Dyrham

Three Brooks Nature Reserve

Little Stoke · 8.1 miles

Spanning roughly 44 hectares, the Three Brooks reserve provides a network of blue-bell woodlands, ponds and a central lake within the suburb of Bradley Stoke, South Gloucestershire. The site takes its name from the Hortham, Patchway and Stoke Brooks that converge in the lake before continuing east beneath the M4 as Bradley Brook. Owned by South Gloucestershire Council, the reserve lies close to Little Stoke and incorporates the former woodlands of Webb’s, Savage’s and Sherbourne’s Brake, linked by grassland, hedgerows and water features. The surrounding town, largely built in the 1980s on former farmland, retained these natural fragments, many of which were historically managed for timber. Savage’s Wood survived as a nature reserve in the 1940s and ’50s under the stewardship of Howard Davis, a local farmer and co-founder of the Wildfowl Trust. Although Bradley Stoke Way later bisected the wood, a small remnant remains adjacent to a Tesco car park, and subsequent ash plantations were established as reparation. Today, the reserve supports reed buntings, skylarks, great crested newts, slowworms and a variety of moths, while the lake regularly attracts ducks, little grebes and mute swans; a 2014 Bio-Blitz recorded 617 species. Visitors can explore a well-surfaced system of footpaths and sign-posted cycle routes that circle the three woods and the community orchard. Recent upgrades, including stone-dust paths and a disabled gate behind the leisure centre, provide all-year access for walkers and mobility-scooter users, the latter requiring a Radar key. The Three Brooks Nature Conservation Group, open to the public, meets each first Saturday of the month to coordinate activities such as bat walks, coppicing and ditch-clearing, and the site also hosts a ‘green gym’ for volunteer work.

Black Castle

Paintworks · 8.1 miles

A striking example of 18th-century Gothic Revival stands on Junction Road in Bristol’s Brislington suburb. Known locally as the Black Castle and also recorded as Arno’s Castle, the building holds a Grade I listing and currently operates as a public house under the Flaming Grill Pub Co. The nearest settlement identified on mapping data is Paintworks, placing the site within easy reach of the surrounding residential area. Constructed between 1745 and 55, the structure was intended as a folly but may have originally served as a stable block and laundry for the lord of the manor. Design is attributed to either William Halfpenny or James Bridges and was commissioned by factory owner William Reeve, who supplied the black copper-slag blocks from his Bristol Brass Company foundry. The façade displays symmetrical square-courtyard planning, crenellated circular corner towers and moulded two-centred archways, while decorative white flush-work panels and Y-tracery windows add Gothic detail. A coach house extends from the right-hand tower, echoing the main building’s arch motifs. Contemporary commentary from Horace Walpole in 1766 described the edifice as “coal black, and striped with white,” initially mistaking it for a “devil’s cathedral.” Reuse of freestone carving from demolished medieval gateways and St Werburgh’s Church links the castle to earlier Bristol architecture, and a 1912 relocation moved the former Arno’s Court Triumphal Arch a short distance away. Visitors can reach the Black Castle via Junction Road, with the public house offering the usual amenities of a licensed establishment. As a listed historic feature, the building remains under the care of Historic England, ensuring its preservation for future observation.

Sparke Evans Park

Paintworks · 8.1 miles

Located on the northern bank of the River Avon in Bristol’s St Philips Marsh area, Sparke Evans Park offers open space beside the water and direct access from Albert Road. The park forms part of the Paintworks development in Brislington, linked by the Sparke Evans Park Bridge, and is maintained by Bristol City Council. The 1902 gift of roughly seven acres came from industrialists Peter Fabyan Sparke Evans and his brother Jonathan, who intended the land to serve the local workforce and the wider community. Early layouts included play-fields, seating and provisions for separate shelters for women, girls, men and boys, as outlined in the donors’ correspondence. During the early twentieth century, unemployment relief schemes employed hundreds of men to level the ground and improve surrounding routes, while later years saw the addition of further seating to accommodate visitors. Today the park remains free to the public, with pathways suitable for walking and areas for recreation. Its proximity to the river makes it a convenient point for casual riverside strolls, and the bridge connection provides easy pedestrian access to the adjacent Paintworks precinct. Facilities are basic but reflect the original intent of a non-political, undenominational space for the old, the young and the infirm.

Mina Road Park

St Werburgh's · 8.7 miles

A public green space in the St Werburghs district of Bristol lies beside the Horfield Brook, a tributary of the River Frome. Operated by Bristol City Council, the park provides a low-lying riverside setting with planted specimen trees, gravel paths and open lawns. Among the surviving Victorian elements is a Grade II listed cast-iron urinal, while a bandstand installed in 1887 and a modern playground give the area a mix of historic and contemporary amenities. The layout, originally intended to include an ornamental lake, now offers a sheltered open area for walking and informal recreation. The site was donated to the city in 1884 by William Hunt, a local benefactor, on the condition that it be laid out in the style of Cotham Gardens. Designed by borough engineer Frederick Ashmead and opened on 30 June 1886, the early planting scheme featured Wellingtonia, cedar and cryptomeria trees. Wartime requisition removed ornamental iron railings and damaged the lake, while air-raid shelters erected in 1939 remain as raised mounds. In the post-war era the lake was filled to make way for a new playground, and the park has hosted community events such as the St Pauls Carnival procession in the 1970s and 1980s and a free festival by the Ekome dance company in 1982. Access is via the surrounding streets of St Werburghs, and as a council-run public park it remains open for general use without a stated admission charge.

Aerospace Bristol

Brabazon · 9.3 miles

A collection of more than 8,000 artefacts charts over a hundred years of aviation, from early pioneers to modern jetliners, and it is housed on the historic Filton Airfield north of Bristol. The site is operated by the Bristol Aero Collection Trust and occupies two First World War-era Grade II listed hangars, one of which serves as the main exhibition space while the other functions as a workshop and storage area. A purpose-built Concorde hangar displays Concorde Alpha Foxtrot – the final aircraft of the type – alongside its Rolls-Royce/Snecma Olympus 593 engine, and a separate Conservation in Action workshop allows visitors to observe restoration work in progress. The exhibition is organised into seven chronological themes, presenting Bristol-built aircraft such as a Bristol Scout, a Bristol Fighter and a Bristol Bolingbroke under restoration, as well as motor vehicles, scale models and a range of piston- and jet-era engines. Highlights include a flyable replica of a Bristol Boxkite, a Sea Harrier delivered by RAF Chinook, and a representation of the Brabazon airliner’s wheels and nameplate. The museum’s development began after Concorde Alpha Foxtrot arrived in 2003, with major funding from BAE Systems and a Heritage Lottery Fund grant leading to the opening of Aerospace Bristol in October 2017. Admission requires a charge, and the venue offers step-free access for wheelchair users. Opening times are published on the museum’s listing, and the nearest town identified by mapping data is Brabazon. Facilities include the exhibition halls, the workshop viewing area and standard visitor amenities.

Temple Church

Temple Quarter · 9.3 miles

The ruined remains of Temple Church, also recorded as Holy Cross Church, lie in the Redcliffe area of Bristol near the district known as Temple Quarter. The site originally hosted a round-nave preceptory built by the Knights Templar after Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester, granted the land in the early-mid-12th century. Following the suppression of the Templars, the Knights Hospitaller took control in 1313 and, by the early 14th century, the building was serving the parish of Temple Fee. Reconstruction on a rectangular plan began around that time and was finished by 1460, when a leaning west tower was added. Ownership passed to the Crown during the dissolution of the monasteries in 1540, and the church later became part of the Bristol Corporation’s holdings. Bombing during the Bristol Blitz of 24/25 November 1940 left the structure an empty shell; most of the arcades were removed as unsafe, though several fittings survived elsewhere in the city. The building is now a Grade II* listed structure and a scheduled monument, owned by the Diocese of Bristol and placed under English Heritage guardianship in 1958. Excavations in 1960 revealed the outline of the original 12th-century church, which has been marked on the ground in stone. A major conservation project between 2021 and 2023 restored the site, allowing public access for the first time in over three decades. As an archaeological site, it offers insight into medieval monastic architecture, the legal privileges of the Templar estate, and the later Perpendicular alterations that shaped its present form.