please empty your brain below
Not to mention St Mary Redcliffe (quote 'The goodliest, fairest and most famous parish church in England' - Liz I), the Bristol Old Vic (the oldest continually-operating theatre in England) from where you can nip over the cobbles to the Llandoger Trow for lunch, the Nails (from where you get the expression 'cash on the nail'), St Nick's market....

Glad to see you went to Nelson Street. When they originally painted it in 2011 and had a street festival there was lots of guerrilla knitting and unnamed plants being grown along washing lines, etc.

You're lucky the Ferry Boats are still running - they went bust last November and are now asking for people to buy shares.

And then don't forget the Harbour Festival, the Balloon Fiesta, the Kite Festival.

allotmentqueen | Homepage | 06.04.13 - 8:24 a.m. | #

Thanks for this, DG. I have been to Bristol many times (cycled and walked over Suspension Bridge, zoo, M-Shed, Banksy exhibition) and have not seen many of the places you got to (must do the Cabot Tower) - great weather for pictures too.

alistairj | 06.04.13 - 10:21 a.m. | #

Bristol is amazing!

Alex F. | Homepage | 06.04.13 - 1:14 p.m. | #

The Floating Harbour is not really so 'artificial'. The two rivers Frome and Avon meet in the middle and were a problem because they are tidal at that point, which meant that the ships sunk into the mud every time the tide went out. Thus the works that were carried out kept the ships afloat, thus the expression 'floating harbour'. The Frome is a bit like your Fleet, underground through the city. You can see where they join though, just outside the M shed.

It is the present tidal bypass (New Cut) that is the artificial bit.

Yes, you will enjoy your second visit, the boat trip will enable some of the so-called Bristol Byzantine warehousing architecture to be admired. Do walk around the old city (between the Frome and the Avon).

HowardGWR | 06.04.13 - 1:15 p.m. | #

Excellent stuff. I went to Bristol for the first time last month - cycled there from Bath - and really enjoyed my whistlestop visit. Definitely heading back.

Darryl | Homepage | 06.04.13 - 2:30 p.m. | #

'It can't decide whether it's in Gloucestershire or Somerset'

Bristol didn't want to be in either, for 600 years it was a city & county in its own right - cue many celebrations. Then they reorganised county boundaries in the early 70s and it became part of the new county of Avon. Since the demise of Avon I'm not sure what it is, maybe a unitary authority, like Portsmouth

Bronchitikat | Homepage | 06.04.13 - 3:56 p.m. | #

Bronchitikat - Bristol has been a unitary authority since Avon disappeared in 1996.
DG - I'm glad you enjoyed your day in the Westcountry; it's always interesting to read your take on a place I know reasonably well and it's good to be reminded that it's about time I went up Cabot's Tower again.

Like many other English provincial cities they have done a fantastic job redeveloping the centre over the last 20 years or so. Bristol also has a much more lived-in feel than Bath which always seem to me like walking around a film set or large-scale museum.

And to add to allotmentqueen's suggestions, the view of the city from the main line west of Temple Meads, with the suspension bridge in the background, is impressive. Also the Severn Beach branch is the sort of line which I'm guessing would appeal to many of the railway fans on here.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/insideout/west/series6/railway.shtml

Whiff | 06.04.13 - 4:56 p.m. | #

Went my mates Stag do there last summer.

Agree it's a very nice city. Had a great view of the city from top floor of the Premier Inn.

Rick | 06.04.13 - 8:40 p.m. | #

I remember Bristol University were quite pleased with the fact that one of the Music faculty's teaching rooms was the bar of the Victoria Rooms. And the SS Great Britain is well worth the entry fee (with the obligatory 'come back for free any time in the next year' sweetener) - not least for the chance to walk underwater and the smell-enhanced rooms on the ship.

Siwi | 06.04.13 - 10:33 p.m. | #

you following me around dg ?
Liverpool should be next !

splashy | Homepage | 06.04.13 - 11:54 p.m. | #

Thanks a lot, DG. I love these days out.

Great Aunt Annie | 07.04.13 - 10:44 a.m. | #

If you want to do your research in advance, this book was published I think about 6 years ago as the annual Great Bristol Reading Adventure. It's a history of Bristol in comic book form starting with the formation of the Avon Gorge by two giants:

http://amzn.to/10JNCl2

allotmentqueen | Homepage | 07.04.13 - 11:34 a.m. | #

How long's Cabot Tower been open again? The only time I've had a Trip Advisor review rejected was when I suggested they cut the trees down around the hill because they blocked the view from the base of the tower, and the council hadn't decided when it was going to repair the tower.

I do like Bristol, but they have some of the butt-ugliest buildings in the country. Mostly built by banks.

martxw | 07.04.13 - 6:33 p.m. | #

DG very complimentary comments about Bristol. A fine city indeed but if you worked there you'd realise how awful the public transport is. A disgrace for a city of this size.

geoff60017 | 08.04.13 - 5:47 p.m. | #

I lived just outside Bristol for a while. No mention of the famous Colston Hall? From Atomic Kitten to Zappa...via Bowie, Bob Marley and The Beatles...they've all played there.

Also...the cult of Chatterton starts in Bristol (at what is still the city's tallest building, St. Mary Redcliffe) and ends, of course, at Brooke Street, EC1.

http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/wallis-chatterton-n01685

Richard M | 11.04.13 - 1:50 a.m. | #











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