The SoGlos.com Blog

Enjoy a glorious Gloucestershire Christmas in 2008

The SoGlos.com team would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas, and what better present could there be than a carefully-selected round-up of Christmas shenanigans, with all articles researched and written by our dedicated team of journos? Okay, maybe a new car would be take the gingerbread man, but be sure to enjoy the finest festive season with SoGlos.com's guide to Christmas in Gloucestershire 2008.

BBC Countryfile feature the Football in the River

While SoGlos.com's 2007 and 2008 videos of the Bourton-on-the-Water Football in the River action have been watched an estimated half a million times on video websites the world over, the now world-famous event was also the subject of attention for BBC's Countyfile programme, when roaming presenter Adam Henson took part in this year shenanigans.

The full Countryfile episode can be seen here, and you'll even see SoGlos.com's editor and deputy editor getting splashed on the sidelines if you look closely, amougnst the scores of other spectators that is. The Countryfile team were also kind enough to link to SoGlos.com from their own website - with thousands of readers having clicked-through to find out more about the annual sporting event, and the fantastic county of Gloucestershire, since the show aired on 21 September 2008.

Putting Gloucestershire on the map

While this week marks SoGlos.com's official first birthday, it is with great pleasure that we have a very exciting present indeed for Gloucestershire residents and visitors alike.

The Gloucestershire Interactive Map is a completely innovative geographical resource which is easy to use, free and extremely useful, not to mention absolutely unique to SoGlos.com.

Now you can plan a day trip to a fantastic county attraction before hunting down a nearby café for a spot of lunch; pinpoint the perfect hotel before booking a treat at a sumptuous spa; find that local pub you never knew existed before trying out your dance moves at a new nightclub; or reserve a table at one of Gloucestershire’s finest restaurants just a short walk away from the theatre.

And these are just a few examples of the endless ways in which you will be able to take advantage of all that Gloucestershire has to offer – all showcased in one place, for the very first time.

The Gloucestershire Interactive Map utilises Google Maps technology, and incorporates all of SoGlos.com’s 3,000+ leisure, arts and entertainment listings – with featured businesses and organisations highlighted with a special ‘So’ pin to show you where you can find out the most information.

The team here at SoGlos.com towers are absolutely chuffed with the new development - with Gloucestershire being the first county in the whole UK to have such a fantastic resource - and we hope you enjoy is as much as we do.

British Shin Kicking Championship 2008

While Gloucestershire has already seen it's fair share of wacky events take to the county in the last couple of weeks (okay, one, but the Cheese Rolling is surely the wackiest of them all...) - the British Shin Kicking Championship 2008, forming part of the Cotswold Olimpick Games 2008, is the latest event to draw in spectators from far and wide, including the SoGlos.com team armed with a video camera.

There's also a full review and picture gallery of the event SoGlos.com. Only time will tell whether Internet audiences from around the world become as fascinated with this annual Gloucestershire spectacular.

New Gloucestershire events calendars

While readers regularly get in touch to say how much they enjoy the Gloucestershire events calendar, the SoGlos.com team has also been asked to come up with specific calendars for the six main areas of our fine county. Hey presto! Check out the new, dedicated Cheltenham events calendar, Cotswolds events calendar, Forest of Dean events calendar, Gloucester events calendar, Stroud events calendar and, last but not least, the Tewkesbury events calendar. With longer days and the weather brightening up, there's never been a better time to get out there and enjoy everything Gloucestershire has to offer...

Gloucestershire spas, restaurants, music and more

With the New Year in full swing, the SoGlos.com team have already been busy, busy, busy. Highlights include the new Gloucestershire Spa break guide, a review of modern European eatery Merlot Brasserie in Cheltenham and a preview of the not-to-be-missed Cheltenham Folk Festival 2008 - not to mention a whole host of new Gloucestershire events just around the corner. You'll also find the Gloucestershire live music gig guide, Gloucestershire art exhibition guide and Gloucestershire restaurant reviews jam-packed as ever. And who said January was a miserable month?...

New Gloucestershire Theatre & Comedy section

The SoGlos.com team are delighted to announce the online magazine's brand new, dedicated Gloucestershire Theatre & Comedy section.

Theatre and comedy events were previously covered in the Gloucestershire Art & Culture section, but with the wealth of fantastic performances being held at venues including The Everyman Theatre, The Roses Theatre, The Bacon Theatre, Cheltenham Town Hall and Gloucester's Guildhall - cramming everything in was no mean feat.

The new section will thus offer Gloucestershire residents and visitors an unrivaled guide to county stage performances, while the team will be able to focus more on attractions, art and museums in the original Gloucestershire Art & Culture section.

Gloucestershire Pride of Place

The national Pride of Place website has set out to try and find the locations and attractions across England which members of the public are most proud of. Some local personalities have been asked to provide nominations to get the ball rolling; with Mark Cummings from the BBC Gloucestershire Breakfast Show nominating Minchinhampton and Rodborough Commons, and Gloucestershire Echo Newspaper editor Anita Syvret going for Dover’s Hill – while there are a number of other attractions and beauty spots on the list.

Berkeley Castle, Bibury, Bourton-on-the-Water, Cheltenham, Gloucester Cathedral, Symonds Yat, The Sculpture Trail and the view from Cleeve Hill – as well as the two mentioned above – have all made it. The last time we looked Bourton-on-the-Water had a clear lead with 34 per cent of votes – perhaps due to the Facebook campaign which has quickly organised itself to muster support. Head over to the Pride of Place website to show support for your favourite attraction. You might also want to check our SoGlos.com's comprehensive directory of Gloucestershire attractions.

Featured on the YouTube homepage again

It looks like YouTube's viewers can't get enough of Gloucestershire's wacky events, as SoGlos.com's video of the Bourton-on-the-Water Football in the River has just been selected for the video website's homepage - following in the footsteps of the Cheese Rolling video featured on YouTube earlier in the year.

No doubt tens of thousands of viewers will be watching the latest video over the coming days, which is great news for our fine county and for Gloucestershire's leading online magazine.

Gloucestershire makes another Stateside splash

It looks like we may have spoken too soon in suggesting SoGlos.com's football in the river video isn't going to be able to match the fame of the cheese rolling video - as we've just received news the Bourton Rovers action is being featured on American website collegehumor.com - a YouTube-esque site which reaches a staggering 6.21 million unique users every month - with emails about the event flocking in faster than you can say 'goaaaaaaaallllll'.