Gloucestershire is a county in south west England, whose county town is the city of Gloucester. It also contains major towns including Cheltenham, Cirencester, Tewkesbury and Stroud.

Cheltenham is perhaps chiefly known for 2 things, the famous racecourse which is the venue of the annual Gold Cup, and GCHQ, a huge building which houses the UK Government's communications heaquarters.

The Forest of Dean, part of the Cotswold Hills and some of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn all feature within the county. Neighbouring counties include Monmouthshire (in Wales), Herefordshire, Warwickshire, Worcestershire, Oxfordshire, Wiltshire, Somerset and Bristol.

Gloucestershire has 2 universities, the University of Gloucestershire and the Royal Agricultural University. The county has many notable religious buildings including the cathedral of Gloucester and the churches of Cirencester and Tewkesbury. Other notable buildings include Calcot Barn in Calcot, a relic of Kingswood Abbey, Thornbury Castle, a Tudor country house, Badminton House, seat of the Dukes of Beaufort, Sudeley Castle, burial place of Catherine Parr and the house of Edward Jenner, the originator of the first smallpox vaccine.

There are a number of royal residences in the county including Highgrove House, Gatcombe Park, and (formerly) Nether Lypiatt Manor.

The county has 2 motorways, the M5 (Exeter to Birmingham) and the M50, which is essentially a spur off the M5 at Eckington which connects with Ross-on-Wye.

Gloucestershire County Cricket Club's home ground is at Bristol, an anomaly which dates back to when the city was part of the county, which is no longer the case.

The county hosts an annual "cheese-rolling" event at Cooper's Hill, near Brockworth and also the Cotswold Games.