Get down to Spike Island on the docks for a unique centre devoted to the production and exhibition of the contemporary visual arts – with a great café. Explore Somerset’s rural and social history from the 1800s onwards, including landscape, farming, working life and rural crafts at Somerset Rural Life Museum.
Head to the Royal Mint Experience, the only place in the world where you can watch the UK’s coins being made. Try the Haynes Motor Museum, with the UK’s largest collection of iconic cars and motorbikes. Or steam along the Avon Valley Railway, pausing only for the station-based buffet.
Meet African elephants, rhinos, lions, giraffes, spectacled bears and a Nile crocodile at Noah’s Ark Zoo Farm. Visit Chew Valley for a range of animals including capybaras, camels, pygmy goats, ring-tailed lemurs and much more. Or cuddle a farmful of cuties at Pennywell Farm.
Visit a working farm at Cotswold Farm Park. Tackle just about every dry-side and wet-side activity you can imagine at Cotswold Water Park, including wakeboarding, waterskiing and high ropes. Enjoy more treetop adventures at Go Ape in the Forest of Dean. Or lose an afternoon on the soft sands of Weston-Super-Mare beach.
Kick things off in beautiful Bath. A few shots of the Royal Crescent should get tongues wagging on Insta. But a dip in the rooftop waters at Bath Thermae Spa is all about you. See how the Romans used to unwind at the 2000-year-old Roman Baths. And take the Jane Austen trail through a city seemingly designed for pleasure.
Head over to Bristol for inland, man-made surfing at The Wave. Fish for carp, barbel, and bream at Boyd Valley. Work out and swim at Keynsham Leisure Centre. Recover with an 18-hole walk around woodland, lakes and streams at Tracy Park Golf Course. Or ditch the clubs and take the dog around Golden Valley Nature Reserve.
Journey through over a century of fascinating aviation history at Aerospace Bristol. Step aboard the award-winning Brunel’s SS Great Britain on the Bristol harbourside. Head to Arnolfini for contemporary arts including visual arts, performance, film, music and events. And stick around for Design West, a lively venue for design and placemaking.
Visit the Gothic Revival masterpiece, Tyntesfield, complete with extensive gardens and parkland, just a stone’s throw from Bristol. See Bristol Cathedral, a fine example of a hall church and a centre of Bristol’s history, civic life and culture. Or try Clifton Observatory for the camera obscura and cave above the Avon Gorge.
