Tewkesbury is a handsome market town in the north of Gloucestershire where the River Avon meets the Severn, surrounded by water meadows and prone to flooding in a spectacular way when both rivers run high. The setting alone makes it worth the detour from the M5, but the town has enough substance to justify a proper visit.
Tewkesbury Abbey dominates both the skyline and the history. Its Norman tower is the highest in England, and the interior is one of the finest in the country — not quite at the level of Gloucester Cathedral down the road, but close, and far less visited. The town around it has survived remarkably intact: the medieval street pattern is still legible, and the black-and-white half-timbered buildings along Church Street and the High Street date from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.
The Battle of Tewkesbury in 1471 was one of the most decisive encounters of the Wars of the Roses, fought in fields just south of the town. The Yorkists defeated the Lancastrians here, effectively ending Lancastrian hopes of returning to power. The battlefield is accessible on foot and the Tewkesbury Museum tells the story well.
The town appeared as 'Norton Bury' in Dinah Craik's Victorian novel John Halifax, Gentleman, and the old Abbey Mill by the river — now converted to apartments — is identifiable as 'Abel Fletcher's Mill' in the novel. The Severn Ham, a large expanse of water meadow between the rivers, is a Site of Special Scientific Interest and one of the best places in the region for a riverside walk.