Web Design for Tewkesbury, Newent and the Forest of Dean: Floods, Fibre and Free Miners
From an abbey that stood in the floods to a forest with its own ancient rules, here is what makes Tewkesbury, Newent and the Forest of Dean different, and what it means for local business websites.
North and west of Gloucester the county changes character. The Severn and the Avon meet at Tewkesbury, the land rises into the Forest of Dean, and between them sit market towns such as Newent and Lydney that have their own rhythm. The businesses there are very different from those in a city, and so are the things a website has to do for them.
We have been building and supporting websites since 2006, and these are some of the places we cover from Swindon. Our web design for Gloucester businesses page lists them all. This post is a closer look at three: Tewkesbury, Newent and the Forest of Dean. If you would like the story of the two larger neighbours, we wrote about Cheltenham and Gloucester too.
Tewkesbury: an abbey, a mustard and a river
Tewkesbury is a small town with a long list of claims to fame. Its Norman abbey is one of the largest parish churches in the country. The Battle of Tewkesbury, in 1471, was one of the decisive moments of the Wars of the Roses. Shakespeare even mentions the town’s mustard, in Henry IV, when someone’s wit is described as “thick as Tewkesbury mustard”.
The river is the other part of its character. In July 2007 the Severn and the Avon flooded the town, and pictures of the abbey standing in a sea of water went round the world. A survey of 78 local firms by Tewkesbury Chamber of Commerce afterwards found that lost trade was the biggest effect on businesses, ahead of damage to buildings.
That is a useful lesson for any business near water, and it is a website lesson as much as a practical one. When the shop is cut off, customers turn to Google and to your website first, so a few simple things help:
- Host your website somewhere else. It should not depend on a server in your own building. Our website support and hosting keeps it running whatever the weather.
- Be able to post a notice in minutes. A banner that says “open as usual” or “closed today, back on Monday” is worth more than any advert, as long as you can change it from your phone.
- Keep your Google Business Profile in step. That is the first place people check.
Newent: a market town with a few surprises
Newent is a market town in the north-west of the county, with a museum of Victorian life known as the Shambles and, just outside, one of the best-known vineyards in England. It is the sort of place where a good independent shop, a food producer or a craft business can do very well, because people travel specially to find them.
For those businesses the website is often the shop window that people see before they ever make the journey. A clear page about what you sell, when you are open and where to park does more than a clever design. If you sell products, an online shop built on a platform such as WooCommerce lets you reach customers well beyond the town.
The Forest of Dean: old rules, new cables
The Forest of Dean is one of England’s ancient royal forests. It has its own traditions too: the “free miners”, men born in the Hundred of St Briavels who have worked for a year and a day in a local mine, still hold rights to dig for coal and iron that go back centuries. Today the forest is better known for its sculpture trail, its cycling and walking, and the wild boar that have returned to its woodland.
That makes it a place of outdoor activity businesses, holiday lets, small farms and makers. It is also a place where the internet has not always been easy to come by. Full-fibre broadband providers such as Gigaclear have been building networks in towns and villages around the forest, including Lydney and Coleford, and in Lydney the work was reported to have involved tunnelling under a railway line to reach homes on the other side. Coverage still varies from lane to lane, so it is always worth checking an address before assuming.
The same is true for visitors, who are often searching from a car park with a patchy mobile signal. For a forest business, that points to a few habits:
- Keep pages light. Small, well-prepared images load on a weak connection.
- Put the essentials first. Opening times, prices and how to find you should not be buried.
- Test on a phone, not just a laptop. If it works on the move, it works everywhere.
Let’s talk about your website
Whether you are in Tewkesbury, Newent, Lydney, Coleford or somewhere in between, we would be happy to hear about your business and what you would like your website to do. We can start from scratch, or take over one that has been left alone for too long, and we will explain everything in plain English. Read more on our Gloucester web design page, or get in touch for a friendly chat.
