Fun for Free

ARNOS VALE CEMETERY
Bath Rd, Bristol BS4 3EW. Zone A. Open Mar-Sept Mon-Sat 9am-5pm, Sun & BHMs 10am-5pm, closing 4.30pm in winter. No vehicle access within 30 mins of closing time. Ffi: 0117 971 9117, www.arnosvale.org.uk • The biggest and most interesting burial place in the area by a long shot - an amazing 45 acres of tranquil, open space in the middle of the city. Opened in 1839, it was intended to accommodate the massive overspill of corpses from overcrowded town- and city-centre churchyards. It’s a huge necropolis - a genuine ‘city of the dead’ - filled with loads of fascinating Victorian memorials, and the last resting place of many of the most important figures in the city’s history. Go visit, get the guidebook (we know the author. He’s awfully good.) and spot saintly orphanage-founder George Muller, or the Wills fags dynasty’s memorial, or public health pioneer William Budd, or reformer of bad girls Mary Carpenter. Probably the best-known memorial is the ornate one of Raja Rammohun Roy, the Indian philosopher who’s emerged in recent years as a sort of symbol of modern multicultural Bristol. There are the graves of two survivors of the Charge of the Light Brigade, and loads more. On the subject of war, there’s also a big, dignified and very moving memorial to the dead of the First World War. It was always run by a private company, not the church or council, and some years ago it was acquired by a developer who planned to build on it, until a tenacious campaign by local people saved it for the city. It’s now run by the Arnos Vale Cemetery Trust and this summer emerges from a major restoration and conservation programme. A lot of the vegetation has been cleared back, the buildings have been restored, the pathways improved and you’ll even be able to visit the crematorium. There’ll be information panels, trails across the site, indoor exhibitions including films, and family activities. Even if the history leaves you cold, you may love its unique and unusual flora and fauna - mostly untouched by chemical weedkillers or fertilisers - and the seasonal changes they offer. A major local asset that deserves all our support, so although it’s free to get into, do put a few quid in the collection box if you can or buy some stuff from their shop. They’re also very keen to get you involved as a volunteer, or sign up as an Arnos Vale Angel (£25) or Guardian Angel (£60). There are also regular guided tours to look at the history and the wildlife; there’s a small charge for these, but are well worth booking yourself in for - check website for details. See also the We Love Arnos Vale Facebook group.

BLAGDON VISITOR CENTRE
Blagdon Lake, N Somerset. Zone B. Open every Sun 4 Apr-8 Aug 2-5pm, admission free. Ffi: 0117 953 6470 (office hours), tinyurl.com/yze7xev • A chance to go behind the scenes at Bristol Water and see what goes into keeping the H2O coming through your taps. These open days allow visitors to see the giant Victorian beam-engine pumps and interactive displays about water, rain, reservoirs, taps and toilets, plus lots of info on the importance of water conservation. The grounds outside are very pleasant, with a Discovery Wood nature trail and trout farm, complete with big bins of fishy pellets that you can chuck in to feed the fish. Refreshments are on sale, along with water butts and compost bins. The Bristol Water staff are very friendly and keen to help you learn. Horse & carriage rides usually also available (fare payable). Excellent cheapo Sunday family outing.

CREATE CENTRE
Smeaton Rd, Cumberland Basin, Bristol BS1 6XN. Zone A. Open Mon-Fri 9am-5pm (Ecohome Mon-Fri 12noon-3pm), admission free. Ffi: 0117 925 0505, www.bristol.gov.uk/create • “Bristol’s unique centre for sustainable development” is housed in a huge great former dockside warehouse and is home to about two dozen different organisations all working on things sustainable and planet-friendly. Features exhibitions on recycling, peak oil and more, plus an environmental art gallery and a caff. The star of the show is the experimental Ecohome, showing off all the different things you can do to make your house more planet-friendly. They’re not mad keen on you visiting by car and actually it’s a quite pleasant walk from the docks along by the New Cut. The other half of the building is taken up by the Bristol Record Office which is generally open 9.30am-4.30pm Tue-Fri and 10am-4pm on the first two Saturdays of each month and 9.30am-7pm on the first two Thursdays of the month. The BRO is home to over 10 miles of shelves of historic records from Bristol’s past and is used by researchers and people tracing their family trees. Even if that’s not your bag, take a look if you’re in the area; admission is free and there are regular historical or art exhibitions.

CITY FARMS
There are a number of city or community farms around Bristol and Bath, offering urban types like us a look at the ins and outs of farming and food production. They’re a great hour or two out of the house, especially if you have smaller children in tow. The main ones are:

Bath City Farm Twerton Hill, Whiteway, Bath BA2 1NW. Zone A. Open daily. Ffi: 01225 481269, www.bathcityfarm.org.uk • At 36 acres, this is one of the biggest city farms in the UK. Set up in the 1990s, it boasts an award-winning play team as well the usual chickens, goats, sheep, pigs and cows.

Lawrence Weston Community Farm Saltmarsh Drive, Lawrence Weston, Bristol BS11 0NF. Zone A. Open Tue-Sun 9.30am-4.30pm. Ffi: 0117 938 1128, www.lwfarm.org.uk • Small but vibrant little community farm with farm animals, plus smaller petting animals including rabbits and guinea pigs. Soft play area for under-5s and picnic area. Volunteer staff serving tea, coffee and cakes from time to time. Plants, manure, eggs and some produce on sale.

St Werburghs City Farm Watercress Rd, St Werburghs, Bristol BS2 9JY. Zone A. Open daily 9am-5pm (4pm winter). Ffi: 0117 942 8241, www.swcityfarm.org.uk • Much-loved part of the community with all the usual - goats, pigs, sheep etc - plus adventure playground and community garden. Runs kids’ activities and clubs. Award-winning café as well, though note it’s closed Tuesdays.

Windmill Hill City Farm Philip St, Bedminster, Bristol BS3 4EA. Zone A. Open Tue-Sun 9am-5pm, shop opens 10am, cafe open Tue-Sat 9.30am-5pm & Sun 10am-4pm. Ffi: 0117 963 3252, www.windmillhillcityfarm.org.uk • Integral part of the south Bristol community, which went through a wobbly phase last year but succeeded in raising the money to keep going. Now over 30 years old, with community gardens, environment trails, adventure playground, cafe and shop selling produce from the city farm and another farm it runs out in the Somerset countryside. Also organises lots of community activities and courses. If you live nearby, it’s very worth supporting.

MUSEUMS
Many municipal museums offer free admission. In Bristol, this means the City Museum and Art Gallery, Georgian House, Blaise Castle House Museum and Red Lodge. Bristol’s museums are efficiently and enthusiastically run, and the City Museum has an excellent programme of events and exhibitions that you’d be crazy not to take advantage of regularly. See Museums, Galleries & Exhibitions section for full details.

In Bath & North East Somerset, the Victoria Art Gallery offers free admission. If you’re a B&NES resident, you absolutely need to get a Discovery Card. This gets you into the Roman Baths and Fashion Museum for free any day of the year, and entitles you to discount admission rates to a lot of other local heritage attractions. They’re available free of charge from the Roman Baths and Assembly Rooms in Bath (take along proof of residency, such as a utility bill, and proof of identity, such as a driving licence or passport). A photograph for the card will be taken on the spot. Further details and downloadable application form are also available on the B&NES website - see tinyurl.com/atwr4z

URBAN AND SEMI-URBAN OUTDOORS
Bristol and Bath both have several parks and open spaces that cost nowt to frolic in. We assume you know about Bath’s many parks, or the Downs, Ashton Court Estate and Bristol’s many parks. Bristol’s parks also host lots of events over the summer months. There should be leaflets on these in local libraries and tourist information centres nearer the time, or failing that, visit www.bristol.gov.uk/parks

Every Bristol resident should explore Purdown and Stoke Park. Have you been up Royate Hill or wandered around Willsbridge Mill? Or the Greenhill Plantation and Kings Weston Hill? Most of these are big spaces, with plenty of room for the kids/dog to have a good run. To track down your nearest open spaces (and find out how they're managed), see www.bristolparksforum.org.uk

There are plenty of great places to go for a rural or semi-rural adventure in Bristol and Bath. Leigh Woods, just over the Suspension Bridge in Bristol, and the magnificent Bath Skyline Walk are both run by the National Trust, who host occasional family events there.
Then there’s the pleasant Frome Valley Walkway and Oldbury Court Estate. For more on this, visit www.fromewalkway.org.uk

Another local walk worth mentioning is the River Avon Trail, a route taking you through lots of places of wildlife/heritage interest. Indeed, if you do the whole route (probably not on the same day, unless you’re very hairy-chested), you’ll come out with quite a fluent understanding of the relationship between geography and local history. It runs along the Avon, from Pulteney Weir in Bath, through the wooded valleys and water meadows of South Gloucestershire, through some former industrial areas of Bristol and on to the Bristol Channel at Pill. Visit www.riveravontrail.org.uk for more.

If you’re even just a bit interested in walking in and around Bristol and Bath, you also want the Forest of Avon, which is actually not just one forest but lots of them. Well, woods mostly. The FoA team are busily covering the area in trees, and they’ll tell you where to find them. For lots of ideas for woody places to go walking and picnicking, see their website at www.forestofavon.org.uk - even if you think you know the area inside out, you’ll find lots here that you didn’t know about.

RURAL OUTDOORS - ROUND THESE PARTS
Where to start? The point about the countryside is that it’s all outdoors. So here’s just a few suggestions:

If there’s a waterway round these parts that’s even more popular than the muddy old Avon, it has to be the Kennet & Avon Canal, which runs all the way from Bristol to Reading. Lovingly restored by enthusiasts in recent decades, the K&A is popular with walkers, cyclists and people who get their jollies driving canal boats. The best-walked stretch round these parts is around Bradford on Avon on account of the pleasant countryside, the lovely pubs and the genteel exchange of abuse between walkers and self-righteous oafs on mountain bikes. For more, see www.visitkanda.com

For more canalside fun, you might want to try the Gloucester-Sharpness Canal, a wide waterway running parallel to the Severn for a lot of the way and with pleasant wide paths and lots of wildlife to spot. You can walk/bike it from Sharpness itself, though we’d recommend the village of Frampton-on-Severn as a better starting point, since it’s an interesting place in itself and has a couple of pubs. They even play cricket on the village green in summer. Oh, and there’s a few ponds in the village that only children under the age of 13 are allowed to fish in! The canal also has a rich heritage of industrial archaeology, and you can find out more about some of this from the Friends of the Purton Hulks - see www.friendsofpurton.org.uk

The Mendips are on the doorstep, and with loads of places to wander in. If you don’t know your Mendips, do so now. The area is hugely popular with walkers, even gnarled old veterans of the Ramblers’ Association, not just because of all the natural and historical interest, but also because most of the pubs are marvellous. If you’ve never explored the bizarre lead-mining landscape around Velvet Bottom, the spooky Dolebury Warren or the environs of the to-die-for village of Priddy, you really ought to start soon. One of the our favourite Mendip places is Goblin Combe. Get to Cleeve along the A370 from Bristol to Weston-super-Mare, turn into Cleeve Hill Road next to the Lord Nelson pub in the middle of the village. There is a car park a wee bit up the road, which is also your starting point for walks through the splendid Goblin Combe. Loads of wood, interesting rock formations and some rare flora (stinking hellebore, apparently). Small children can be induced to join an expedition here with the possibility of meeting goblins (local legend) and the definite prospect of seeing aeroplanes up quite close as they arrive and depart from Bedminster International airport nearby. Not at all suitable for wheelchairs and pushchairs as there’s a lot of steps. Some fabulous views up the top. See www.mendiphillsaonb.org.uk for Mendip adventure ideas, including downloadable walking routes and mountain-biking guides.

Meanwhile, if you don’t have a car or prefer public transport, Bristol City Council have some very good country walk routes online (go to tinyurl.com/car-free-walks) with info on public transport links.

If you’re really serious about walking, join the Ramblers Association. The Bristol branch (www.bristolramblers.org.uk) is particularly active, organising walks of all shapes and sizes both at weekends and during the week. It’s a great way of discovering the countryside and making new friends while you’re at it. You have to pay a membership fee, but you’re generally welcome to go along for one or two walks to try it out before committing yourself. There’s also a Bath branch (www.bathra.org.uk), and www.avon-ramblers.org.uk covers the whole of the former county of Avon.

If it’s plant and animal life you’re looking for, then the Avon Wildlife Trust (www.avonwildlifetrust.org.uk) runs a number of nature reserves in the area - some very big, some compact and bijou. Not all of these will want people coming through on bikes, mind.
Every hardened cyclist knows that Bristol is home to Sustrans, the very wonderful people behind the National Cycle Network, which pretty much started from the disused railway line that became the Bristol to Bath cycle path. Find out more about Sustrans’ car-free or car-lite cycle routes at www.sustrans.org.uk

If you like your cycling and politics all mixed up, get in touch with the Bristol Cycling Campaign, people who love bikes, hate unnecessary car journeys and who go in for social rides as well as campaigning. If you’re new in the area and/or are looking for like-minded, bike-minded friends, this is a great place to start. Ffi: www.bristolcyclingcampaign.org.uk

If you’d like to get out on your bike more, but don’t feel too sure of yourself, or are looking for some moral support in getting other members of the family (or even your workmates!) on their bikes, then check out Life Cycle, a Bristol-based charity who promote cycling. They even run adult cycling lessons, so now even complete cycling virgins have no excuse! Ffi: www.lifecycleuk.org.uk

The Cyclists’ Touring Club (or CTC as it prefers to be known nowadays) is a national organisation for cyclists that also gets involved in campaigning issues. There are local branches with very active diaries of rides. The website also has bags of information on possible routes to explore. Ffi: www.ctc.org.uk

RURAL OUTDOORS - A BIT FURTHER AWAY
Further afield, there are a number of areas that can be relied on to offer good walking/cycling, such as...

Exmoor See www.visit-exmoor.info and/or visit the Exmoor Visitor Centre at Dunster.

The West Country is also well provided for car-free routes. If you’re in Devon, Dorset or Cornwall, you’ll find that the South West Coastal Path provides enough fresh air and scenery for a decade’s worth of brilliant summer days out all on its own. All the detail, including maps, walks, pubs accommodation etc is at www.southwestcoastalpath.co.uk

Back inland, there’s the Offa’s Dyke Path, which runs from Chepstow along the borders to Prestatyn in N Wales through some very beautiful, mostly unspoiled country infused with lots of history and the occasional mystic frisson. See www.nationaltrail.co.uk/offasdyke
Less well-known is The Ridgeway, which runs from Overton Hill near Avebury in Wiltshire for almost 90 miles until it gets to some place in Buckinghamshire. This is the oldest road in Britain; it's been in use since Neolithic times, so you’re treading the same path as some of the earliest Britons. It's called The Ridgeway because for most of its route it runs along the ridge-tops of hills and downlands, as your ancestors would have done in order to avoid woodlands full of bandits and wild animals, and marshlands where they might get their feet wet. The original route actually runs all the way from Dorset to Lincolnshire, but building developments have gotten in the way, while there's not more of it in Wiltshire because of the army's use of Salisbury Plain. Naturally it passes through, or close to, many ancient sites, including Avebury itself and the Uffington White Horse. The only downer is that there are parts of it where cars, including off-roading 4x4s, are also permitted, though they're more restricted in summer months. Most it is vehicle-free. More at www.nationaltrail.co.uk/Ridgeway

The Cotswold Way, which opened as an official National Trail in 2007, runs for 100 miles from Bath to Chipping Campden along the Cotswold Edge and it takes you via rolling hills, chocolate-box villages and lovely views of the Forest of Dean, the Welsh hills and distant church spires. It’s all good. From Bath it goes via Lansdown Hill (site of a famous Civil War battle) to Old Sodbury, then Hawkesbury Upton (if you’re here, stop at the Beaufort Arms pub), Wotton-under-Edge (look out for the Tyndale Monument), Dursley, Nympsfield (close to the bloody amazing Woodchester Mansion), Stroud, Painswick (stop and look at the amazing baroque graveyard at the church, or go on to the Painswick Rococo Garden), Brockworth (see the hill where they have the annual cheese-rolling insanity contest), Cranham (Gustav Holst lived in a cottage here for a while and composed the tune used for Christina Rossetti’s Christmas carol ‘In the Bleak Mid Winter’), Leckhampton, Cheltenham, Cleeve Hill (highest point in Glos, lovely views), Winchcombe, the ruins of Hailes Abbey (National Trust owned; small admission charge if you want to go in), Stanway and Broadway (you must see the enchanting Broadway Tower folly; www.broadwaytower.co.uk) before ending up at Chipping Campden, a picturesque little market town that’ll have you looking through estate agents’ windows. CC is famously home to the annual (early summer) Olympick (sic) games with traditional Cotswold sports, including shin-kicking. Um, you probably don’t want to do all of that in one day, but if you carve it into manageable chunks you’ve got the makings of some wonderful outings. See the official Cotswold way website at www.nationaltrail.co.uk/Cotswold/

The Forest of Dean is vast green area for playing on, on foot and on bike. For many people, the problem is that the forest seems so big that they don’t know where to begin. Well, there’s always the Dean Heritage Centre at Soudley, near Cinderford (newly reopened after a fire last year) but note that this isn’t free to get into (£4.90 adult/£4.30 concs/£2.50 child). The Forest of Dean tourism website at www.forestofdean.gov.uk is a good intro to the area, but if you’re just after a very pleasant and undemanding introduction to some of its delights, try walking the Forest of Dean Sculpture Trail (www.forestofdean-sculpture.org.uk) near Cinderford - this is completely free, though there’s a charge for parking at the Beechenhurst Lodge site, which has a cafe, adventure playground and nice big green area for barbecues and cricket games. Other Deaney must-sees include Symonds Yat Rock and the village of St Briavels, home of the forest’s historic free miners.

The Quantock Hills are brilliant. They’re over in the less-populated end of Somerset and lots of tourists pass ’em by without stopping as they head for the better-known delights of Exmoor. But the Quantocks offer a lot in the way of walking, biking and scenery, as well as frequent outbreaks of strangeness and historical spookiness. Best beauty spots would probably include Holford, Bicknoller and the area around Fyne Court near Bridgwater. Fyne Court, the official Quantock Hills Visitors Centre (National Trust-run, free admission), is a big old house that was once home to Somerset’s own Dr Frankenstein. See also www.quantockonline.co.uk for other Quantocky ideas.

For slightly more adventurous walking and cycling, try the Government. The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs have a website (http://countrywalks.defra.gov.uk) with an immense searchable database of country walks - ‘The Conservation Walks and Rides Register’, to give it its proper title. You can specify whereabouts you want to go walking, and what sort of things you want to see. DEFRA is working with landowners to open up new walks all the time, so it’s worth coming back to the site from time to time. Although it looks very pedestrian (sorry), the content is brilliant, and it deserves some sort of award.

Then there’s the Forestry Commission. They run the famous Westonbirt Arboretum (see Animals & Nature section) but are also responsible for forests and woodlands around the country. Plenty of suggestions for woody walks on their website at www.forestry.gov.uk

Finally, the National Trust have at last started putting suggested walking routes on and around their massive landholdings online. They plan to have over 1,000 routes on their website nationally by 2012. For walk ideas in the Wessex region see www.nationaltrust.org.uk/walkwessex