A walk to Kings Weston – in Bristol

The Victoria and Albert museum in London once ran with the controversial slogan – an ace caff with quite a nice museum attached. The art world spluttered into it’s collective tea-cup at the thought that a nice cup of Earl Grey could be more important than the riches of art and design on offer.

However, I rather like the idea that it’s the all-round experience that counts. After all, why trudge across a muddy field if you can find a walk with a healthy dose of history, poetry, sculpture and a lemon drizzle cake at the end?

The walk from Blaise Castle to Kings Weston that I made last weekend fits the bill on all counts and I’ll share the highlights with you, just in case you’d like to take a walk too.

We started at the car park of Blaise castle estate, which was teeming with Bristolians out for their afternoon of family fun. When my children were tiny the café was a small hatch and a few tired swings and slides passed for a playground. Now, thanks to lottery funding, the park has been revamped with a shiny new steel café with a water-fall running down one side, poetry etched in the glass windows and a quirky scrap metal dog, keeping guard over it all.

…and years afterwards you’ll remember that kiss on the bridge where nail heads guttered like stars under your feet

Before we started our walk in earnest, we backtracked down the road to search out a hamlet of picturesque thatched cottages with names like Oak and Sweetbriar cottage. Built in 1811 for retired workers from the Blaise estate, Blaise Hamlet is now owned by the National Trust, although the cottages are still occupied. As you push open the wrought iron you enter the chocolate box world of Olde England – you can even rent Rose cottage by the week, if you fancy living the rural idyll.

It would be easy to spend a whole sunny afternoon here in Blaise without bothering with the walk, what with the two children’s playgrounds, the free museum in Blaise house and a wander round the old churchyard, where the famous black slave, Scipio Africanus is buried.

But back to the car-park we turned and pressed on past the children playing, towards Blaise house, turning right to climb the wooded mound in front of us to take a look at the ‘castle’ at the top. This folly was built in the 1790s when the whole estate was re-landscaped by Humphry Repton, and in days gone by was used as a summer house. It’s closed up now, although the Friends of Blaise are hoping to open it up again this summer. Opposite the castle is a viewpoint overlooking the limestone gorge and the suburbs of Bristol beyond. If you scramble down from here you can follow another wooded path beside the stream at the bottom of the gorge – but that’s a walk for another day.

We climbed down the end of the mound, heading south-west, then almost immediately climbed up again onto the ridge that takes you towards Kings Weston, our goal for tea that afternoon. The landscape at the top broadens out into a ‘ride’, used in the days when a gallop in the countryside was considered the best exercise for a well-bred young lady or gentleman. There’s a stable nearby where I used to bring my children when they were little and we would come up onto this ride for a gentle trot.

We strolled along the open ride, passing joggers glued to their i-pods, hiking groups armed with walking poles and families with all-terrain buggies. On our left we could glimpse the heart of Bristol through the trees, on our right the Severn Bridge, bearing traffic over the Bristol estuary and into Wales. After half an hour, just beyond a radio mast, the path narrowed and we came to a green painted bridge over the main road below.

Immediately across the bridge we turned right and passed an arched folly, before strolling down the wooded avenue to glimpse Kings Weston House. Designed by Sir John Vanbrugh in 1710, the house has had mixed fortunes in recent years, as a military base, school, college and offices for the Avon and Somerset police. Since 2000 it has been run by a private company and used for weddings, conferences and Sunday lunches – our friends got married there last year. Depending on what’s going on, you may be able to wander into their elegant hall and admire the family portraits.

We settled into the vaulted tea room, decorated with brightly painted tiles and photos of the house throughout the seasons. An open fire crackled in the stone fireplace as we deliberated between a traditional Victoria sponge and a lemon drizzle cake with our tea. You can have lunch too and sit on the terrace outside, although the view which would once have been of rolling countryside towards the Severn estuary, is now the industrial landscape of Avonmouth.

The walk from Blaise castle to Kings Weston House took us over an hour, allowing for taking photos, admiring the view and basking on a sunny bench or two. But on the way back we set a brisker pace and made it back in only 30 minutes.

There was just time to admire a little more poetry before we headed for home.

…light on leaves, a bird’s dark wing, what you see depends on the glass you look through

If you’d like too try out this walk you can check out the Google interactive map – click on the markers or lines to see the interesting things on the way. To get directions, use your favourite route finder website and type in the postcode BS10 7QS. You can see all the photos again on my flickr site here.

Happy wandering!
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www.flickr.com    heatheronhertravels’ Bristol – Blaise castle to Kings Weston photoset

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