My Festival

Getty image

BBC Radio Gloucestershire's reporter for the Forest of Dean, Andy Vivian, has set out to establish what Gold Cup week means west of the Severn. A few passers by told him:

"There's a Soldiers and Sailors Club that lays food on for the Gold Cup and it gets full up most of the week".

"Cinderford's too far out from Cheltenham for letting rooms out or that type of thing".

No extra visitors around during the week then? One lady replied,

"No there isn't. They're in Gloucester and Cheltenham aren't they? They don't come here".

Race goers

The Belfry in Littledean are definitely interested in Gold Cup week. Manager Shane Grindall puts on a race goers package providing transport as well as accommodation:

"They have a full cooked breakfast and we have the preliminary racing on the TV, then they get a free Racing Post, jump on the coach and away they go for the day."

Geoff Sparks owns the Forest House Hotel in Coleford. He says they're happy with their regular business - they don't need Cheltenham race goers:

"We have been approached by various newspapers and magazines from the Cheltenham area asking us if we would like to advertise.

"The costs are quite high so we've never really felt the need to do that at this stage.

"Perhaps in the back of our mind is the thought, "do we really want people coming back from a race meeting, groups of men particularly, who want to stay up late when we want to go to bed!"

What is 'My Festival'?

It's a BBC Gloucestershire series, on the radio and online, reflecting how the annual Cheltenham National Hunt Festival impacts on the rest of the county.

How does it affect you? Whether you're planning on going or not, we'd love you to capture a snapshot of what it means to you and email that photograph to: gloucestershire@bbc.co.uk

Or simply just tell us in words by filling in the form below...

___________________________________________________________