West Cheltenham Public Art Trail
If you’d like to stay healthy and take in some of the public art attractions that West Cheltenham has to offer then why not have a go at the West Cheltenham Public Art Trail. The route measures 5km and takes about 1 hour to walk passing by ten pieces of public art on the way. We have included a map below.
West Cheltenham Public Art Trail – Google My Maps
The first piece and starting point of the trail is the Mosaic Mural made by 5 community groups and artist David Bowers in 2006 on the wall of the Hesters Way Community Centre on Princess Elizabeth Way.
Next follow the PE Way past the Police Station and to your left behind the sports pitch you’ll see the urban art piece made by local children with Tim Martin at Easter 2019.
Cross the road and go through the shopping centre at Edinburgh Place to the Hesters Way Library. In the library lobby you can find the Story Chair, another collaboration between Natasha Houseago and members of the local community from 2010.
For the latest addition to the trail you’ll need to turn right out of the library and head straight into King George V playing fields crossing Brooklyn Road as you enter the park. If you walk down the wide road on the left of the field and follow it around to the right at the bottom you’ll find the Listening Dragon. Designed by Rob Olins the piece was completed in summer 2019. For more details see here. Once you’ve taken in the views of Christchurch and the local hills you can retrace your steps back to the library.
Retrace your steps back to Coronation Square and head down Princess Elizabeth Way and you’ll see two urban art works which were painted during the 2019 Cheltenham Paint Festival on the gable end of Arundell House. The first is by Inkie one of the original Bristol street artists, the second by Denk -both fantastic!!
The trail then snakes its way down hill to Springfield Park where you can can’t miss the Spaceship shelter. Travelling further down towards the Springbank Community Centre you may struggle to notice the next Totem piece as its located in the Springbank Community Garden. Both these Springbank creations were designed by Jony Easterby in 2007.
Finally you can make the long rise up Springbank Way and take a short detour via Henley Road to see the fields on the western edge of the town. You then arc back into Hesters Way Park (sometimes called Fishy Park) to see the impressive Listening Stones by Gordon Young installed in 2004.
Take a breath and wander on through the park to Princess Elizabeth Way to the Hesters Way Community Centre where you can find the latest piece of art. Produced by Samer, the Flower Bird piece was painted in September 2019 just after the end of the Cheltenham Paint Festival.
For further public art works across the town see Cheltenham Public Art Map
If you would like to enjoy walks throughout the area see these from The History of Hesters Way