The beautiful UK town perfect for a staycation where you can find foodie heaven and enrol at gin school

AFTER we add seaweed, pink peppercorns and manuka wood, my partner Steve and I decide 15 ingredients is probably enough and it’s time to get bubbling.

It might sound like we’re in a Hogwarts potions class – but we are, in fact, students at Piston Distillery’s Gin School.

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And we’re impressed with the resulting concoction, which we proudly name Curious Gin-cident – although this might be down to the four G&Ts we sampled earlier. Gin school costs £150 for two () 

(Nep)tune in

A taxi whisks us back to our base for the weekend – Neptune Apartments, a Grade-II -listed Georgian building on Cheltenham’s prestigious Promenade.

Each apartment is named after a Cotswold town or village, and ours, The Painswick, is a beautifully decorated one-bed with high ceilings, intricate cornices and very cool lighting, plus a fully equipped kitchen, breakfast bar, comfy sofa and two huge TVs.

We’d like to move in and never leave, but we’re lured outside by the promise of award-winning burgers.

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The juicy PBJ Boy, £12.80, comes with two smashed patties (but you can add more if you like), cheese, bacon, bacon jam and chipotle peanut butter, and is totally moreish – as are the poutine fries, £9.50 ().

Picking up steam

The next morning, we stop off at The Find for a Full Monty breakfast bap, filled with local ingredients, £10.50 (), then head to Sudeley Castle, 20 minutes’ drive away, to walk it off.

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Plus, there are beautiful formal gardens, and quirky life-size animal sculptures to spot in the pop-up Animal Ark exhibition. Entry costs £22 per person ().

At Cheltenham Race Course station, we jump on a steam train (part of the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway) and choo-choo our way to Broadway, a chocolate-box-pretty village.

Here, Cotswold Trading has perfect gifts of locally made body lotion and pampas coasters (), before we scoff Tisanes Tearooms’ scones with jam and cream, £3.60 (). Day rover tickets on the steam railway cost £26 per person ().

Later, we venture to Mr Cambray’s Curiosity – a cafe/bar full of nooks and crannies – (), before sharing plates at Japanese restaurant Kibou, where highlights include chicken thighs with sriracha-mayo dip, £10.90, and an amazing soy honey tuna tartare poke bowl, £15.90 (). 

Once home, we nibble on Cotswold brie from Cheltenham’s The Cheese Works (), relax with a Curious Gin-cident and tonic, and toast a great weekend.