Gastard

Black Castle

Paintworks · 17 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 · 17 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.

Hengrove Park

Hengrove · 18 miles

Spanning roughly 76 hectares of open land in the Hengrove area of Bristol, the park offers a mixture of recreational and natural spaces. Visitors can explore a large adventure play area, a dedicated skate park and the Hengrove Mounds Local Nature Reserve, which provides a modest habitat for wildlife. Adjacent developments include the South Bristol Community Hospital, Hengrove Park Leisure Centre and the South Bristol Skills Academy, all forming part of the broader South Bristol regeneration programme. The site is managed by Bristol City Council and lies close to the residential district of Hengrove. The ground that now hosts the park was originally farmland before being acquired in 1929 for the municipal Whitchurch Airport, which opened on 31 May 1930. After wartime use by the Air Ministry and BOAC, the airport ceased operations in 1957 and the terminal was demolished, leaving sections of the former tarmac visible within the parkland. The area was officially renamed Hengrove Park in November 1962 to avoid confusion with an active airfield. Subsequent decades saw proposals for housing, a helipad and a motorsport circuit, before the council earmarked the majority of the land for public open space. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s the park became a venue for local sports and larger events, reinforcing its role as a community asset within the city’s green network.

Three Brooks Nature Reserve

Little Stoke · 18 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.

Temple Church

Temple Quarter · 18 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.

Castle Park

Bristol · 19 miles

Castle Park is a public open space in Bristol, England, managed by Bristol City Council. It is bounded by the Floating Harbour and Castle Street to the south, Lower Castle Street to the east, and Broad Weir, Newgate and Wine Street to the north. Its western boundary is less obviously defined and has been the subject of controversy, perhaps because the area around High Street and St Mary le Port Church, though not part of the park and always intended for development, is often considered at the same time as the park.