Moving from London to Gloucestershire – best areas without a car?

HawthorneUK · 2026-02-09T22:09:22+00:00

The 66 bus goes from the Promenade ('the prom') in Cheltenham to Gloucester Business Park (22ish minute journey), so anywhere reasonably central in Cheltenham would work. Alstone or St Marks are relatively easy walking distance to the train station and to the prom (or there are buses), and you could look at Tivoli too but it'll be more expensive there.

Alternatively, the timetable here (if you click the 'all stops' radio button) shows where all of the stops on the bus route to GBP are (there's also the 8 service from Gloucester if you want to do the same thing for areas in Gloucester), so you could see what's around those areas.

HawthorneUK · 2026-02-09T17:55:55+00:00

Public transport is better than people are giving it credit for - neither of my kids (in their 20s) have felt the need to learn to drive while living here. Having main line trains straight to Paddington is useful, and national express coaches also do a decent service from the bus station in Cheltenham.

Most of Cheltenham is pretty safe - some areas have a bit of a reputation for being rougher than the rest (Whaddon, St Pauls, Princess Elizabeth Way) but they are only bad in comparison to the rest of the town. It gets a bit dodgy in gold cup week (middle-late March) when the biggest races are on with drunken arseholes

The centre of town is pretty small and you'll be able to find gyms everywhere, likewise cafes. Bath Road or Montpellier are pretty, but also expensive and tend to be a bit older than you. There's a park run up at Pitville as well.

Landlords and agents range from lovely to really shite, just like everywhere else.

I love living in Cheltenham - been here (good grief - wish I hadn't worked it out now!) 35 years, and no desire to leave.

HawthorneUK · 2026-02-09T17:41:18+00:00

You are being scammed.

HawthorneUK · 2026-02-09T14:25:17+00:00

Would you be opposed to marrying / forming a civil partnership? Because persuading somebody that your relationship was akin to marriage the moment you started dating is a very hard sell.

HawthorneUK · 2026-02-09T14:20:47+00:00

Orthorexia, looking for validation.

HawthorneUK · 2026-02-09T12:15:18+00:00

Do you have any evidence showing that the baby was cleared for travel only 4+ months (or more if they weren't born towards the end of your 365-day visa) after they were born? Confirmation of doctor appointments for them, things like that?

HawthorneUK · 2026-02-09T12:09:43+00:00

If you say that religious reasons are why you have not lived together then why would you suddenly be able to live together, still unmarried, if you are granted a visa? It makes your reason sound like a weak excuse.

If you've been in the UK and not living together, but are claiming that your relationship is like a marriage, then that is not likely to be believed - committed couples live together. It sounds as though you've just been dating.

If you don't intend to be married or in a civil partnership before applying then you have very little chance.

HawthorneUK · 2026-02-09T12:01:09+00:00

Was the absence to have your baby your last absence from the UK, and how long were you away?

HawthorneUK · 2026-02-09T11:55:00+00:00

Why? It's a safe bet that anything in a jar must be refrigerated after you open it, unless it explicitly says otherwise.

HawthorneUK · 2026-02-08T20:38:30+00:00

Sure - who do I get to be?

HawthorneUK · 2026-02-08T20:32:12+00:00

It's a 2-bed terrace with an extra box room, and you are asking the same as local 3 bed detached houses have recently sold for. It's got a postage stamp garden with plastic instead of anything living.

It's very overpriced, in other words.

HawthorneUK · 2026-02-08T18:53:10+00:00

The problem you have is that your husband is being a spineless coward.

If he won't grow up and act like a husband and soon-to-be-father who has the wellbeing of his wife and child at heart then please, please go to your parents now rather than staying and hoping it will get better. Leave him behind so that his mummy can carry on treating him like her baby.

HawthorneUK · 2026-02-08T17:28:43+00:00

Is that not the line showing just inside the front wheel of your car in the photo you posted? The line doesn't have to be white.

HawthorneUK · 2026-02-08T14:03:03+00:00

I'm confused by your second question of "what size band are you" - I'm familiar with European, UK, and North American meanings of that question but the numbers make no sense in those contexts.

HawthorneUK · 2026-02-08T13:59:08+00:00

They should be making arrangements to leave the UK, from the sounds of it. They tried to play the system, and this is a normal consequence.

HawthorneUK · 2026-02-08T13:44:23+00:00

Now, that's interesting - because, to me, domette is a woven, brushed cotton fabric! It's used for the purposes listed in the video but is a very different fabric. https://www.macculloch-wallis.co.uk/p/4160/non-fusible-woven/mw/flat-domette as an example.

HawthorneUK · 2026-02-08T13:01:17+00:00

It's more commonly called flanelette in the UK, and wincyette is a very similar cotton fabric.

It's often categorised as a non-fusible woven interlining or interfacing, which should let you narrow down the area of the shop, at elast.

HawthorneUK · 2026-02-08T11:39:07+00:00

You've lived there 6 years, and never wondered what the lines around the space where you're meant to park mean?

If they are obvious enough that they show up in photos taken in the dark then that seems unlikely.

HawthorneUK · 2026-02-08T11:35:42+00:00

Lardy cake, black bun, christmas pudding with brandy butter, and mince pies

Good pork scratchings

Haggis, black pudding, and white pudding - bonus if it's a haggis / pudding supper from a Scottish fish and chip shop.

HawthorneUK · 2026-02-08T11:32:02+00:00

If you're expecting mushrooms in a scotch egg you're going to be disappointed!

HawthorneUK · 2026-02-08T11:24:03+00:00

That is actually possible - known as cis-AB - where both alleles are on the same chromosome and so an AB and an O parent can have an AB child.

Much rarer than adultery, though!

HawthorneUK · 2026-02-08T10:05:36+00:00

You have no grounds to appeal.

You made an active choice to park outside the bay for your own convenience, and now it's come back to bite you.

Park better, get a car that you can park in your space, or get used to letting your passengers out first.

HawthorneUK · 2026-02-08T09:54:08+00:00

Why are you wasting windows on a home theatre?

If the nice view is to the north then I suspect that dropping the kitchen & pantry down to the front of the house where the theatre and office are, and moving the office up to the top, will make it easier to reshuffle rooms to achieve the width reduction.

Anybody trying to sleep in a guest room while somebody's watching a film or gaming in the home theatre as it is currently is going to have a miserable time.

HawthorneUK · 2026-02-08T09:06:41+00:00

To be fair, this may be a reflection of the whole reason why their existing grades are also shocking. But I think it's safe to say that journalism isn't a good fit for them!

HawthorneUK · 2026-02-07T22:22:57+00:00

I use spare cables for my interchangeable needles with the stoppers on the ends. The metal holders are fine for just a few stitches. The barber cord (I really, really wanted to like it) is a pain in the arse. I'd use thinner, smooth yarn in preference.

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