| AVON |
| The American Museum |
On A36,3.25 miles east of Bath |
To walk into Claverton Manor, an English neo-classical mansion designed
in 1820 by Sir Jeffry Wyatville, is to step back 250 years and into another continent. For
the manor contains a series of furnished rooms which bring to life the history, everyday
affairs and arts of the American people. The earliest room is a 17th century New England
Puritan 'keeping room', which served as a living room. Displays cover the exploration of
America, the life of the American Indians, and transport by river and sea. |
| Bath Abbey |
Centre of Bath |
The tower of Bath Abbey soars to 162ft, high above a Roman statue
standing over the Great Bath. The abbey, the third on the site, was begun in 1499 and is a
masterpiece of Perpendicular Gothic style. A ladder to heaven, with angels ascending and
descending, graces both west front turrets. The Abbey Churchyard is surrounded by lovely
18th century buildings. |
| Beckford's Tower |
Off Lansdown Road, 1 mile north of Bath |
In 1769, at the age of nine, William Beckford inherited a fortune from
his father's sugar plantations in Jamaica. After travels abroad he settled at Fonthill
Abbey in Wiltshire and there built a 276ft high Gothic tower. This collapsed in 1825, but
by then Beckford was living in Bath and had begun a new tower near the city to house his
furniture, books and paintings. The two-storey Italianate building now contains a museum
devoted to Beckford. |
| Blaise Castle House Museum |
Off A4018, 3.5 miles north of Bristol |
Life in and around Bristol over 300 years makes the theme of this
museum. Displays of furnishings, costumes, textiles, toys and farm implements give vivid
insights into everyday life; while other collections, including watches and chocolate
packaging, portray some of the city's trades. The museum is housed in a neoclassical
mansion built of mellow Bath stone by John Harford, a wealthy Bristol Quaker, at the end
of the 18th century. |
| Bristol Historic Harbour |
In Bristol, near city centre |
'Shipshape and Bristol-fashion' has long been a term of high
commendation among seafarers, and was also the standard adopted by the city when it set
about the re-creation of its near-derelict dockland as a leisure centre. There are water
sports and water tours, old ships, an ancient bridge, a warehouse converted into a cinema
and art gallery, museums, old pubs and places to eat and drink. It is a good idea to begin
at the Maritime Heritage Centre. A walk along the quay leads to the Industrial Museum, and
next to this, along the quay, is the National Lifeboat Museum. |
| Burrington Combe |
Off B3134, 4 miles north of Cheddar |
This Cheddar Gorge in miniature cuts a swathe down the 'softer'
northern side of the Mendip Hills - but it is spectacular for all that, with towering
craggy sides. Like Cheddar, it was the haunt of Stone Age men, who used caves such as
Aveline's Hole, near the bottom of the combe, as shelters around 12,000 years ago. Another
cleft was the inspiration for Augustus Toplady's hymn 'Rock of Ages'. A short walk from
the car park at the top of the gorge leads up to Burrington Ham, a ridge with a delightful
view over Blagdon and Chew Valley Lakes and Bristol. |
| Camden Works Museum |
Centre of Bath |
In a building of Bath's 18th century a Victorian family business has
been re-created. J.B. Bowler set up in Bath in 1872 as a brass founder and engineer. He
later produced mineral waters. The firm closed in 1969 and its premises were demolished.
Incredibly none of the contents had been thrown away so exact reconstructions were
possible. The museum also traces the story of golden Bath stone, used for Roman and
Georgian Bath. |
| Clevedon Court |
Off B3130, 0.5 miles east of Clevedon |
It is remarkable that a mansion built as early as 1320 should have
survived intact to the present day, but it was in that year that Sir John de Clevedon
grafted a new manor house onto an even earlier tower and hall standing at the foot of
Court Hill. Abraham Elton, a wealthy merchant-venturer from Bristol, bought the court in
1709, and his family owned it until the National Trust took it over in the 1950s. The
house contains a collection of glassware from the works which flourished at nearby Nailsea
from 1788 to 1873. There is also Eltonware produced between 1880 and 1921 at the
enterprise established by Sir Edmund Elton, a gifted potter. |
| Dyrham Park |
On A46, 8 miles north of Bath |
The country mansion and medieval Church of St Peter beside it lie amid
a deer park in a superb setting in the Cotswold Hills. The grand house in baroque style
was built between 1692 and 1704 for William III's Secretary of State, William Blathwayt,
and Dyrham's panelled rooms are little changed since his day. Many of their contents,
including Delft china and a series of bird pictures, were acquired by William while he was
in the diplomatic service. There are also tapestries, furniture, pictures and books. The
garden front was built in 1692. |
| Holburne Museum |
Centre of Bath |
Decorative arts, paintings and work by 20th century artist-craftsmen
are housed in Holbourne Museum and Crafts Study Centre. |
| No1 Royal Cresent |
Centre of Bath |
A majestic sweep of 30 houses, fronted by 104 graceful Ionic columns,
makes Royal Crescent one of the most elegant streets in Britain. It is the work of John
Wood the Younger, and was build in 1767-1774. No1 has been restored and furnished to
recreate its 18th century appearance. |
| Roman Baths and Pump Room |
Centre of Bath |
The main spring at Bath develops 250,000 gallons of water a day at a
temperature of 46.5C. The Romans built a reservoir around the spring to feed their complex
baths. The Great Bath was part of the complex at the heart of Roman Bath. Nearby the
builders built a temple dedicated to Sulis-Minerva, their own god of healing. The Pump
room was built in the early 1790's and todays visitors can take tea or coffee and a Sally
Lunn bun as in the olden days or sample the spa water from the elegant pump. |
| Sally Lunn's Museum |
Centre of Bath |
In the Bakery of Bath's oldest house, built in 1480, Sally Lunn evolved
her brioche buns around 1700. The delicacies are still made to her secret recipe, and
eaten in the coffee house there now. The cellar hold a kitchen museum. |
| Steep Holm |
Island 5 miles off Weston-super-Mare |
A trust set up in memory of the naturalist and author Kenneth Allsop
bought this small cliff-girt island in the Bristol Channel in 1976 to preserve it as a
nature reserve. The island covers only 50 acres at high tide - yet provides a home for
more than 260 plant species. Steep Holm was fortified in Victorian times, and in the
Second World War it bristled with artillery. A 19th century barracks (now used to house
visitors) and gun batteries remain. There are also remnants of the priory built by
Augustinian monks in the 12th century. |
| Woodspring Museum |
In centre of Weston-super-Mare |
A re-creation of everyday life at the turn of the century is one of the
main themes of this small museum. Visitors walk around an old chemist's shop, see an
Edwardian dentist's surgery, visit a farm dairy or cider-making room, or enter into the
spirit of a Victorian day at the seaside. The collections range from costumes and dolls to
cameras and penny-farthing bicycles. |
| Woodspring Priory |
Off A370, 3.5 miles north of Weston-super-Mare |
The Perpendicular style of this small priory church recalls the great
age of medieval church building. The priory was founded between 1210 and 1220 by William
de Courtenay, a grandson of one of the knights who murdered Thomas Becket in 1170; but the
present building dates mainly from the 15th century. After the Dissolution of the
Monasteries in the mid-16th century the priory church was used as a farmhouse. The
National Trust acquired the estate in 1968, and later the priory passed into the care of
the Landmark Trust and was restored. |
