The Wilson

Cheltenham's main museum and gallery, opened in 1899 and substantially renovated in 2013. The collection is strongest on Arts and Crafts furniture and decorative objects — William Morris wallpapers, Edward Barnsley cabinets, and work by the Cotswold School of craftsmen who set up workshops in the surrounding villages. It is genuinely one of the best collections of this kind anywhere, displayed in rooms that give it room to breathe.

Alongside the permanent collection are temporary exhibitions on fine art, local history, and decorative arts. The museum is free, and the café is decent. Allow a couple of hours if you want to do it properly.

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A story
The Arts and Crafts collection here is one of the finest outside London, assembled largely because Cheltenham was a fashionable retirement destination for military officers returning from India and the colonies — many of them brought back fine objects, and eventually donated them. The connection between the genteel spa town and the reform-minded craft movement is a stranger story than either side usually gets credit for.

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