Frills 'n' Spills

We thought it looked like the Tellytubby house, what do you think?

I have to say, this was the most tranquil service station I have ever been to, it looked like even the car park was designed to be as stress-free as possible!

We didn't actually buy any of the food in the Kitchen but it looked and smelt amazing and there were plenty of people enjoying it when we visited. All of the food sold and prepared here is supplied locally and it was brilliant to see how many local businesses had benefited from the services opening, rather than being pushed out by big chains. 

My favourite part though was this beautiful lake out the back of the restaurant. Even though the motorway was only a few hundred metres away, it was really peaceful and you got the added benefit of gorgeous views out across the Gloucestershire countryside.

I seriously had to restrain myself in the farmshop as there was amazing food wherever you turned....

This patisserie counter was particularly tempting!

You could get amazing chorizo and dried meats which smelt divine, I will definitely be coming back for these!

There is also a full-sized butcher's counter and fishmonger which I think is pretty amazing, definitely a good place to pop into if you are planning a dinner party!

...delicious pies from Legges of Bromyard

...award-winning veggie food from The Parsnipship. Don't get me wrong, I love goat's cheese as much as the next gal but it was nice to see veggie food that wasn't your traditional 'one dish on a menu' fare.

My family has been a massive fan of Contemporary Cakes ever since my Grandma discovered them at the farmer's market and they make the most amazing cakes. (Just look at how delicious my uncle's birthday cake or my grandparents 50th anniversary cake look!) They are so lovely and even raved about how lovely my grandma was which really made me smile as she is the best! :D

The Patisserie Box is the wing of their business that sells these delicious desserts. Those Christmas pudding chocolate-y cakes were divine and I may be a blogger cliché but I do love macarons!

Just some of the amazing gifts available in the gift shop...

I also got the chance to meet the lovely head baker at the services (unfortunately I have a brain like a sieve and have forgotten her name!) about testing recipes and taking them from an idea to the delicious treats you can see here which was very interesting. You never realise just how much effort goes into making all of this! 

These stollen and mince pies were lovely, you can't beat some German treats at Christmas!

Mark was very taken by these chocolate brownies and apparently they tasted as good as they looked!

I was also really intrigued by the Natural Spa Factory products, I love me some luxury bath products and the scrubs were amazing. I am hoping Mark gets me the Mulled Wine scrub as it just smells so Christmassy!

Mark and I have been living in Cheltenham for 7 months (!) now and although there are a few places that we know and love (I'm looking at you Grid Iron!) there is still a lot of Cheltenham that we have left to explore. I grew up fairly locally but I am ashamed to say that I don't know it at all and I am keen to have some places to recommend to people when they come to stay so if anyone has any recommendations, please do pass them on! I spoke a while ago about trying to get out and about a bit more and we have been going on little walks (just a couple of miles or so) in the evening and at the weekends to clear our heads and to get that blood pumping! There are some beautiful old houses within about 10 minutes walk from us and we couldn't resist snapping a few photos whilst we were out and about. We did take the DSLR but it ran out of battery after just one photo so we ended up using Mark's phone instead. He has a Nexus 6 and I have to say, I was pretty impressed with how the photos came out!

I love me some fancy windows and red bricks!

I can't even begin to guess how expensive these flats are but they sure look pretty!

Victoria Mansions (!) - if only I had the money...!

Even the sports fields look picturesque around here! ;)

Christ Church is absolutely beautiful too- we didn't get a chance to go inside but it has a pretty interesting history so I'm sure we will be back at some point...

Yes, those are our pasty faces glowing from inside the screen! Picking up the light is one thing that a phone camera will never do as well as a proper camera... We did take some outfit pictures too but I will be sharing those in a separate post as this was getting a bit picture heavy for one post!

Is there anywhere you can recommend in Cheltenham?