Central Cross Café (In the Park)

Wide open spaces, lakes to walk around and an enormous adventure playground (complete with rabbits, guinea pigs, chipmunks, duck pond and an aviary); it’s well worth zipping off at Cheltenham to drop into Pittville Park. Central Cross Café, an award-winning neighbourhood haunt from ‘In the Park’, has adopted an old Victorian park pavilion – green and white timbers, ornate fascia boards and blooming floral displays – and sells scrummy fair-trade coffee, hot chocolate, freshly baked cakes, breakfast rolls, pastries, salads and sandwiches.

Free blankets are slung over the outside chairs in winter and you can borrow a picnic blanket in summer. There are newspapers to read and pick-and-mix biscuits for dogs. A smaller Kiosk by the play area sells hot drinks, ice creams, cakes, and lunch boxes for kids; a third, The Boathouse, is nestled by the lower lake and has indoor seating – you can hire a boat out in the summer. The cafés are firmly linked to their green environment so packaging is 100% compostable and cardboard and plastic is recycled. Parking is free for up to four hours.