River, Not A Stream

This is the River Chelt. I know it looks like a babbling brook but it's the nearest we get to a proper river in Cheltenham. The stream (sorry, river) meets the River Severn at Wainloads Hill before joining the Bristol Estuary, and then the Atlantic Ocean. The Severn starts in Wales and flows for 220 miles. Its funny to think that our little River Chelt helps create the UK's longest river. Does your town or city have a river flowing through it?

Jungle Fountain

Today I thought I'd show you the whole of the water feature that I posted part of yesterday. The fountain stands between the up and down escalators at one end of the Beechwood Shopping Arcade. The water bubbles gently at the top of the fountain and fills the bowl. The water then runs down the chains and fills the pool. This then pours out into a stream that runs through the arcade. The arcade has a glass roof and at the centre of the building is a small garden with this fountain, the stream, plants and several benches to sit on and rest shopping worn feet. When the shopping centre first opened the garden had many large trees and tropical plants, but due to the greenhouse like setting they grew and grew and grew! In the end the large jungle plants were removed and replaced with smaller varieties. It was OK to have all these large plants at first but when shoppers had to start swinging on vines to get from store to store it all got a bit too much!


Come back tomorrow and I'll show you my other choice for yesterdays Theme Day!