We hate to say something as clichéd as ‘If you only go to X town for one thing, make it this’, but we love Bristol’s renovated ship ss Britain so much that we’re tempted. (Not that Bristol has only one sight to see, oh no.) Britain’s most populous city outside London is known for its nautical connections and its esteemed local engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel who designed said ship, now in Bristol’s floating harbour as a living history attraction covering Victorian naval life and emigration to Oz. Strewth.
Brunel’s other high strength design, the Clifton Suspension Bridge, is a famed Bristol sight too; walk or cycle over it to view the Avon Gorge – another strewth. Other sights to see if Bristol camping: shows at the Bristol Old Vic, urban etchings by Bristolian Banksy, the fizzingly good At-Bristol Science Centre, live music at Colston Hall, and only about four thousand or so listed buildings, these being at least partly why poet John Betjeman called Bristol ‘the most beautiful, interesting and distinguished city in England’.
Also handy from a Bristol campsite are the highlights of Somerset for day trips: cavernous Cheddar Gorge, the witch of Wookey Hole Caves, walking in the Mendip Hills or wallowing in the waters of Bath… Strewth the third, fourth, fifth...
