Somerset

@Bristol

A huge bronze beetle guards the entrance to Wildwalk, part of Bristol’s award-winning family attraction. Hands-on discovery is the keynote of @Bristol.

Abbey Gatehouse

Once Britain was dotted with monasteries, each enclosed behind high walls with strong gates. The bigger the abbey, the more magnificent its gatehouse would be.

Abbey Green

The green is secretly Stuart. 17th-century houses built on the former courtyard of Bath Priory were later given a Georgian facelift. Here the greenery has taken over.

Alfred House

The fancy Georgian ironwork of this house has survived intact. Now it even holds aloft a replica of a Georgian oil lamp. Notice the torch extinguishers.

Animal Farm Adventure Centre

Explore the 25 acres of delightful countryside, home to lots of friendly animals. Meet the Shetland ponies, make friends with the farm animals and enjoy our seasonal treasure hunt.

Animal Farm Adventure Park

Have all-weather fun with our monster playbarn with big indoor slides. Feed and hold friendly animals, all in 30 acres of delightful countryside.

Ashton Court Mansion and Estate

Two miles from Bristol city centre is this historic country house and park. Once the home of a family of wealthy Bristol merchants, it is now owned by Bristol City Council.

Assembly Rooms

In Jane Austen’s time these were known as the Upper Rooms, since there were other assembly rooms in the city centre. The wide-eyed heroine of Northanger Abbey was astonished by the crowd at her first ball there.

Avalon Vineyard

Tucked away, deep in the countryside, this tranquil vineyard is the perfect picnic spot. Admission is free, and please sample our range of wines, mead and ciders.

Bath Abbey

Behold how it is good and pleasing. This is the exhortation in Latin across the doors of Bath Abbey. Millions come to do just that. Bath Abbey was once a great cathedral priory, dominating a tiny walled city.

Colston Hall

Bristol’s largest concert venue is run by the city council. It takes its name from the school that once stood on the site, founded by Edward Colston.

Colston’s Almshouse

Gracious ranges are grouped around the courtyard of this almshouse built in 1691. The clock and belfry mark its barrel-vaulted chapel. It was founded for the poor by Bristol merchant Edward Colston, who made a fortune from the slave trade.

Council House

Bristol’s largest neo-Georgian building dominates College Green. The massive sweep of the Council House curves around the west side of the green and vies with the cathedral beside it in looming presence.

Cross Bath

Here bubbles up one of Bath’s smaller hot springs. By about 1700 the Cross Bath was ’the bathing place of pleasure’. More private than the King’s Bath, it was favoured by the beau monde.

East Gate

Bath’s one remaining city gate is not easy to spot, unless you know exactly where to look. Go down Boat Stall Lane from Grand Parade and look down to your left.

Edward Colston

Colston (1636-1721) was a man of contradictions. Much of his wealth was founded on the slave trade. He was an ardent supporter of the Tory party and the established church, to the point of intolerance of all dissent.

Edward Everard’s Printing Works

This remarkable Art Nouveau façade was designed in 1900 for the printing works of Edward Everard. Either side are Johann Gutenberg, father of printing, and William Morris, reviver of craftsmanship.

Ferne Animal Sanctuary

Ferne Animal Sanctuary is just off the A30 and provides refuge for unwanted animals. It is a retirement home for approximately 300 animals varying in size from horses, cows, donkeys, ponies, goats, chinchillas, rabbits, guinea pigs, chipmunks and a variety of poultry and birds from geese, ducks and hens to parrots and finches.

Fleet Air Arm Museum

Situated alongside an operational air station, the Fleet Air Arm Museum is one of the ‘must see’ attractions when in the Southwest, housing the largest European collection of Naval Aircraft.

Floating Harbour

Bristol grew wealthy on trade through its harbour. Yet for centuries strong tides left vessels half buried in mud at low water. The problem was solved in the early 19th century, when a stretch of the River Avon was enclosed to create a deep water pool.

Royal Fort House

This elegant Georgian house has outstanding rococo plasterwork. Thomas Stocking created the vines that curl up the stairwell, with birds pecking the grapes and this fox looking hungrily on.

Royal Victoria Park

Victoria Park was created out of the old town common when Victoria was still a princess. Opened in 1830, it was in the vanguard of the Victorian public park movement.

Royal West of England Academy

This was Bristol’s first art gallery, built in 1858. The Bristol Society of Artists argued among themselves over its design. Should the style be Greek or Italian? The winner was this flamboyant Italianate façade by J.H.Hirst.

SS Great Britain

Launched in 1843, the SS Great Britain was the world’s first iron-hulled, steam-powered, ocean-going ship. Her designer was the inventive genius Isambard Kingdom Brunel.

Saracen’s Head

This gabled front conjures up something of pre-Georgian Bath. According to the credible date carved on it, The Saracen’s Head was built in 1713 - the last year of the Stuart age.

Sherborne Garden

Visit our romantic garden with its colourful collections of rose species, grasses, waterlilies and hemerocallis. Old walls and clipped hedges divide the 6 acres into areas which include a pinetum, holly & fern wood, planaton of unusual trees, gravel garden, cottage & privy garden, picnic area and car park.

Shire’s Yard

Heavy goods travelled by carrier in the 18th century. Carriers John and Walter Wiltshire had a wagon-yard here, now converted into a charming collection of shops and cafés.

St. Andrew’s Walk

Clifton was once a village served by the medieval Church of St Andrew. The small church could not cope with increasing numbers and was rebuilt, only to be lost in the Blitz.

St. Bartholomew’s Hospital

Old houses hide a yet earlier history. Here stood the medieval St Bartholomew’s Hospital. After it was converted into a school in 1532, it seems that plots along the street front were granted to build houses.

St. James’s Garden

The large churchyard of St James’s Priory became a public garden in 1882. A stone cross with a drinking fountain was donated, which has now lost its head.

St. Stephen’s Church

This area was a marsh outside the town wall until the River Frome was diverted in 1247. St Stephen’s parish was built up on reclaimed land. Bristol mayor John Shipward financed a rebuilding of the church around 1470 with its graceful tower.

Sydney Gardens

This is the only one of Bath’s Georgian pleasure gardens to survive. When it opened in 1795 it was privately run and visitors paid an entrance fee. Now it is a public park with a hidden surprise.

Tailor’s Hall

This fine door hood has the coat of arms of the Merchant Tailors Guild. It protects the entrance to their one time guild hall, built in 1740-1. The tailors were one of the 23 trade companies of the city, but lapsed on the death of the last member in 1824.

Temple Church and Gardens

Temple Church was founded c.1147 by Robert of Gloucester, the powerful illegitimate son of Henry I, who held Bristol Castle and great estates in the area.

Temple Meads Station

During the early Victorian railway rush companies sprang up to build railway lines across Britain. Bristol was the meeting point of the Great Western Railway and the Bristol and Exeter line.

The American Museum in Britain

The American Museum in Britain shows, largely in a series of Period Rooms, the development of American Decorative arts from its European roots to purely American styles such as Shaker or Pennsylvania German.

The Arcade

Shopping malls are nothing new. It all began with the first shopping arcade in late eighteenth-century Paris. A covered pedestrian alley provided comfortable, stylish and safe shopping away from the dirt and clatter of the street, not to mention the rain.

The Architecture Centre

Anyone fascinated by buildings should feel at home here. The Bristol Centre for the Advancement of Architecture was founded in 1996. An 18th-century warehouse beside the Floating Harbour was converted to provide two exhibition galleries, a meeting room and a shop.

The Cheddar Gorge Cheese Company

We are the only working Cheddar dairy in Cheddar which makes ours is the only authentic Cheddar in the world. Visitors can see the cheese being ‘Cheddared’ in the dairy, walk through the museum and come into our new store for tasters, cheese cut off the block and all our plain, flavoured and speciality cheeses to buy..

The Circus

The Circus was John Wood the elder’s masterpiece. It was a design of startling originality. Drawing his inspiration from antique models as far apart as the Coliseum and Stonehenge, he created a bold architectural statement all his own.

Wells Cathedral

Wells Cathedral is the highlight of any visit to the small city of Wells. It has intricate Gothic carvings, one of the earliest mechanical clocks in the UK, a unique scissors vault, a marvellous chapter house and the splendid vicars’ hall.

Westbury Church

Christianity goes back a long way in Westbury. There was a religious settlement here by 715. It declined, but St Oswald, Bishop of Worcester, sent 12 monks to make fresh start at Westbury in 961.

Westbury College Gatehouse

Bishop Carpenter built a new quadrangle in the 15th century for Westbury’s college (community) of priests. It was like a miniature castle, with a turret at each corner and a battlemented gatehouse.

Westonzoyland Pumping Station Museum

Westonzoyland Pumping Station is the earliest steam pumping station on the Somerset levels dating from 1830’s. Extensive collections of steam stationary engines and pumps.

White Hart Inn

This historic pub stands on the site of the gatehouse of St James Priory. Its vaulted cellars apparently date to the medieval period. The inn was first granted a license in 1672, but has been much altered.

William Herschel Museum

A delightful Georgian town house and garden where astronomer Herschel discovered the planet Uranus in 1781. Restored and furnished in the style of the period, the museum now has a collection of astronomical & musical instruments and original astronomers workshop.

Willows & Wetlands Visitor Centre

The visitor centre provides a fascinating insight into this traditional willow industry. Entrance is free to the basket museum, Willows & Wetlands Exhibition furniture gallery and video room.

Ye Shakespeare

England’s greatest dramatist is honoured in quite a few pub names. This house was built only 20 years after Shakespeare’s death, if we accept the credible date of 1636 on the front.