First things first
What to do in a weekend in Chester? Well first check in to the fabulous Oddfellows Boutique Hotel. You will not be disappointed. A modern hotel located close to the city centre. We stayed in one of their fabulous apartments. The apartment has parking on the doorstep, daily housekeeping included in the price, pre-ordered grocery service available, pre-ordered breakfast hampers available, pamper party packages, bags of space, is seriously close to Chester’s riverside, delivery from chef’s apartment menu to your door and use of all the hotel’s facilities. For a family there is so much space. The kids were most impressed that there was Netflix and a tv in their room.
City Walls
Next go for a walk around the city walls. Chester’s city walls run for two miles in a circuit around the old city, passing medieval gates and towers along the way. You pass under the ornate Eastgate Clock, built on top of a bridge to celebrate Queen Victoria’s diamond jubilee. There are some remnants of Chester’s Roman history around too, including Britain’s largest Roman Amphitheatre and fragments from the old Baths in the Roman Gardens.
Chester Cathedral
Then visit the magnificent Chester Cathedral. You can climb the tower for one of the best views of Chester. There are a couple of different tower tours. There’s a 30-minute tour (£6 per person or families £20). Or a one-hour tour (£8 adults or £6 children), which also goes up into the cathedral galleries. Built over nearly 500 years from the 11th to the 16th century, Chester Cathedral has traces of every Medieval English architectural style, from Norman Romanesque to Perpendicular Gothic.
Lunch
Then walk just around the corner from the cathedral for lunch at Bean and Cole. Bean & Cole is an independent coffee shop. Suppliers are local where possible and all dietary requirements can be catered for. There are a range of vegan and vegetarian options on the small but simple food menu. There are also plenty of gluten free and vegan cakes and brownies to choose from. Bread and pastries come from a local bakery, and sandwich specials change weekly. Seriously good coffee (my chai latte was amazing), super friendly and helpful staff and games were available for the kids.
Shopping
Chester is home to the original medieval version of a shopping mall – the Rows. These double-decker shops are unique to Chester (and a fab place to hide out if it happens to rain). Each black and white building has a layer of shops or restaurants on the ground floor, then another level raised above them. The shops are perfect for browsing, with a mix of High Street favourites and local independents. If you’re willing to travel out of the city centre the designer outlet-Cheshire Oaks is not too far, with over 145 fashion brands.
Have a pre-dinner drink in the Secret Garden or the wood panelled bar at Oddfellows hotel, with cocktails in summer and hot toddies and an outdoor fireplace in winter. Then eat in the fantastic restaurant. The food is spectacular, inspired by British classics using seasonal and local produce. The chefs can cater for all dietary requirements.
Another dinner option is to eat at Porta. This cosy tapas bar under the Northgate Bridge is owned by the brothers who set up popular deli-restaurant Joseph Benjamin next door. The menu includes traditional tapas dishes croquetas, patatas bravas and lentil and chorizo stew, plus a selection of Spanish sherries, wines and cavas.
Sunday
Take a morning boat trip on the River Dee (adults £7.50, concessions £6.50 and children £2.50, with a discount if you book in advance online). The half-hour city tours departs at least once an hour from The Groves. It take you upstream under the Queen’s Park suspension bridge, past Grosvenor Park and through the meadows. Along the way you get background on the city’s history as well as some great views – keep an eye out for kingfishers and cormorants too.
Chester Zoo
Finally no trip to Chester is complete without visiting Chester Zoo. Chester Zoo is one of the best zoos, not just in the UK but the whole world, it has over 125 acres and there are more than 20,000 individual animals. Entry for adults costs £26 and children £21 on the gate, (but you can save £4 per ticket if you book online in advance).
The founder George Motterhead wanted to built a zoo without bars, calling on natural barriers like ditches and moats to contain animals.
Every few years there’s a new multimillion pound habitat, with one of the newest being “Islands at Chester Zoo”. This mimicks six island habitats from Southeast Asia and has Sumatran tigers, cassowaries, Visayan warty pigs, Malayan tapirs, tentacled snakes and many more species from the region.
The list of other environments to check out is enormous, but you have to make time for Bears of Cloud Forest, Monkey Islands, Tsavo Black Rhino Reserve and the Realm of the Red Ape with Bornean Orangutans.
Hope you find this guide helpful. If you like this one and have a trip to Manchester planned you may find this guide useful too.
Shelley x
