Blaise Castle House Museum and Estate

I’ve been coming to Blaise since i was a child and my love is still strong for it!
There’s free parking and lots of it, a great little café serving ice creams and such, a large kids playground, old house and museum And the most BEAUTIFUL scenery in Bristol.
Acres of rolling hills and trees you forget your in a city after being there for a while.
The land goes up hill and over some rocky path’s to the top overlooking the Bristol valley, walking down past the house and further into the woods you find a lovely stream with stone bridge.
It’s a great spot for taking photos or having a romantic stroll.
Great to be with Nature and there are no restraints to where you can walk, depending on how brave you are. There are walk ways and proper pathways or you can go into the woods themselves. It feels like a little magical place away from everything.
Easily the best place next to the downs for a picnic and dogs are welcome to/​
if you don’t mind a little walk buses 76 goes there or driving can easily be 20 minutes or less from the centre.
You can visit in the summer or even when it’s snowing– it looks beautiful either way

Blaise Castle is actually a late 18^th century mansion that now houses a museum, set in about 400 acres of parkland just outside Bristol (Henbury).
It was built in 1796 – 98 for John Harford, a rich Bristol merchant and banker, but today it’s open to the public and showcases household items from the 18^th century onwards, ranging from toilets to cooking utensils and washing equipment to early vacuum cleaners.
There are small costume galleries, too, displaying a select range of 19^th century costumes including a wedding dress from the 1880s and a white muslin day dress dating back to 1810.
The highlight of the venue for me was the Toy Rooms, however, which display some fairly pretty and some rather creepy-​looking dolls dating from the 18^th to the 20^th century, as well as toy cars, teddy bears, lead soldiers, dolls houses, prams and tricycles. I also liked the replica of a Victorian school room, with individual wooden desks in rows, each with a holes for the ink pot.
Blaise Castle can make a good outing for a rainy day, but it’s also on such a beautiful estate it’s a pleasant place to visit when it’s fine, too.

A great place to go walking with the children and the dogs. The car park can get a bit full on a weekend, so aim to get there early or park on the main road.
There is a nice easy path up to the castle or you can take the long path if you’re feeling energetic. It does get really muddy so wear wellies or solid walking boots or you’ll be mud skiing before you know it or losing shoes in the mire.
Views from the top over looking the gorge are spectacular and one day we’ll work up the stamina to spend a whole day walking up the gorge and around the woods.
On the way out they have a water wall, so be warned as children have a tendency to run underneath and get soaked which then makes for a whinging ride home. Bring towels and spare clothes.

I’ve been running here a couple of times, and it’s simply beautiful. There’s a large old English manor house in the centre, surrounded by spacious greenery and woodland. The woods are vast and stretch out in the area that links Coombe Dingle, Lawrence Weston and Henbury. There’s some really quaint paths in here, especially the one that leads up to the gothic folly.
The estate can serve many purposes — come here for a romantic walk, a barbeque with friends, or just a leisurely day out. I’ve never been to the museum which is located in the house, but I’ve heard good reports. This is a really good place to get some fresh air in a nice environment without driving miles out of the city.

I’ve not been in the museum for years, but the grounds are a great place to get out in the fresh air on a weekend afternoon if walking’s your thing. The grounds and woodland here are so extensive that they put the Downs to shame, and I especially recommend the walk down to Coombe Dingle (though I may be biased as I’m from over that way).
The main grounds near the museum are big enough on their own and offer a playground and mini-​railway for the kids, a pleasant little café with decent cakes and coffees, no restrictions on barbecues, enough room to play rounders and the like without annoying anyone, and free parking.
One note: make sure you check the times the car parks shut as the overflow one closes earlier and a couple of vehicles appeared to get locked in the last time I was there.

None other than an 18^th Century mansion house set in acres and acres of wooded landscape, as described by Ms. Jane Austen herself.
The ‘Castle’ part is actually a grassy hillfort upon which you can gallop to your heart’s content. But there is a small Gothic Folly to explore, at the top of a steep hill or course. The mansion house has been lovingly converted into a museum of childhood (sounds a bit creepy — full of china dolls etc — but actually a great deal of fun, with costumes, old games and toys — will get your grandparents reminiscing and your kids learning — gotta be a good thing!) The adventure play parks also prove screamingly popular with little ‘uns of all ages. With a regular ice-​cream van, a coffee shop and a generous car park — for me Blaise is a proper ‘day-​out’, without being miles and miles from the city.

I used to visit the museum with my school now and again, I also did this with mates when we were at Blaise castle. it was free to get in and theres a few interesting things to see inside, mostly telling of the history of Henbury and surrounding areas. It was interesing to know what my place of bith was like beore I was born.

This Museum has old fashioned dresses and baths and much more. It has a little shop stand where you can buy small items such as, rubbers, pencils, small toys and more. It is situated next to a large field for ball games, picnics and dog walking. Has two nice parks and a large wood with a mill and a castle in there.

This house is part of the beautfiul Blaise Castle Estate. There is a limited amount to do in the Museum itself (particularly for kids), but the real bonus are the events that the Council run throuhgout the year — most of which are free. Check them out on the Bristol city Council website