As part of our Cotswold trip, my husband and I will be staying at Thornbury Castle for a couple of nights. Other than Berkeley Castle and the Gloucester Cathedral, are there any other towns/sights worth visiting nearby? Also, if there are any restaurant or pub recommendations, that would be helpful. Thank you!

From Thornbury it is easy to get to Bristol, Gloucester, Cheltenham, Tewkesbury, Worcester, and those towns/cities are all just off the M5. You could get to Chepstow (terrific castle) in half an hour, Cardiff in an hour, not to mention plenty of other places in South Wales. Just off the top of my head, some of the places along the border - Caerleon, Tintern Abbey, Symonds Yat, Ross-on-Wye, and lots more.

Also easy to get to from Thornbury would be Bath, Tetbury, Cirencester and the north Cotswold towns of Stow-on-the-Wold, Moreton-in-Marsh, and pretty villages like the Slaughters. If you are interested in pre-history then Avebury stone circle would be an easy drive, more so than Stonehenge.

But here I am assuming you will have a car! You really would need one to get around and see much more than Berkeley Castle and Slimbridge Wildfowl Sanctuary from Thornbury.

Also, you don't say what time of year you will be visiting. That will make a difference to where you might consider going and what you might see.

I live on one of the hills overlooking the Severn Vale, in which Thornbury is situated. My pub recommendations tend to be this way, as I haven't spent time down in the vale since 1975 when I lived in a village close to Thornbury for a few months that summer. A long time ago, and it was a hot sunny summer!

Anyway, if I can be of any further help, please ask.

Thornbury Castle itself has probably the grandest restaurant in the area. It is over five years since we had lunch there, but we found it formal but friendly.

Both Ronnies and Alveston House have good reputations and are local to Thornbury. There are also Chinese and Indian restaurants, and pubs.

One pub you may like to visit is the Anchor at Oldbury on Severn. They have a restaurant but also do good bar meals. It can be busy.

There is a lot of choice in the area. It all depends on your tastes and your budget.