Venue

Gas Green

Our main venue for Saturday 17 and Sunday 18 August 2013 will be Gas Green Community Centre, Cheltenham, UK. The venue owners have confirmed this and the deposit has been paid.

• Google maps
• Address: Gas Green Community Centre, Baker Street, Cheltenham GL51 9HQ, UK
• Long/Lat: 51.90726, -2.08458

Toilets, including a toilet for the disabled, are available at the venue. The games are held on the ground floor, one shallow step access from the street.

A kitchen is available for tea and coffee making facilities. There is a convenience store on the corner of the street, and a large 24-hour Tesco supermarket nearby.

Fringe venues

There will also be some optional "fringe" events on the Friday evening, probably a restaurant followed by a pub function room. On the Friday afternoon, there may be an "Early Arrivals Meet & Greet" at a teashop.

More to follow.

Transport

Road

• Motorway junctions: M5 junction 11 (access in all directions) or M5 junction 10 (northbound on, southbound off only)
• From London consider M4 junction 15 Swindon, and then the A419/A417 trunk road past Cirencester, as this is usually faster than going via M40 Oxford
• From Wales consider the M50 as this has no tolls and there's a good dual carriageway from Newport, Gwent.

Parking

There is free unlimited on-street parking at the venue. Availability is not guaranteed and you may have to park in the next street if busy. There is a disabled parking spot a few metres from the venue on Baker Street but that is usually taken by a disabled resident.

If you have a hotel in the town centre, you may find it useful to park your car for the whole weekend, and walk or use bus services:

• High Street open-air car park: GL50 4AL map

£5.50 all day, charging hours 8am-8pm, accessible 24/7

Immediately over the road from the Holiday Inn Express, 25 metres.

Car crime isn't a big problem in Cheltenham, but be aware that this car park is used as a pedestrian shortcut by drunk students.

• North Place open-air: GL50 4DT map

£5.50 all day, charging hours 8am-8pm, but this is locked at night

300 metres from Holiday Inn.

I doubt anyone will mind your car being locked there, so long as you put a ticket on it by 8am.

• Portland Street open-air: GL50 4DT map

£10 all day, charging hours 8am-8pm, accessible 24/7

350 metres from Holiday Inn.

• NCP Brewery multi-storey: GL50 4EJ map

£12 for 24 hours, charging hours 24/7, accessible 24/7

This is immediately next door to the Holiday Inn

Very secure with ticket barrier, CCTV and security guards. This is the car park to use if you have any worries about the security of your car. Also there is a £25 "week pass" available from the manned enquiry desk.

Air, Rail and Coach

• Convenient train station: Cheltenham Spa CNM (1 mile / 1.5km)
• Convenient airports: Birmingham BHX (55 miles / 90km), London Heathrow LHR (90 miles / 145km)
• Convenient coach services: National Express (Royal Well bus station, 1.5 miles / 2km), Megabus (Promenade, 1.5 miles / 2km)

Bristol and Cardiff airports are also candidates, but not as easy to get to/from as Birmingham and Heathrow. Avoid Gatwick, Luton and Stansted unless you really have lots of time for your journey.

If you are driving from London Heathrow, you will usually find it faster to take the M4 junction 15 to Swindon, and then the A419/A417 trunk road past Cirencester, as this is usually faster than going via M40 Oxford.

Local Buses

• Stagecoach bus D (Hatherley - Racecourse - Bishops Cleeve) runs from railway station to Clarence Street (near Promenade & Royal Well), every 10 minutes. The return bus back to the railway station departs from near McDonalds on High Street.
• Stagecoach buses 41 and 42 (Cheltenham - Tewkesbury) run from Clarence Street to Old Gas Works on Tewkesbury Road (near Gas Green), every 15 minutes. The Old Gas Works bus stop is easily spotted by the enormous Tesco next to it.
• Stagecoach bus C, goes from McDonalds on Cheltenham High Street to the Old Gas Works every 15 minutes.

Local sights

If you're planning a longer stay, the following nearby sights are well worth a visit:

• The Promenade, Montpellier and Suffolk Road districts of Cheltenham - Regency streets with boutique shopping and antiques shops.

• Gloucester Cathedral, a large, spectacular medieval gothic cathedral, burial place of a king and a prince, and filming location for Harry Potter. Bus 94 runs every ten minutes, taking you from Cheltenham Promenade to Gloucester Bus Station, only five minutes' walk to the cathedral.

• Broadway, Worcestershire is one of many lovely Cotswold villages. Castleways bus 606 will take you there, via Winchcombe which is another charming small Cotswold town. As well as the beautiful village of Broadway itself, with a large number of teashops and boutiques, there is a huge, free activity park with adventure playground equipment for adults and children of all ages.

• Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway is a steam heritage line running from Cheltenham Racecourse to Winchcombe. Take Stagecoach bus D from Cheltenham town centre to the racecourse, then walk north across the large car parks, around the west side of the racecourse to the railway station.

• If you have young children, the town of Bourton-on-the-Water makes an excellent daytrip with lots to keep little ones entertained at reasonable prices. We particularly recommend Bourton Model Village and the penguins at Birdland. Pullhams bus 801 will take you to Bourton.