The Town Hall (at a funky angle) in full bloom. Yet again the gardeners behind Cheltenham's parks and gardens have pulled off a fantastic summer display, with yellow flowers at the top end of town, pink and blue a bit further in, and red, white and blue in the town centre. As the summer progresses I'll show you more of the flowers.

The Town Hall looks great at the moment, just in time for the Music Festival, which is lucky as it is one of the main venues for the fortnight long musical extravaganza. We went last Friday night to see one of the first performances, and it was brilliant. We saw The John Wilson Orchestra performing Hollywood Rhapsody, a celebration of film music. The 70 strong orchestra were breathtakingly good, with such a rich sound. They played music from all sorts of films - MGM studio productions, Star Wars, Gone With The Wind and Harry Potter, to name but a few. And the best part was that this was a preview before the orchestra heads to The Proms in London!

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Foodies Heaven

As I mentioned yesterday we visited the Tewkesbury Food Festival on Saturday. The event is in its 5th year and took place in the shadow of the towns famous Abbey. If you like food (and who doesn't?!) then this was the place to be. There were over 70 stalls in the main Food Hall selling any food you could imagine, with the majority being locally produced.


There were plenty of samples to taste to help to get you to part with your cash and lots to see and do - celebrity chefs, craft tent, music, champagne bar, pig roast, a theatre where demonstrations were taking place, to name but a few.


We bought a few things like the chocolate covered ginger below, which is now just a memory. Delicious!

Bookworm Heaven

The 59th Cheltenham Literature Festival is taking place in and around town at the moment, with authors, journalists, famous faces and bookworms coming out to play. The event was started in 1949 by a small group of friends and was the worlds first literature festival, it is now one of the worlds biggest celebrations of writing, attracting tens of thousands of visitors. Over the festivals 10 day run there are 350 events featuring debates, interviews, readings, book signings and workshops. This years festival has former BBC journalist Kate Adie and Rebus author Ian Rankin as Guest Directors, responsible for the programme of the weekend events.

I'm not a very book-ish person, I prefer non-fiction books filled with useless facts, so I have never been to anything to do with the festival. Until this weekend. Phoebe and I went to The Centaur, at the Racecourse, to see Doctor Who re-inventor Russel T Davies and John Barrowman, who plays Captain Jack in the series. It was a really entertaining evening, they were both interviewed and talked about their respective books, and then answered questions from the audience. Neither of them were giving anything away about the upcoming Doctor Who specials in 2009 but it was still an insightful evening.

Most of the festival takes place at the Town Hall and in these tents behind the building, in Imperial Gardens. This large tent is a temporary Waterstone's bookshop and also the venue for book signings, a great place for celebrity spotting. The festival draws some big names, this year the famous faces include James Bond star Roger Moore, former London Mayor Ken Livingstone, Hollywood legend Tony Curtis, Nobel Prize winning author Toni Morrison and Prime Minister Gordon Brown. He opened the event last Friday, glad he wasn't busy sorting out the financial crisis! He has got a book to sell, perhaps he needs a few extra quid in these hard times!

One Day...

The rich and famous are in town this week as the Cheltenham Literature Festival takes place (more on that tomorrow) and someone was taking the opportunity to show off their new toy. This is what you call a proper car, and it's nearly as good as my Ford Fiesta! The little boy looking through the window just says it all. It would have been a better photo if there had been a Traffic Warden slapping a parking ticket on the windscreen, as this Rolls Royce is parked on double yellow lines!

And now the moment you've all been waiting for...the winner of yesterdays guessing game! The best idea for what TEG stands for came from Ken Mac with tensile epigrammatic gobsmacked! Ken, that word of the day toilet paper is paying great dividends!

Deerhurst Flower Festival - Day Two

More of the beautiful flowers at Deerhurst Flower Festival. As I mentioned yesterday this years theme was Sounds Of Song And Praise. The photo above shows the flowers that represent the Gates Of Jerusalem Hosanna. The end of the pews were decorated with red gladioli and bright yellow sunflowers, creating a colourful walk way down the aisle. The photo below is part of the display entitled Resounding Bells Of Time. I'll show the bells tomorrow.

Deerhurst Flower Festival

Every other year the village of Deerhurst, on the outskirts of Tewkesbury, holds a flower festival over the summer bank holiday weekend in their church. This time the theme was Sounds Of Songs And Praise and there were 28 different arrangements, some small and some very grand. This one was in the entrance to the churchyard and was entitled Dancing Around The Maypole. It was one of the more imaginative creations, with sunflowers representing children, and was a lovely arrangement to welcome visitors to the festival.

I took loads of photos, so over the next few days I'll show you some of the other floral masterpieces. To see the flowers of 2006, and to read about the festivals history, go to Deerhurst Flower Festival.

Chetenham College

This is the view from the balconies in yesterdays post. It is the world famous Cheltenham Boys College. Well, it allows girls now but locally it is known as the Boys College. The college dates from 1841 and has been on this site, in these Gothic Revival buildings since 1843. It was opened as Cheltenham Proprietary College and was founded to educate the sons of gentlemen. The college took in day and boarding students, and still does, with many surrounding streets having halls of residence. The college was originally split into Classical and Military schools but this ended in the middle of the last century. The college is one of several independent fee paying schools in Cheltenham, educating students between 13 and 18 years old. The college grounds are very large with many buildings and the huge chapel (on the left of the photo) was built in 1893-96 for the college's 50th Jubilee celebrations! The college also hosts the Cheltenham Cricket Festival, which started yesterday, and has been held there since 1872.

So, what do you think about the modern Century Court (see yesterdays post) being built opposite the classic Cheltenham College? Now you can see what all the fuss was about at the time!

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Going For Gold

Today is the last day of racing at Cheltenham racecourse and the race everyone is waiting for is the Gold Cup. Martin & Co jewellers in the town centre displays the array of cups and trophies available to the winners in their window. I've got a feeling that this Gold Cup is a replica of the real one, as the photo I've seen of the real one has engraving on it. The Gold Cup is the highlight of the National Hunt season and the winner is guaranteed a place in racing history. In the past a few horses have won the Gold Cup several times, the likes of Best Mate and Arkell spring to mind, and last years winner Kauto Star is looking to join them in the Hall of Fame today.

Did you follow my tip yesterday? If you did, congratulations on your win!! Yes, that's right. Master Minded won in the Queen Mother Champion Chase!
Marley's Daily Top Tip - Kauto Star or Denman in the Cheltenham Gold Cup at 3.30pm. Best of luck!

I'm away to The North for the weekend so come back on Monday for something Irish! Have a good weekend.

Ladies Day

Today its Ladies Day at The Cheltenham Festival and if you are lucky enough to be going there is the added bonus of seeing extra races. Yesterdays racing was cancelled due to the strong winds and the postponed races are being held today and tomorrow. This is the second Ladies Day held at Cheltenham Racecourse with awards given to the ladies with the best outfit, best hat and best accessories. An award is also given to the lady who has given an Outstanding Contribution To Jump Racing. Last years prize was given to Heather Atkinson who has been the Senior Nurse at the Jockey's Hospital at Cheltenham Racecourse for more than 30 years. The photo shows the window display of Marks & Spencer on the High Street. Even the big chain stores get in on the act during race week.

Now time for Marley's Daily Top Tip. Today I'll give you two tips! You lucky things!

Yesterdays tip - Master Minded in the Queen Mother Champion Chase now at 2.20pm today and - Don't Push It in the Racing Post Plate at 4.05pm.

Now, I know I'm not having much luck with this giving tips business (what with stopping horses and high winds) but I've got a good feeling today. Fingers crossed!

Outlandish Advertising

As I said yesterday, everyone is promoting or selling something in Cheltenham this race week. The Festival is a big money spinner and the pub above must have got something in return for sponsorship like this. The Midland Hotel (which is a pub not a hotel) is situated by the train station and has been renamed The Betfair Arms for the week. Betfair is an online betting company and all these sort of businesses make huge amounts of money, so paying out for a bit of advertising is just a drop in the ocean to them. Even the footbridge (shown below) across the tracks in the train station has been used for advertising this week. As soon as racegoers get off the train they know what its all about - Money.

Now its time for Marley's Daily Top Tip - Master Minded in the Queen Mother Champion Chase at 3.15pm. If you followed my tip yesterday then I apologise. Sizing Europe pulled up in the home straight and came in practically last! Better luck today!

UPDATE...
...Today's racing has been cancelled due to the high winds and the worry that the tented village might take off!!

First Past The Post

The National Hunt Festival starts today at Cheltenham Racecourse and its all about the winners. The four day meeting is one of the biggest in the horse racing world, only out done by The Grand National. The event brings 230,000 people to town, wagering £600 million, eating and drinking more goodies than you can imagine. It it big business for the town - every bar, pub and restaurant has boards advertising their offerings, with marquees attached to buildings to accommodate the crowds. The Festival provides the Cheltenham economy with millions of pounds and helps some businesses survive the year. You can't go anywhere in town without the races cropping up, whether its the traffic, the crowds or the atmosphere. The place is buzzing.

I've not been to the races before and unfortunately can't go this year, but to help all you punters out there here is Marley's Daily Top Tip - Sizing Europe in the Champion Hurdle at 3.15pm. (I take no responsibility if you bet your life savings and it falls at the first jump!)

Come back tomorrow for more of The Festival.