| Gloucestershire The Forest of Dean is an area of outstanding natural beauty covering an area of around 24,000 acres and lies between the Severn Estuary and Wales. It became the country’s first National Park in 1938, with its varied landscape attracting those looking for a variety of places to visit within a peaceful rural landscape. The area is characterised by attractive small towns and villages built of Cotswold stone; this limestone is rich in fossilised sea urchins. In the Middle Ages, the wool trade made The Cotswold's prosperous, hence the Speaker of the British House of Lords sits on the Woolsack showing where the Medieval wealth of the country came from. The spine of The Cotswold's runs southwest to northeast through six counties, particularly Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, and southern Warwickshire. Gloucestershire (pronounced GLOSS-ter-sher) is a county in South West England and comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the valley of the River Severn, and all of the Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gloucester, and other principal towns include Cheltenham Spa, Stroud, Cirencester, and Tewkesbury. |
