Around Town

BATH

American Museum & Gardens Claverton Manor. Tel: (01225) 460503. Web: www.americanmuseum.org Museum (plus very lovely gardens) showing how Americans lived, from the first New England settlers to the Civil War, also shows off traditional American crafts - Shaker furniture, dolls' houses, tipi, Conestoga wagon, and lots of quilts, plus charming gallery of folk art.

Bath Boating Station Forester Rd. Tel: (01225) 312900. Web: www.bathboating.com One of the best ways in the world to spend a sunny afternoon. Hire a punt, skiff or canoe and explore the river. Choose a fine day, pack the rug and hamper, and picnic in style.

Beckford's Tower & Museum Lansdown. Tel: (01225) 422212. Web: www.bath-preservation-trust.org.uk An absolute gem. This 120ft-high neo-classical tower was built in the early 19th century by fabulously gay eccentric William Beckford. The tower is now beautifully restored and features a two-room exhibition on his unbelievably self-indulgent life and architectural works. Limited opening hours, but essential visiting.

Jane Austen Centre 40 Gay St. Tel: (01225) 443000. Web: www.janeausten.co.uk Exhibition of Jane's time as a Bath resident, which also runs walking tours of Austen's Bath.

Museum Of Bath At Work Julian Rd. Tel: (01225) 318348. Web: www.bath-at-work.org.uk Charming and slightly eccentric and the perfect antidote to the surfeit of twee age-of-elegance heritage stuff that Bath exudes. Based in the premises of a Victorian engineer and 'aerated water' bottler, it traces the surprisingly large range of local industries from times past, from gas to stone, construction, cabinet making, dockside-crane manufacture and - oh yes! - Plasticine.

Museum Of Costume & Assembly Rooms Bennett St. Tel: (01225) 477785. Web: www.museumofcostume.co.uk 'One of the world's finest collections of fashionable dress and accessories' is the claim that this place makes, and no one would argue. A fabulous collection of fashionable clothing, from the 18th century to the present day. Plus, as long as there aren't any weddings or functions going on, your ticket also gets you into the splendid Assembly Rooms, where the creme de la creme got together in days of yore for such racy pursuits as dancing, card-playing and tea-drinking.

Prior Park Landscape Garden Ralph Allen Drive. Tel: (01225) 833422. Web: www.nationaltrust.org.uk Wonderful 18th-century landscaped garden, restored by the National Trust, with lakes, a grotto and a 'wilderness' woodland area with mazy paths and a Palladian bridge with genuine 18th-century graffiti. One of the UK's first positively car-hostile attractions, with no car parking. Disabled visitors, however, can arrange a parking space by phoning beforehand.

Roman Baths & Pump Room Entrance via Pump Room, Stall St. Tel: (01225) 477785. Web: www.romanbaths.co.uk The baths are the whole reason Bath is here in the first place, and this is among the best-preserved Roman sites in Europe. On show are the remains, plus some extraordinarily vivid finds (such as the votive offerings from people calling curses down on their enemies). One of the few historic sites you come out of feeling as though you really have learned something. You can also visit the Pump Room, built in the 1790s, and have a glass of your actual Bath water should you so wish. It tastes horrible, mind.

The Building Of Bath Museum Countess of Huntingdon's Chapel, The Vineyards, The Paragon. Tel: (01225) 333895. Web: www.bath-preservation-trust.org.uk If you're serious about trying to understand Bath and how it got here, then this place, alongside the Roman Baths, is the only real must-see in the city. Most interesting are the bits where it tells you about the interaction of social standing, morality and manners with architecture and design.

Victoria Art Gallery Bridge St. Tel: (01225) 477233. Web: www.victoriagal.org.uk Municipal gallery with impressive collection of British and European paintings, from 15th century to the present day, including works by Turner, Gainsborough and Sickert.

William Herschel Museum 19 New King St. Tel: (01225) 311342. Web: www.bath-preservation-trust.org.uk Home of brother and sister William and Caroline Herschel, 18th century musicians who were astronomers in their spare time and discovered Uranus.

BRISTOL

Arnos Vale Cemetery
Main entrance via A4 Bath Rd. Web: www.favc.freeserve.co.uk Vast, mostly Victorian cemetery filled with fascinating memorials and wildlife and the last resting place of dozens of important local historical figures. Although it's free to get into, the trust running it need loads of cash for its preservation, so put a few quid in the collection box if you can.

At-Bristol Anchor Square, Harbourside. Tel: 0845 345 1235. Web: www.at-bristol.org.uk One of the leading family attractions in the south west. Three main centres, and it will take a full day or more to do justice to all of them. Explore is a hands-on science centre that encourages visitors to play with stuff, push buttons, pull levers and generally mess around, in order to learn about scientific and technical principles. Wildwalk is a crash-course in evolution and survival, including a walk-through rainforest with free- flying birds and butterflies, plus another 75,000 creatures besides (many of them microscopic), and amazing video footage on touch-screens from the BBC's Natural History archive. The IMAX Theatre is a giant-screen cinema that delivers fabulous, in-your-face, larger-than-life cinematic experiences when you don your 3D viewing goggles

Avon Valley Railway Bitton Station, nr Keynsham. Tel: 0117 932 7296/932 5538. Web: www.avonvalleyrailway.co.uk Small and friendly local steam railway, lovingly preserved and run by enthusiasts.

Bristol Cathedral College Green. Tel: www.bristol-cathedral.co.uk Originally a 12th-century abbey church, rich in history. For other historic local churches, see also:
The New Room (The Horsefair, Broadmead. Tel: (0117) 926 4740. Web: www.newroombristol.org.uk) where John Wesley set up the world's first Methodist chapel in 1739. St Mary Redcliffe (Redcliffe Way. Web: www.stmaryredcliffe.co.uk). Bristol's most famous church, dating back to medieval times, it benefited enormously from vast donations from the merchant classes; Elizabeth I allegedly called the place 'the fairest, goodliest parish church in all of England'.

Bristol Channel Cruises Tel: 0845 130 4647 (office hours). Web: www.waverleyexcursions.co.uk You can't call yourself a fully paid-up resident of the West Country until you've been on a trip to somewhere in the Bristol Channel on the paddle steamer Waverley or her sister ship, former Scottish loch steamer Balmoral, which run excursions over spring, summer and into early autumn

Bristol City Museum & Art Gallery Queens Rd, Clifton. Tel: 0117 922 3571. Web: www.bristol-city.gov.uk/museums Bristol's main museum, with good collections on local geology, local prehistory, local and world wildlife, a bit of local history and an interesting selection of paintings. Everyone's favourite bit, though, seems to be the fascinating Egyptology collection, complete with mummies.

Bristol Ferry Boat Co Tel: 0117 927 3416. Web: www.bristolferryboat.co.uk Operates a waterbus service around Bristol Docks every day, which is now used by commuters as well as sightseers. The Bristol Ferry Boat Co also offer river trips, and can be hired for the famous/notorious 'Booze Cruises' (see website or phone for details).

Bristol Industrial Museum Princes Wharf, Wapping Rd. Tel: 0117 925 1470. Web: www.bristol-city.gov.uk/museums Traces Bristol's past as a manufacturing centre, with vehicles, aircraft, aero-engines and a very good walk-through display on the city's sea-going past, including the slave trade. Parked in the water outside, it retains a number of historic vessels that take the public on harbour trips in the summer. Also has a small steam dockside railway running some weekends.

Bristol Packet Tel: 0117 926 8157. Web: www.bristolpacket.co.uk Offers scheduled tours of the docks (complete with excellent commentary). Also does river trips along the Avon (Sun, May-Oct) and to the Chequers Inn at Hanham. The Packet's excursion to Beese's Tea Gardens is a grand treat for family members of all ages.

Bristol Zoo Gardens Clifton. Tel: 0117 974 7300. Web: www.bristolzoo.org.uk Easily one of the best (and most popular) days out that the west has to offer, with loads to see and marvel at; over 400 exotic and endangered species, and the place effortlessly mixes fun with education and several conservation and breeding programmes.

British Empire & Commonwealth Museum Station Approach, Temple Meads. Tel: 0117 925 4980. Web: www.empiremuseum.co.uk Housed in Brunel's original railway station, this is the first dedicated muse Âum of Britain's imperial past and subsequent de-colonisation. Makes a complex and troublesome subject accessible and fun, without ever lurching into blimpish nostalgia or whining political correctness. Exciting programme of changing exhibitions, lectures, discussions and other events.

Clifton Observatory & Caves Clifton Downs, nr Suspension Bridge. Tel: 0117 974 1242 In that funny-looking building with a tower overlooking the Avon Gorge there's a camera obscura, plus access to the cave that emerges at that viewing platform with the yellow railings in the middle of St Vincent's Rock.

Concorde At Filton Filton. Tel: 0870 3000 578. Web: www.concordeatfilton.org.uk Eventually, Concorde 216 will be the centre-piece of a much bigger museum of Bristol aviation, but for now you can come and visit, look her over and spend some time in the visitor centre. Visits by pre-booked guided your only.

The Georgian House 7 Great George St, Clifton. Tel: 0117 921 1362. Web: www.bristol-city.gov.uk/museums In the 1790s this was the home of West India merchant John Pinney, a man who made his pile in sugar, from plantations in the West Indies worked by slave labour. House shows what a wealthy Bristol home of the 1790s would look like and houses exhibitions on sugar and slavery.

The Red Lodge Park Row. Tel: 0117 921 1360. Web: www.bristol-city.gov.uk/museums Fascinating place, smack in the middle of the city, dating back to Elizabethan times, with exhibitions on the many uses it's been put to down the years.

Severn Beach Railway Tel: www.wessextrains.co.uk Runs regular services between Bristol Temple Meads and Severn Beach, stopping at Lawrence Hill, Stapleton Road, Montpelier, Redland, Clifton Down, Sea Mills and Shirehampton stations, daily except Sun. The ol' Severn Beach line is a scandalously-neglected relic from the great days of steam - a great way of getting around, and a great way to see Bristol from a different perspective.

SS Great Britain, Matthew & Maritime Heritage Centre Great Western Dockyard, Gas Ferry Rd. Tel: 0117 929 1843. Web: www.ss-great-britain.com The world's first great ocean liner, and the forerunner of all modern ships, designed and built by Isambard Kingdom Brunel in Bristol. Brought back to her original dock in 1970, she's undergone a long process of restoration. You can look all over her, from the massive engine rooms to a couple of cramped cabins, the promenade deck and the sumptuous first-class dining saloon. Plus museum. Your admission to SSGB also gets you aboard the Matthew (if she's not off sailing somewhere), a replica of the tiny ship in which John Cabot and his crew of stout-hearted Bristolians ventured forth in 1497 to discover Newfoundland.

Out of Town
Attractions in easy driving distance that you must see before you leave the west country

Avebury Stone Circle
Avebury, nr Marlborough, Wilts. Web: www.nationaltrust.org.uk

Berkeley Castle
Nr Dursley, Glos. Web: www.berkeley-castle.com

Dyrham Park
Dyrham, nr Chippenham. Web: www.nationaltrust.org.uk

Lacock Abbey & Fox Talbot Museum
Lacock, nr Chippenham, Wilts. Web: www.nationaltrust.org.uk

Longleat
Nr Warminster, Wilts. Web: www.longleat.co.uk

Stourhead Garden & House
Stourton, Warminster, Wilts. Web: www.nationaltrust.org.uk

Tyntesfield
Wraxall, N. Somerset. Web: www.nationaltrust.org.uk/places/tyntesfield

Wells Cathedral
Wells, Somerset, Web www.wellscathedral.org.uk

Westonbirt Arboretum
Nr Tetbury, Glos. Web: www.forestry.gov.uk/westonbirt

Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust
Slimbridge, Glos. Web: www.wwt.org.uk/visit/slimbridge

Woodchester Mansion
Nr Nympsfield, Glos. Web: www.woodchestermansion.org.uk

Let's play ...

Bowlplex
Aspects Leisure Complex, Longwell Green, Bristol. Tel: (0117) 961 0000. Web: www.bowlplexuk.com Bowling!

Bristol Ice Rink
Frogmore St, Bristol. Tel: (0117) 929 2148. Web: www.nikegroup.co. Much-loved local institution. You have got to try this place at least once.

Gala Bingo
Sawclose, Bath Tel: (01225) 465424; Fishponds Road, Bristol. Tel: (0117) 965 3662 Fritter away your student loan or maybe win your tuition fees back. Fully-licensed premises.

Hollywood Bowl
Avonmeads, Bristol. Tel: (0117) 977 1777 Bowling!

Laser Quest
The Old Fire Station, Silver Street, Broadmead. Bristol. Tel: (0117 949 6688) Shoot your friends.

Megabowl
Brunel Way, Ashton Gate, Bristol. Tel: (0117) 953 8538. Web: www.megabowl.co.uk Bowling!

Virtual Realm
Second Floor, above Baty's, The Old Post Office, 2 York Buildings, George St, Bath. Tel: (01225) 447466. Web: www.virtualrealm.net Computer gaming centre.

Student Guide - Bristol and Bath's best guide to all you need around town, plus tons of free vouchers. To order your copy ring 0117 942 8491. Only £2.95.