Walking W R o a u l k t e

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B r i s t o l Bristol Group Ramblers As members of the Ramblers we promote walking, protect the checked at www.travelinesw.com . We have done our best to rights of way, campaign for access to open country and the provide accurate and up to date information, but services are coastline and defend the beauty of the countryside. liable to alteration at short notice. We have regular walks of varying distance and difficulty on Whilst every effort has been made to check the routes in this Saturday mornings, Sundays and Wednesdays. In the Spring and book, mistakes do happen and the city is subject to changes, so Summer we have shorter walks on Tuesday and Thursday neither Bristol City Council or the Ramblers can accept evenings. Our walks on Wednesdays and Tuesday evenings are responsibility for any inconvenience this may cause. To advise of usually accessible by public transport. mistakes or recommend new walks for future editions contact Bristol City Council at [email protected] or Non-members are most welcome. After a few walks they will be 0117 9036701 . invited to join the Bristol Ramblers Group. We have a membership of almost 1000 walkers in Bristol and over 2000 in Neither Bristol City Council or the Ramblers necessarily endorse the West of area. the opinions expressed by the authors of the walks. For details of membership and our walks programme visit All rights reserved. No parts of this publication may be www.bristolramblers.org.uk . Then just choose a walk to reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any suit your ability and contact the walk leader to introduce yourself form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, and obtain further details. recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers. Even though these walks are within the city, suitable footwear and a waterproof are still advised. All of the walks are accessible by public transport. The times for buses and trains can be Introduction Walking is the simplest and cheapest form of travel and also one It seemed a real shame that access to these walks could be of the best forms of exercise. It helps you to feel good, reduces denied to so many people, so it was decided to re-produce a stress, increases your energy levels, reduces blood pressure and selection of these in a smaller format. The beauty of this new helps you to sleep better at night. It is a very good way to help publication is that it will be free for all to enjoy. you to lose weight. Trying to decide which walks to exclude was very difficult and Walking also helps you to appreciate the city that you live in. this led us to producing two booklets, one for the north and east Other forms of transport race you past those lovely views or small of the city and the other for the south and central. You may wish points of historic interest. They make it more difficult to pop in to to pick up the one that is local to you or both of them to explore that small shop or stop off for a drink and a bite to eat. Walking other parts of the city. Although a number of walks are in or lets you appreciate all of these at a leisurely pace. close to the city centre a conscious effort has been made to take these walks to the majority of the population out in the suburbs. In 2002 Bristol City Council and Bristol Group Ramblers There are some little gems in the most unexpected of places. collaborated to produce a delightful publication called ‘Bristol Backs – Discovering Bristol on Foot’. This book contained 27 So please, go out and walk around your city and enjoy its little walks around the city, all over varying length and all taking in hidden pleasures and explore those alleys and lanes that you various features of this great city. might not have known existed and if it means that you occasionally leave the car at home, it will have all been worth it. The book was intended to be sold, as it had been lovingly produced to a high quality. Unfortunately, this meant that when stocks began to run low, the cost of re-production proved to be prohibitive.

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A L L School E Hotel N School Riding R D OOD D ATW DR Centre R IV E VE RO Junction 18a G A

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O Car W School Park Blaise Castle Penpole D A D RO House A N k ON RO TO o ST S o College L E E r A W W B E GS l W C N e E R E N KI z IV a R Blaise H D Mill E F Blaise Castle H Z E Castle S R R A B

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LA N H E School Kings Weston E. AV M O Hill E O L . I L VE R NV A Golf Course G BE K RO OC V T S D E. R DS S E A V A O O A CH R School R C D G S VE O R G E RI O E O N IL D A W IV L H V O T R L M D U D E D R E O R R R S S iver Trym E O O I C U House P O T A O D S WESTON A U NG AVE W M E KI E N B H U BARR I V B OW R G School T R N FORD

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EN V Penpole AV T H W O E NCROF EST Z F MA A B R U A Point L R G E Canford L Y E L L N A Y Penpole Wood E N Cemetery D VE N O D E E A R School INGL N L G R T H E D A PE Y . NP WESTBU R H WAY D S O Footbridge G N A L E I A E LV E O L N L H Y R A E S L AD B D I N L E N RO E A G MPTO R SU . D HA T N D E R HIRE O N E R S N Y V H Sports H ID H A IG T G ILL E E E R B L D. M E AY Ground G R School O D C I Golf Course R B D H A

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B O O H M S E CRE Footbridge C R PE TR ILL S TH SC N E ARK H H E N W C B E P E IR N R O RO T EH A O O . K A T B D O S E M L L E R PORTW P L AN M R D AY T E D C PA O B R N B G E Y K R Y R E OA RO . L L D A A A D D . W N A D W R D D E B R A N O R N O AY Crabtree Slip VA D O S R W YL O S TI D T S D H A R R T T A PO Wood L The Mill House PH S N E Y ER A D B E Z (Alternative Start)

T E T S W . S D P E S O R R O E H L KLEAZ N I ODWE L I R BROO R T F E A A V R N H W I E A L L W M I E m E A A y LY P D V N D r N TO PA R Y D I T S A N RR A E S V YS O C r L E R LA R R e L L O R E I Y N EY S M v N A A L RSL Y i M D D U E R A E D V School TR LE A T A O R A V AD Z YM E E

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O N L S L L A E L K V I V E A D O A M O N R A E E S W . K A E O Y AV ST K E W AN WAY NE E D M S O LD AD R O O R S O T N Sea Mills L D M D E O E K

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Penpole - Walk 5 Description: The walk follows a series of footpaths along the and through the delightful Penpole Wood, Kings Weston Down and with superb views over Bristol and . For convenience, the walk is presumed to start at Blaise Castle House. Length: 7-8 miles. (3.5 - 4 hours) Refreshments: There are toilets, parking and a cafe at Blaise Castle. has a café. The Millhouse. Blaise Inn. Transport: This walk can start either from Blaise Castle Estate on bus 40 or from The Mill House public house in Shirehampton Road below Trymwood Parade on bus 40 or from Sea Mills Station on the Line.

Blaise Castle House A was designed by occupied by the castle was dedicated to trees. Later it was occupied by the William Paty for John Harford in the him. In its turn the chapel was built over Romans. The castle is intended to be 1790s and Humphrey Repton was what was possibly a Roman temple. The open from April to September on Sundays commissioned to landscape the park. The present castle B was erected by from 2.00-4.00pm. It is manned by the estate is named after St Blaise, a Bishop Thomas Farr in 1766 and originally had Friends of Blaise Castle. The house is of Sebaste in Armenia and patron saint of lavishly furnished rooms. This strategic now a museum of household life in times wool-combers who was persecuted for hilltop has a long history of settlement by past and is open from April to October, his Christian beliefs. A thirteenth century man, being formerly an Iron Age hill fort Sat.-Wed., 10.00am-5.00pm. The estate chapel which stood on the site now covering some 7 acres although the is now owned by Bristol City Council. banks and ditches are now obscured by Walk up from the house With the castle door At the bottom you pass past the toilets, behind you, walk half- by Stratford Mill, beside children’s playground and right towards to a gap in the , a the cafe to the car park. the trees which open up tributary of the River Turn left at the metal to give a fine panoramic Trym. Above Blaise dog statue towards the view over the river valley, Castle Estate the brook wooded hill, near the known as Lovers’ Leap. is renamed the wood edge. Turn right Turn left and follow the Trym. past the sculptures and main route downhill, follow the path which ignoring subsequent Stratford Mill C was an eighteenth runs inside the edge of paths off to the left. century corn mill rescued from the hamlet the woods. Turn right on meeting a of Moreton, near West Harptree, when tarmac path. Chew Valley reservoir was created, and The path bends round to re-erected beside Hazel Brook. the left where it meets Unfortunately, the stream is not capable another path crossing of turning the wheel. right to left. Turn to the left, where three paths Cross over the brook and lead off. Take the middle turn right keeping to the one leading upwards and main tarmac path. Follow to the right up to the the brook down the castle. The other two valley, ignoring the paths follow the ditches footbridges and crossing between the ramparts of points over the brook. the hill fort and lead The tarmac path soon round the hill. rises gently and bends to You could start the walk from nearby Sea the left but still the path again in the Mills Station and continue clockwise from follows the brook in the woods opposite. This valley below. Continue on path shortly passes here. the tarmac path as it under Dingle Road and Go through the bushes turns down towards the continues along a broad up the waymarked brook again and crosses grassy area until it footpath leading into it, leading past a few crosses a footbridge over Clapton Walk. Turn right seats. The path then the Trym and comes out at the top and follow curves to the right and behind the car park of Riverleaze round to the rises gently while the The Mill House D public left and up to St Edyth’s Hazel Brook turns to the house and ends up in Bell church. left to join the River Barn Road. Turn right. Trym some distance way. St Edyth’s, 1931, was designed by Take care crossing the George Oatley. In one detail, it was never Follow the path busy Shirehampton Road completed. The gargoyles on the tower alongside a low stone and go down the are still plain blocks of stone. wall which curves round footpath by the side of to the right. After the the bridge over the River Turn left down Avonleaze end of the wall, the path Trym . Continue alongside and then right into the opens out to become a the river as far as the waymarked footpath small car park with the Trym Cross Road, cross which leads on to Sylvan River Trym now flowing over the Trym bridge and Way. Cross over this to the left. Continue on walk diagonally up to the busy road with care. Go through the car park, right towards the corner through the kissing gate cross over The Dingle of the field near the A4 into Shirehampton Golf minor road and pick up Portway. course, Pause to enjoy the stunning views of footpath to the ridge. Horseshoe Bend E in the River Avon and Continue along the path beyond. Horseshoe Bend was famous as on the ridge up to a a navigational hazard, a major cause of small memorial stone the City Dock’s decline. with a seat running round it. Carry on a little Continue down to the further to Penpole Point bottom end of the golf where the path begins to course and then take the descend steeply. path up to the right alongside a stone wall Penpole Point F is where the eighteenth until it comes out by century merchants of Bristol used to the clubhouse car park. watch for the arrival of their ships. When Leave the golf course the new turnpike road made the journey and cross over Shirehampton Road/Park Hill and go up the steps into Shirehampton Cricket following the waymark to Club field. Keep to the the left. Keep to the left-hand fence and perimeter fence of the cross Penpole Lane at golf course which runs the far end. Turn left . alongside and above the Cross road at the A4 Portway. Take care entrance to the Oasis not to disturb golfers on Academy. Go diagonally the way. right on a wide grassy easy, excursions to Penpole Hill became is now privately occupied and used for paths converge by two fashionable. A Breakfast Room was built functions. large boulders to your and its customers were permitted to left. Follow the first Pass round to the right ramble in the shrubberies of Kings path, past the boulders of the house and go up Weston House. A few fragments of the and go along the path the drive leading to the structure remain. Nowadays, the famous leading down to the gazebo at the top. This view has suffered from development and recently restored would have been covered is largely obscured by trees. In Kingsweston House. A with stucco. Note the Basement Café is to the Napoleonic times a beacon was placed amusing faces on the left of the main here to be lit in case of invasion. stone vases. Walk round entrance. the gazebo to the right, Return along the same go down some steps and path and just before the Kingsweston House G was designed for across the iron bridge School Drop Off Point, Sir Edward Southwell by Sir John over Kings Weston Road. turn half left into the Vanbrugh and dates back to 1720, Follow the footpath to woods. There is a choice replacing an earlier Tudor house. Mention the right of the large of three paths at this of Kings Weston Estate and the Blaise house and by the kissing point, so take care to folly can be found in Jane Austen’s gate into Kings Weston choose the right hand Northanger Abbey. The house became a Down Nature Reserve. path which will shortly hospital in World War I. Requisitioned in follow the edge of World War II, the empty house was Note the single ditch and rampart another cricket field. purchased by Bristol Corporation in 1948 formerly part of an Iron Age camp at the Continue along this path and became a school. A college of far end H . through attractive architecture and sociology, and then a woodland until you come Leave Kings Weston Down police training centre followed. The house to a clearing where two by the kissing gate in the left hand hedge and go down a series of steps. Bear right near the bottom and then left into the clearing to Echo Gate I . If the walk started at Blaise Castle House, pass to the left of Castle Hill ahead and walk down towards the car park near the road and then on to the Enjoying a walk house. If, however, the walk started at The Mill House, continue past the signpost pointing to Blaise Castle at the other side of Echo Gate clearing. Then take the footpath up to Castle Hill as described at the beginning.

Walk devised by Alan Burton Bristol Ramblers

Wildlife A Blaise House B Blaise Castle F Penpole Point

Blaise Woods Folly at Kingsweston House G Kingsweston House