STARTING POINT: Outside the Beehive Pub, 1-3 Montpellier Villas

INTRODUCTION

The first Holst to come to Cheltenham was Gustav Holst’s grandfather, Gustavus (1799-1870). He had arrived in London as a young boy in the early 1800s when his musician father Matthias moved from St Petersburg, where he had been a musician at the Imperial Russian Court. Also talented musically, Gustavus began making short visits to thriving and prosperous Regency Cheltenham, where he gave music lessons to the children of wealthy parents. Gustavus settled in Cheltenham upon taking up the post as the first Professor of Music at Cheltenham Ladies’ College, when it opened to the public in 1854.

With your back to the pub, turn left to start the tour. The first stop is only a few steps away at 6 Montpellier Villas Road

Note: The Beehive is one of the oldest pubs in Cheltenham. It was designed by John Forbes, the architect responsible for the Grade I listed Pittville Pump Room. One of the pub's most famous regulars was the poet Cecil Day-Lewis who taught English at Cheltenham College in the 1930s.