Bristol, Bath & Surrounding Areas Reco's Please

DiS Travel Guide
1

Looking at potentially doing a long weekend break in this sort of area in mid-July so firstly trying to establish which are the nice towns near or between the two.

Things I’m looking for include:

Ideally a nice little market town.
Like to go running so need somewhere safe with footpaths etc
Lido or decent swimming pool nearby is a plus
Nice pubs and restaurants

Are there any nice seaside places nearby? All I really know are Weston and Burnham but never been to either.

Any reco’s welcome.

Thanks

2

Will you be driving? Clevedon has a tidal pool and Portishead has a lido but neither is especially accessible by public transport.

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3

Bit more inland but Bradford-upon-Avon, just outside Bath, might be a shout. Nice canals for a walk or run, pubs on the river, very oldy worldy. Dunno about the swimming situation.

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4

Frome is good

There’s a nice one at portishead

The Bristol Bath cycle path is well used by runners

5

Left Handed Giant and Small Bar are essential in central Bristol, if you’re a craft beer sort

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6

Another +1 for Bradford upon Avon.

Nice little town.

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7

You can walk down the Avon to a place called Avoncliff, which is a weir where you can swim. Next to a picturesque pub (that’s its main quality, the beer and good aren’t up to much) called the Cross Guns.

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8

Bradford on Avon and Frome are both excellent.

Corsham also worth looking at, market town with nice restaurants, pubs, court for running etc

Bath Lido is due to open this summer…not sure when though

9

Had a great little adventure around Frome last Christmas. Neat shops, a couple of different markets each month. It has a healthy arts scene, including a music venue whose name I forget.

Also, in this general area (Bradford-upon-Avon/Avoncliff) is The Record Deck. It’s a floating record store. You need to check on the Facebook page for it’s location/hours

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10

Thank You.

I’ve booked to stay between BOA & Trowbridge so any reco’s more than welcome.

Hoping to get properly stuck in on Bristol one of the days though it takes a little longer to get to than I’d thought (train seems to be 50 mins).

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11

Don’t go to Trowbridge. It’s absolutely awful.

Loads of nice little restaurants and pubs in B on A. Also worth heading to Holt for a wander if you can…Tollgate there is good.

12

Cheese and Grain! Where Macca played the night before glastonbury

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13

And now I’m seeing Everything Everything there in August :grin:

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14

Thanks for this, good to know.

I’m hoping to venture further afield to see some coast and have been told Clevedon is worth a look so any reco’s for that area more than welcome. Looking to go into Bristol and properly explore at some point too. I’ve been to Bristol a few times but always feel I’ve missed bits of it which I might like.

15

We’ve just booked 4 nights in Bristol for the Easter half term. It’s probably the number one city in the UK I haven’t visited that I wanted to, so pretty excited. We’ll have a couple of youngish kids with us, but they are pretty good at doing various weird and wacky things that their parents want to do.
So far we have the following things earmarked (going by train), but would love any other rec’s:

  • Day trip to Bath
  • Day trip to Chepstow castle (if we’re feeling ambitious)
  • Alternatively, Weston-super-mare
  • Clifton bridge and nearby parks
  • Harbour
  • Bag 'o Nails pub for board games and cats
  • Wake the Tiger (this looks amazing albeit expensive)
  • Various brewery tap rooms (if any are particularly kid friendly that would be great)

Thanks!

16

We the Curious is good

Decent playground near the suspension bridge and Leigh Woods over the other side is a nice little walk too

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17

Bag O’Nails isn’t child friendly unfortunately, but if it’s board games you’re after Chance and Counters at the bottom of the Christmas Steps is supposed to be nice.

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18

yes! we went there with the kids (6 and 9) and it was great. It’s not so cheap that I’d go regularly but definitely worth a visit

19

Looks great but unfortunately is closed for the foreseeable future due to a fire.

20

Thanks for the rec. Just as well about Bag O’Nails, I mentioned a pub with 14 cats to my son and he turned white. Guess it’s not just dogs he’s afraid of.