Tucked away in almost-Wales, Chester is a popular spot for international tourists 'doing' England. The city walls are the biggest draw, ostensibly Roman and remarkably complete, surrounding some unusually attractive shopping streets. With history and retail within easy walking distance, it's no wonder Chester reels them in. Here are ten things to see and do in the city (although I'm relying on you lot to supply 8, 9 and 10). [12 photos]
1) Walk the City Walls
These are extraordinary, forming a two mile circuit around the heart of the city, tracing out an approximately playing-card-shaped path. The Romans started them off as earthen banks, soon fronted with stone for greater defensive strength. City fathers later extended the ring to its current extent and topped it off with a capstone walkway. Large gateways allowed the populace in and out, and a variety of observation towers became embedded within. But whereas most English cities knocked most of theirs down, Chester retained its wall, and it's still possible to go for a complete circuit to this day.
Except it isn't quite. A 100m gap on the southern flank facing the River Dee takes you back to street level. Not all of the wall is original - some bits are Civil War restorations, others are Georgian infill, and the odd elevated section looks very much like late 20th century concrete. All the original 'gates' are long gone, replaced by wider vehicle-friendly gaps. One northern section has been fenced off for repairs for two years after the stairs were found to be highly unstable, and trains to Wales run straight through where the northwestern corner used to be. But the remainder's impressive enough, and that's most of it, rest assured.
2) Shop The Rows
Chester's central shopping district is lined by tall half-timbered buildings, very Elizabethan-looking (even if most are Victorian rebuilds), and collectively most striking. Some are boutiques, some are chains like W H Smiths, while others are nothing more than generic mobile phone repair shops in an impressive setting. Most notable are the Rows, a two storey configuration dating back to medieval times, where the upper floor is set back behind covered walkways and the ground floor nudged slightly underground. None of this looks especially disabled-friendly, and the upper terrace I walked along felt a bit untravelled, but my word it puts your local architecturally-bereft shopping centre to shame.
3) Snap the Eastgate Clock
It's said to be the second most photographed clock in England, after Big Ben (which I know is technically not a clock, before all the pedants write in). It's perched on what used to be the eastern gate into the city, replaced by a sandstone arch in the 18th century, and now located partway along the main shopping street. The four-faced clock, glinting gold beneath a copper cupola, was added for Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee, It looks good from below, but for a decent close-up is best approached along the city walls, and then you can wave backdown at all the shoppers snapping up.
4) Tour the Cathedral
The city boasts a middle-ranking cathedral, neither wildly alluring nor drably mundane, perhaps because it's built from local sandstone. Entrance is free, although you have to queue at a desk for a ticket on the way in, and when the till flashes up "Customer" it cheapens the experience somewhat. As well as a donation, what they're hoping is that you'll pay for an 'experience' up the tower, reached via various narrow elevated passageways, although I judged sodden spring days weren't the best time for a decent view. My favourite (downstairs) element was probably the cloisters, with second place to an under-construction 350000-brick model of the cathedral in Lego, currently risen to top-of-the-windows level.
5) Explore the Grosvenor Museum
Chester's museum straddles the needs of locals and tourists alike, hence feels a little underwhelming for a city of this historical calibre. The highlight is the gallery packed with Roman gravestones uncovered from the city walls during renovation, their inscriptions protected from the elements over the intervening centuries. The actual Roman gallery is perhaps a little dated, and the collection of fine silverware upstairs probably never gets busy. I liked the period rooms hidden behind the gift shop, and one of the contemporary art exhibitions, but gave the could've-been-anywhere natural history galleries a miss, sorry.
6) See the Amphitheatre
The city's finest Roman remains lie just outside the walls, specifically England's largest amphitheatre, or rather what's left of it. Once a deep, fully-seated bowl, now only the lower level remains, and two-thirds of the oval has never been excavated. On the undisturbed side lies Dee House, a Georgian townhouse listed in its own right, leaving the council in a dilemma as to which feature should be more worthy of preservation. While they agonise over making their minds up, and whether a boutique hotel would be the best outcome, bring a packed lunch and imagine gladiators battling to the death.
7) Watch the Racing
Chester has the UK's oldest racecourse in continuous use, and also one of the shortest at barely one mile in length. It's located on The Roodee, adjacent to the city walls, inside a meander on the Dee which used to be Roman harbour. Racing's infrequent, between May and September only, and gives members of Cheshire society somewhere to see and be seen. Even without going to the races I was struck by how well-groomed many of the locals were, bedecked in the best labels, shod in proper footwear and with barely a hair out of place (blondes being more frequent than genetics would suggest). Check the dress code before attending.
8) Go to the Zoo
Regularly voted best zoo in Britain, and always the country's most-visited wildlife attraction, Chester Zoo has grown from a private collection to a genuine family-friendly success. I am however unable to write a review because a) I didn't go, b) I have a conflict of interest relating to The North of England Zoological Society. This is your chance to add your comments, if any of you have been, which seems likely given it gets almost two million visitors a year. Update: Andrew says "The zoo is a good one, particularly if you have children in train. Elephants, rhinos, chimpanzees, orangutans, etc. Monorail and boat trip. Some bits were somewhat tired when I was there last but I understand the owners have been/are refreshing parts of it." Caz adds "The enclosures are spacious and the animals look contented. The new Islands area is very attractive with themed structures, sound effects and planting – and there’s a fun boat trip."
9) Follow the River
The Dee loops around Chester's southern rim, and is easily accessed. Two readers recommend a boat trip "from the Groves upriver as far as the iron bridge", and a third once tried hiring a rowing boat to oar it himself. Mike also suggests "a stroll in the Meadows on the other side of the river, where the countryside comes right into the city". If it's a sunny day, Wole rates "a stroll through Grosvenor Park" (which I see also boasts a miniature railway open at weekends from Easter). Amber has particular memories of the swans, "lots of them, flying or paddling downstream to 'work' in the city centre where they would be fed and photographed."
10) Something else This one's are over to you. I only spent three hours in Chester, and spent an hour of that checking out a peripheral football stadium, plus I remember scandalously little of my previous visit in 1980. If you don't come up with something I shall be forced to write about a walk along the canal and the underwhelming castle. You can do better.
The odd thing about Chester FC, an English club in football's fifth tier, is that they play in Wales.
Not all of Chester is in England. The Welsh border swings in round the Dee estuary, crossing the river a mile downstream from the city centre, then bending west again. For centuries the boundary passed through saltmarsh and farmland, well away from any commercial activity, but suburbanisation nudged the city outwards, beyond its famous walls. In particular a huge trading estate grew up to the west, a warren of car dealers and builder merchants, and nudged inexorably closer to the country nextdoor.
Chester City FC used to play at SealandRoad, an ageing stadium at the top of Bumpers Lane. But in 1990 new owners took over and announced plans to redevelop the site as a retail park, like they do, and fans were forced to groundshare with distant Macclesfield for two years until a replacement could be built. The chosen site was farmland halfway down Bumpers Lane, slap bang on the border between England and Wales, hence the team's unique geographical quirk. At the new Deva Stadium the entire pitch and all four stands are in Wales. But the admin block stuck to the front nudges out just far enough to reach England, hence the main entrance isn't in Wales, hence the stadium is officially English.
I quite liked the idea of walking from Chester to Wales, so set off on a short trek up the Sealand Road. The site of the former stadium is now a Poundland and TX Maxx and, for now at least, a Maplin. Bumpers Lane is unrecognisable as the dead end dirttrack to the Dee it once was, lined by innumerable low-res warehouses. All the family-friendly chains and big supermarkets are at the top end, then come the retail sheds where Dads like to spend their weekend afternoons, and finally the council tip. And all the time the floodlights at the very far end were growing closer... and hang on, why were they blazing?
Deva Stadium is normally a silent void surrounded by an empty car park - ideal conditions for a spot of psychogeographical flaneury. On this occasion, however, the car park was full, and excitable shouts from within confirmed that a match was in progress. What's more a considerable number of police were present, far more than I'd expect to find at a National League match, and I realised I'd now have to carry out my stadium reconnaissance under their full scrutiny. Worst of all they'd parked their dog vans at the very point where Bumpers Lane reverts to a farm track and heads into Wales, and I no longer fancied walking past the barking to explore. Dammit. Always do your research before you visit, especially if your plans include a football stadium on a Saturday afternoon.
I wandered through the potholed car park to the front of the offices, where a club minion was shifting traffic cones in readiness for the end of the match. He eyed me suspiciously as a I took a photo of the doors to the bar and shop, made brief conversational contact (in English, not Welsh), then wandered off to shift some more. I took the opportunity to step into Wales. The border slants across the car park, with the disabled spaces against the back of the main stand a few yards on the Welsh side. But there were absolutely no signs anywhere to give the game away, and unless I'd checked on a map beforehand I'd never have known.
A roar went up from inside as the match reached fever pitch. I guessed from the noise level that the home side must have done something impressive, but not quite as impressive as scoring a goal. The gate at the back of the stand flapped open and a spectator emerged, walked round the side of the stadium, knocked, and popped back in. I considered trying the same and becoming spectator number 3104, but thought better of it, and continued round into the Welsh arm of the car park. The outsides of prefab football stadia alas aren't the most exciting of places, in this case a whitewashed wall with four doors, intermittently broken by adverts for the village chemist who sponsored the family stand.
A much longer roar erupted from the far side, sustained for celebratory length, which I assumed must be bad news for the home team. Sure enough a trickle of supporters appeared at the gates, heading silently for their cars parked in the adjacent country. One was a dad leading his young daughter, one of whom sounded sorry not to be staying until the final whistle. I finally checked on my phone and discovered that yes, Tranmere Rovers had just scored a goal. They're from just up the Wirral, making this a local derby, which suddenly explained the presence of police in large numbers. What's more that goal they'd just scored had condemned Chester to relegation, and a purgatorial season in the National League North now awaits. What a time to have turned up.
It's particularly gutting for supporters, whose team has been climbing the non-league echelons since the owners went bust in 2010, and who'd finally got back to where they were when they were kicked out. For 2018/19 they'll be one rung down. The replacement club is known as Chester rather than Chester City, and now has no connection to the bankrupt consortium who flogged off the original ground.
Further perambulation proved impractical, under the gaze of dozens of police officers with nobody else to look at, plus there's not much to be gained from following an invisible line across a packed car park. My planned escape down Bumpers Lane was still obstructed by trained canines, but I reassured myself that the brief footpath I'd planned to follow down to the Dee was probably a quagmire and I'd had a lucky escape. My visit to the start of the Wales Coast Path will have to wait. In the meantime I'm pleased to have visited the English football stadium that's actually in Wales, just as Nuneaton Town, Darlington and Southport will be doing next season.
