Gloucestershire is a county in the West of England with over 830,000 inhabitants and borders on Gwent in Wales and Herefordshire in England. The main towns are: Cheltenham, Cirencester, Stroud and Tewkesbury.

Gloucestershire suffered the worst flooding in UK history with 11 people killed, millions displaced and over 120 having to be rescued during 2007. The floods sparked the largest army mobilisation since World War 2 and cost £2 billion to put right.

Cheltenham is known for the Cheltenham Art Festivals, the Cheltenham Race Course events and as a traditional spa resort from the Roman occupations to Victorian times. The town has over 110,000 residents and major employment sectors are: finance, aviation, UCAS (higher education admin centre), food production and electronic.

The landscape of the county is dominated both by the Cotswold Mountains (highest point is Cleeve Hill 1000 foot high) and the River Severn which passes through Gloucestershire and is the largest in the UK by water flow.

Famous residents of Gloucestershire include: ‘The Planets’ composer Gustav Holtz, musician Brian Jones, RAF commander Arthur ‘Bomber’ Harris, author Laurie Lee and rural author James Moore.