During the summer of 2003, 17 Chinese teachers of English from Shunde studied at Gloucestershire College of Arts and Technology (Gloscat) in Cheltenham, where some of them tasted the famous sour spa, making faces as if it were spirits.

　　Cheltenham has been welcoming visitors for almost 300 years, ever since the discovery of the first natural spring led to the development of the elegant spa town of today, A unique and historic town with a population of 106,543 (mid 2000 estimate), Cheltenham is also a cultural centre hosting an impressive calendar of international festivals and special events.

　　Cheltenham lies some five kilometres to the east of the M5 motorway mid-way between Bristol and Birmingham on the edge of the Cotswold Hills in the middle west of England, from where Wales is only around 40 miles away.

　　The borough is based on the town of Cheltenham and is mainly urban with some areas of surrounding countryside. It covers an area of approximately 4,680 hectares of which 17 percent is designated as green belt and 22 percent as an area of outstanding natural beauty.

　　Cheltenham is the most complete Regency town in England and one of the few English towns in which traditional and contemporary architecture complement each other.

　　Cheltenham began as an Anglo-Saxon village over 1200 years ago. In1226 it became a market town, which was the basis of its economy until the 18 century, when its medicinal waters were discovered in a field to the south of the town, where Cheltenham Ladies' College now stands. These were regarded as beneficial for a whole range of illnesses and by the late 18 century the town was one of England's leading spas.

　　In 1788 King George III spent five weeks at Cheltenham, drinking the waters for his health's sake. His visit 'set the seal' on the town's popularity and during the following years the number of visitors and residents increased dramatically. Between 1700 and 1800 its population rose from 1500 to over 3000 and by 1850 it was the largest town in Gloucestershire, with a population of more than 35,000. Among famous visitors were members of the English and Continental Royal families, including Princess (later Queen) Victoria, the Duke of Wellington, and the novelists Jane Austen and Lord Byron.

　　Visitors to the town would drink the waters at either the original spa or one of the rival spas that were established in the early 19 century, such as Montpellier and Pittville. Several of the spas had tree-lined walks, rides and gardens in which the visitors could 'promenade', often with a band of musicians in attendance. Regular public breakfasts, gala fetes, firework displays and other entertainments were held at the larger spas. Visitors could also attend balls, assemblies and concerts at the Assembly Rooms, plays at the Theatre Royal and horse races at the racecourse. They could also shop for souvenirs along the High Street and, from the 1820s, in the fashionable new shopping areas of Montpellier and the Promenade.

　　Cheltenham's heyday as a spa lasted from about 1790 to 1840 and these years saw the building of the town's many fine Regency terraces, crescents and villas. By 1840 it had also become a popular residential town, particularly for military families, many of whom had served in the Empire. It also gained a reputation for the quality of preaching in its many churches and chapels and for its schools and colleges, which encouraged still more families to settle in the town.

　　The earliest of the schools was the Cheltenham Proprietary College for Boys, opened in 1841; the Ladies' College opened 13 years later. During the late nineteenth century, the town developed some craft industries, in particular a number of firms producing high-quality work in wood, metal, stone and plaster. During the First World War, one of those firms, H H Martyn & Co. began to manufacture aircraft components and later established the Gloster Aircraft Company, thereby beginning a long-standing connection between the town and aeronautical engineering. The twentieth century town has grown rapidly, becoming a centre for business and administration. Accessibility to the A40 trunk road and the M5; with main railway and airport connections has attracted major players to set up headquarters buildings in the town including Chelsea Building Society, Dowty Aerospace, Smiths aerospace, Eagle Star, and the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS). This was boosted quite recently by the decision of Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) to build its replacement headquarters or so called 'doughnut' within the borough.

　　It also remained a tourist resort throughout the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Since the Second World War, it has built on its existing attractions with its Festivals of Music and Literature, and National Hunt Racing festivals, employing some of the 6,000 people who work in the tourist industry. It offers a centre for tourists and foreign visitors with its high quality accommodation and speciality shopping. It remains a centre of educational excellence and continues in that tradition through a number of recently established language schools.

　　Cheltenham does face some challenges however. Whilst the majority of property values in the town continue to rise, one of the town's wards is ranked within the top 20 per cent of most deprived areas in the country. This creates conflicts in trying to attract tourists, businesses and residents to a town perceived as a prosperous place to work or live, when that town is also trying to attract grant funding and regeneration partners. There is also the challenge of encouraging new growth and maintaining the economy as well as preserving the legacy of the historic past for present-day visitors to enjoy and appreciate. Above all, Cheltenham must find a more sustainable way of satisfying people's needs and demands today, without putting so much pressure on their environment that their children will not have the same opportunities.

(Mostly adapted by Sam from http://www.cheltenham.gov.uk/libraries/)