Gloucestershire is a large county in the west of England, bordering Wales and easily accessible by the Great Western Railway from London. It has natural beauty in abundance, evident by the unspoilt Forest of Dean, the quintessentially English villages of the Cotswold Hills and the wetlands of the River Severn. The county takes its name from the administrative centre of Gloucester and the largest settlement is the city of Bristol. Other prominent towns include Tewkesbury, famous for it's huge abbey, Cheltenham, host of the prestigious Gold Cup horse race and Stroud, which was an important wool milling centre.

There are several stately homes and estates in the area with Berkeley Castle being one of the oldest and most well-known. The lives of ordinary Victorian folk can be sampled first hand by stepping back in time at The Shambles, a recreation of a 1890s English village.