A walk from Blaise Castle to Kings Weston – in Bristol

The Blaise Castle walk to Kings Weston in Bristol offers an all round experience of fresh air and exercise with a healthy dose of history, poetry and sculpture thrown in. You might even get a nice cup of tea and cake as your reward at the end! I’ll share the highlights with you, just in case you’d like to take a walk too.

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The Blaise Castle walk

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.

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

Now, thanks to lottery funding, the Blaise Castle park has been revamped with a shiny new steel cafe with a waterfall running down one side, poetry etched in the glass windows and a quirky scrap metal dog, keeping guard over it all.

Blaise Hamlet

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 Sweet Briar 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 Ye Olde England and imagine you are living the rural idyll.

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

Blaise Castle folly

But back to the car-park we turned and pressed on past the children playing, towards Blaise Castle house museum. Turning right we climbed the wooded mound in front of us, to take a look at the ‘castle’ at the top.

This folly was built in the 1790’s 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 sometimes have open days. Opposite Blaise 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.

Walking to Kings Weston

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 listening to music, 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.

Update March 2024: The green bridge has been taken down for repairs so you’ll have to walk down to the road to access Kings Weston house by crossing the road.

Kings Weston House

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.

It’s now run by a private company and used for weddings, conferences and Sunday lunches – our friends got married there. Depending on what’s going on, you may be able to wander into their elegant hall and admire the family portraits.

Kings Weston House cafe

We settled into the Kings Weston House cafe, 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.

If you’d like to try out this walk click on the map image below to locate the places I’ve mentioned in the article. 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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This article is originally published at Heatheronhertravels.com

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