Clifton and the Suspension Bridge and other Bristol, United Kingdom Things to Do Tips

The great British engineer, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, was a remarkable man and one of his great achievments was the Clifton Suspension Bridge. It took well over 30 years to build, finished in 1864. The bridge carries a road between Bristol and Somerset, 70 metres above the River Avon!!

I won't churn out lots of facts because there is a Visitor Centre nearby. And information on a large plaque near the bridge. You can walk or bicycle across the bridge for free and admire the engineering at close hand.

Or walk down the twisting 'zig-zag' path to the bottom of the gorge to see a splendid view from the road below.

What was just as nice for me was the surrounding neighbourhood, Clifton Village. It is full with pretty Georgian buildings and its own Crescent (not quite as nice as Bath!). And trendy cafe's/restaurants .

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Address: Clifton Village, west of Bristol City Centre.
Directions: No. 8/9 bus from Bristol. Or half hour walk (a city map is useful!).
Website: http://www.clifton-suspension-bridge.org.uk/

Bristol's Anglican Cathedral is on College Green to the west side of the city centre. It is certainly solid and impressive, the majority built in the late 1800's.

However, in my opinion, the real award for cathedral-ness should go to St Mary's Church, Redcliffe, 10 minutes walk to the east. Look for the tall spire, almost 300 feet high. It is a splendid fifteenth century masterpiece with many gems of interest, some older and others very modern. The main body of St Mary's is bathed in light from a delicate web of gothic tracery windows. The entire ceiling is interlaced with decoration, covered with gold leaf. Imagine how awe-inspiring this was when it was first built!

You enter via an unusually shaped North door with intricate stone carving. Inside the church there are tombs and inscriptions and some great stained glass windows. The four-keyboard organ has pipes dating back to 1720.

In one wing there is an ultra modern 'Chaotic Pendulum' which, it is alleged' represents the unpredictability of God's Earth.

This is the first church I have visited that gave a funeral service for a cat. Tom, the much loved church moggie, died in 1927 at a ripe age and his grave is in the lawn behind the church.

Plenty of information in many languages. I encourage you to give a generous donation. A cafe can be found under the church. Church generally open 8.30/9 till 4/5pm depending on season.

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Address: Redcliffe Way, Bristol
Directions: 10 minutes walk from the old city centre, Redcliffe Way is a busy dual carriageway leading towards the railway station. Look out church's tall spire.
Website: http://www.stmaryredcliffe.co.uk/

When it was launched in 1843, this early steam ship was the largest in the world. It had a working life of 90 years then spent 30 years beneath the South Atlantic. In 1970 it was re-floated and towed back to the city of its birth, Bristol.

Now the ship has been fully restored and re-opened, looking splendid. There is a large interactive museum and information shed next to the ship.

And you get an audio tour of the ship included in the ticket price... from the point of view of either a rich passenger, a steerage passenger, the ship's cat or... oh I can't remember the fourth option. The commentary is triggered at set points around the ship, very interesting but I advise you to stand still till each piece finishes. Several times I walked through a doorway and the commentary suddenly changed!!

The museum shed is full of information and pictures about the ship's colourful life, operating from Liverpool, South wales, San Franscisco, Sydney and finally the Falkland Islands. A few things to keep the kids amused too.

Ticket price in 2005 was 7.50 GBP for adults. This includes admission to the replica of John cabot's 1497 ship, The Matthew

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Address: South side of Bristol Harbour
Directions: On foot walk from city centre to the big Bristol Industrial Museum, continuing west along the harbour side for about half mile.

Also accessible by ferry boat from City Centre or Bristol Temple Meads train station.
Website: http://www.ssgreatbritain.org/

A brand new addition in 2004 to the SS Great Britain tour is its clever glass 'sea'. This massive 160+ year old ship is back in the dry dock where it was first built. To preserve the iron structure a glass ceiling has been sealed around the ship's hull (at 'sea' level) and then a layer of water has been poured on top of that. So you can go below the sea to look at the hull from below. And its massive propellor and clever rudder.

I found out about this new attraction because the company I work for were project managers of the scheme!

It is a strange experience in this new area. A massive dehumidifying machine, called "Deep Thought II", keeps the humidity below 20% i.e. verrry low! It was a hot day when I visited but the dry, airconditioned environment was very pleasant. And very quiet too, I don't think most people realise the 'under sea' experience is there!!

Included in admision ticket to SS Great Britain. See website

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Address: Under the ship! South of Bristol Harbour.
Directions: Turn immediately right when you leave the museum building. Stairs or lift access available.
Website: http://www.ssgreatbritain.org/

Bristol's Arnolfini Art Gallery is always a 'must visit' for me. It was first opened on its present site in 1975 and has recently been refurbished. You will find it in the harbour area of Bristol opposite the Industrial Museum. It has three floors of art galleries, installation spaces and theatre/cinemas in a large converted docks warehouse.

On my most recent visit the 'British Art Show 6' was filling the galleries. There were a wide variety of exhibits, using all sorts of media. from oil paint to video film and soap bubbles. One of the performance artists requested that visitors swapped their shoes with a set of donated footware while they walked around the exhibition. Unfoturnately I was given a revolting and uncomfortable set of flip-flops and rescued my own shoes while the artist was getting a coffee!!

The Arts Centre also has a large bookshop for your appetite of contemporary arts books and magazines. And a vibrant cafe/bar selling wholefood meals and drinks.

Generally open every day 10 till 8pm

http://www.arnolfini.org.uk/

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Phone: (0117) 917 2300
Address: Narrow Quay, Bristol

The famous Methodist preacher John Wesley built his first chapel in Bristol, in 1741. It still exists, now democratically surrounded by Bristol's modern shopping streets. How appropriate for a radical preacher who enjoyed the challenge of preaching to 'the poor'.

In fact the chapel is very beautiful, an oasis from modern city life. In between shopping for cheap clothes in 'Debenhams' or 'Accessorize' you can transport youself to the 18th century. Downstairs the large chapel is filled with simple wooden pews, two pulpits and a delightful organ. Upstairs there is a maze of tiny rooms where John Wesley lived for two months every year, nowadays a museum and gift shop.

Open Monday to Saturday 10-4pm. Occasional religious services on Sunday

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Address: Broadmead/The Horsefair
Directions: Entry via courtyards from busy shopping streets, The Horsefair or Broadmead. Five minute walk from Wine Street (and Bristols old centre).

Located at the top of the hill of Park Street, Bristol's City Museum is well worth a visit. Among other things, it is FREE to enter and open 7-days a week!

There is a wide variety of things on display here, as you would expect from one of the richest cities in England. This includes paintings from the 14th to the 20th century, Chinese ceramics, musical iinstruments, displays of fossils, dinosaurs and extinct animals, a full sized aeroplane hanging in the main hall...

There were several families with children there when I visited. The cafe is ideal for families, in a large classical hall at the back of the building. There is also a gift shop for local (and museum) related souvenirs.

I particularly liked the 20th century collection of art, which includes a delightful painting of a Bristol ferry by English artist Beryl Cook. And there is an impressive collection of old pianos along two sides of a main hall.

Bristol Museum Webpage

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Phone: 0117 922 3571
Address: Queens Road, Bristol
Directions: Nextdoor to the easy-to-spot tower of Bristol University, at the top of Park Street. On the way to Clifton.
Other Contact: general.museum@bristol.gov.uk

The Red Lodge is a very special attraction, it is a large mansion built by a wealthy merchant in the 1580's. For one reason or another its main rooms are almost unchanged from the 1580's. They are covered from floor to ceiling with incredibly detailed wood panelling. There is also an enormous carved stone fireplace and some furniture contemporary to the late sixteenth century, including a four-poster bed carved with a naked lady!! The Red House is also FREE to enter, six days a week.

When it was built, the house had an enormous garden stretching towards the city and a gabled Elizebethan front. In the 1730's the garden was sold and the outside of the house was 'modernised'. You will know you are at the correct house when you see a modest door painted in bright red on the main street. And the stone of the house has a natural reddish colour.

All-in-all well worth a visit, you are free to take as many photos as you want and the staff are very friendly!

Red Lodge website

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Phone: 0117 921 1362
Address: Park Row, Bristol
Directions: A short walk from Park Street, to the north of the city centre between the Christmas Steps and Bristol City Museum.

This is always a must-visit for me! Bristol Architecture Centre opened in 1992 and was the first centre of its type in the UK outside of London. Here you can find lots of things to do with applied design - graphics, product design, sculpture, architecture. It has a small gallery with regular exhibitions. And a great shop, full of good books and interesting gifts.

You can get information about Bristol here. There is a good booklet on sale about Bristol's ecological architecture, for example. They also had a secret supply of free Bristol maps behind the counter ;-)

The Centre is in a great location too. Opposite the Watershed Arts Centre, Sandwiched between Bristol's cool Youth Hostel and the Arnolfini Art Gallery.

Open Tuesday to Sunday till 5pm. Free admission.

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Phone: 0117 922 1540
Address: New Quay, Bristol city centre.
Directions: Very close to Queens Square, Bristol Docks and the Industrial Museum. And next to the Arnolfini Gallery, of course.
Website: http://www.architecturecentre.co.uk/

The Cabot Tower was completed in 1897 to mark the 400th anniversary of local seafarer John Cabot 'discovering' North America. The tower rises to over 300 feet above sea-level, with panoramic 360 degree views of Bristol, Avon and Somerset. At the top level of the tower there are plaques on each side, telling you what you can see (and many things you can't ...like Cardiff, Madrid, Canada etc.).

The tower is FREE to enter and open from morning till dusk. However, the stone stairs are very steep and narrow. You need to listen very carefully for footsteps of people coming in the opposite direction!!

The Tower is set in the middle of Bristol, in the very pretty Brandon Nature Park. It is close to Bristol Museum and within view of Clifton Suspension Bridge.

As you can see from my other travel pages, I like climbing up things to see the view. This is the best place in Bristol to do it!!

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Address: Brandon Park, Bristol
Directions: Between Bristol city centre and Clifton. Lots of access points to the park from all directions.