Travel blogger Adventurous Kate spent May 2026 split between two very different corners of Europe: her home base of Prague, which she calls at its best in May, and a six-day swing through southwest England built entirely around one gloriously unhinged event — the Cooper's Hill Cheese-Rolling.
The England trip was a departure from her usual visits, which normally revolve around family time in London. This time she and her husband Charlie worked through the Cotswolds and Bristol, and the villages delivered exactly the postcard stuff the region is known for: honey-coloured stone cottages, ivy, waterside pubs. Her standouts? Bourton-on-the-Water for its riverside setting, the neighbouring villages of Lower and Upper Slaughter for the quiet hour-long walking trail between them, and Cirencester for feeling like a real working town in the middle of heavy tourist traffic.
Bristol surprised her. The university city has an offbeat, artsy, youthful energy that she found far more appealing than its low profile suggests — but the real highlight was dinner. Wilson's, a Michelin-starred restaurant that appeared in the Apple TV+ series Knife Edge, served what she describes as one of the best meals of her life: a seven-course tasting menu for £78, which is remarkable value at that level. She's already planning to bolt Bristol onto future London trips just to eat there again.
The reason for the whole journey was the Cooper's Hill Cheese-Rolling at Brockworth near Gloucester, where competitors chase a wheel of cheese down a near-vertical hill every spring. Kate calls witnessing it in person incredible, though she says once is probably enough — her full guide to attending covers the details for anyone tempted, as a spectator or a runner. One caution from her own experience: skip the city of Gloucester itself, which she found bleak and not worth the 90 minutes spent there. Nearby Cheltenham is the better base.
Back in Prague, the month was a reminder of why May is peak time in the Czech capital. She hiked to Velká Amerika, the so-called Czech Grand Canyon near Karlštejn Castle, and explored Divoká Šárka, a rocky nature reserve that sits within Prague's city limits near the airport. There was also a spicy and fermented foods festival in Holešovice — highlight: an aggressively hot caramel corn — and an annual dinner at El Camino, a Spanish restaurant she rates among the city's best for special occasions thanks to its inventive take on tapas.
Why it matters for travellers: this is a tidy case for shoulder-season trips. May delivers Prague at its liveliest with food festivals and good hiking weather, while England's countryside is green and the big events are running. And the Bristol tip is the kind of practical intel worth acting on — a top-tier Michelin meal under £80 won't stay a secret forever. Her takeaways: build a trip around an event you love, tack a food city onto a family visit, and in the Cotswolds, pick your villages carefully because they are not all equal.
Story via Adventurous Kate.
