Walk in Bristol
with Richie
Blaise Castle House Museum & Estate
5 Nearest Attraction
(0,3 mile - 6 min walking)
2. Church of St Mary the Virgin
(0,4 mile - 8 min walking)
(1,4 mile - 27 min walking)
4. Canford Park
(1,5 mile - 31 min walking)
(1,6 mile - 33 min walking)
Click to the postcode to check the map .
Nearest Public Toilet
Blaise Castle Estate
(Community Toilet Scheme)
( Monday to Sunday: 9am to 5pm)
Henbury, Bristol BS10 7QT
Official Website:
https://www.bristolmuseums.org.uk/blaise-castle-house-museum/
Blaise Castle House Museum and Estate features a 19th century mansion, set in 400 acres of parkland, and is home to the social history collection.
Discover everyday objects from centuries past, including Victorian toilets and baths, kitchen and laundry equipment, model trains, dolls, toys and period costume in the museum.
Richie's opinion :
"I can't count, how many times I visited the Blaise Castle House Museum & Estate, because it is a perfect Estate to me for a good walk and it is near to my home. When I first time visited the estate, I lived in the BS6 area, I thought, about the name of estate, it is a bristolian historical Castle, and when I arrived , Ididn't find the Castle , JUST the House Museum, but I wasn't disappointed, because the Museum was very Informative and sufficiently historical, and I made a good walk in the estate, where I found everything, what I wait to a peaceful park : big grass, trees, wildlife with butterflies, birds and squrrels, a river, small lakes, and interesting places in the park ( like Goram's Chair , and till that time I didn't hear about Goram ). So.. It was PERFECT !. If I remember well, when I visited the Estate third or fourth times, I found the Caste too, what was very imposant on the Hill. I think , it is One of the best Estates in Bristol, and I am so sad, when I hear, some people don't respect this pearl , and make vandalism in the place ( broke the Museum's window, made fire ...etc. ) .
Please , Don't do it, save this magical place to the posterity.. "
About the Blaise Castle Estate
Parking
There's a car parking fee at our main car park in Blaise Castle Estate.
This was introduced on Thursday 3 March 2022.
If you want to stay longer than 5 hours, you can pay for extra hours.
Charges apply between 9am and 6pm, Monday to Sunday, including bank holidays.
A number of waiting restrictions, including double and single yellow lines, were installed in October on sections of several surrounding roads.
These were delivered ahead of charges coming in at the estate to protect nearby junctions, driveways, and bus routes from obstructive parking.
There are two car parks:
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main car park off Kings Weston Road at BS10 7QS
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small car park off The Dingle at BS9 2PA
The car parks close at the same time as the estate.
Car parks are closed on 25 December.
Admission and opening times
Admission is free.
Access may be restricted on major event days.
Blaise Castle Estate is open every day from 7.30am. Closing times vary throughout the year:
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5.15pm in November, December and January
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6.15pm in February
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7.15pm in March
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8.15pm in April
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9.15pm in May, June, July and August
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8.15pm in September
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7.15pm in October
To find out when the dairy garden and castle are open, see noticeboards at the estate.
Disabled access
You can find an access guide on the DisabledGo website.
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main car park: five disabled parking bays
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small car park: one disabled parking bay
The entrance to the estate from the small car park is through a kissing gate that's not accessible to wheelchairs or mobility scooters.
If you use a wheelchair or mobility scooter you can access the site from the main car park at Kings Weston Road.
Facilities and features
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Blaise Hamlet (National Trust property)
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cafe (Find out about the Blaise Castle Estate cafe )
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children's play area with areas for younger and older children
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toilets with baby changing facilities: toilets closed on 25 December
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benches and picnic areas
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BBQs are allowed as long as you raise them off the ground
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one cricket pitch
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grassed space for play and sport
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lily pond
Activities
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horse riding, a two mile trail runs from Kings Weston Road car park to Kings Weston Down
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orienteering, the course is managed by Bristol Orienteering Klub
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Nordic walking, sessions are run by Bristol Nordic Walking
Under the park byelaws, you can fly model aircraft, including drones, pdfin part of the Blaise Estate (pdf, 680 KB).
The model aircraft must weigh 7kg or less, without its fuel. The person flying the aircraft must:
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be a member of the British Model Flying Association Go to https://bmfa.org/ (opens new window)
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register with the Civil Aviation Authority Go to https://register-drones.caa.co.uk/individual (opens new window) and get a Flyer ID
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have public liability insurance
Walking routes
There are footpaths in the estate. You can download maps of our walking routes:
Castle walk
1 miles (40 minutes)
Has views over the gorge. Woodland trails with some steep inclines that can be muddy.
pdfBlaise Estate castle walk leaflet (pdf, 758 KB)
Gorge walk
1 miles (50 minutes)
Has views of the gorge and surrounding woodland. This walk uses surfaced and woodland paths. There are steep inclines.
pdfBlaise Estate gorge walk leaflet (pdf, 772 KB)
Kings Weston Down walk
1 miles (35 minutes)
Includes woodland paths, grassland and the Iron Age hill fort.
pdfBlaise Estate Kings Weston Down walk leaflet (pdf, 731 KB)
Rhododendron walk
3 miles (1 hour and 45 minutes)
Includes many of the estates natural features and historical buildings. This walk uses surfaced paths and woodland trails on mixture of terrains. Includes steep inclines.
pdfBlaise Estate Rhododendron walk leaflet (pdf, 751 KB)
The Royals and St Mary's Church walk
1 miles (50 minutes)
Includes The Royals and St Mary's Church Yard. This walk uses woodland trails, grass and surfaced paths. The main drive is suitable for buggies.
pdfBlaise Estate The Royals and St Mary's Church walk leaflet (pdf, 760 KB)
Awards and heritage
Site of special scientific interest: protected area of importance for conservation.
Community support
The Friends of Blaise is a community group that works in cooperation with the Council to maintain and improve the Estate. For more information and their activities or to join, e-mail them at contact@friendsofblaise.co.uk.
History
Flint fragments show Blaise Castle Estate was probably first inhabited by Neolithic farmers. There is more definitive evidence for Bronze Age, Iron Age and Roman activity through the distinctive hill-forts in the area and other archaeological finds.
The value of this historic landscape was recognised when it became a scheduled monument in 1982.
The land was granted to the Bishop of Worcester as part of the Kingdom of Mercia before the Norman conquest.
During this time, when it was the property of the church, the estate had a chapel dedicated to Saint Blaise, which has given the estate its name.
Following the Dissolution of the Monasteries, the estate was granted to Ralph Sadler who let it to tenants until 1675.
A large part of the estate was bought by Sir Samuel Astry of Henbury.
Blaise Castle House
In the later 18th century, the estate was owned by a sugar merchant and investor in the slave trade, Thomas Farr, who bought it from Astry's descendants in 1762; he built the sham castle.
Farr went bankrupt when ships he owned were blockaded during the American Revolutionary War, and the estate was bought in 1778 by Denham Skeate.
Eleven years later he sold it to John Harford, a wealthy Bristol merchant and banker, who demolished the old house in 1789 and had the present two-storey Neoclassical Blaise Castle House built in 1796–1798, designed by William Paty.
It is a square stone block with adjoining domestic offices which are faced with stucco. The north west entrance front has five bays with a central semicircular projecting porch with Ionic columns.
It is a grade II* listed building, though described by Simon Jenkins as "solid, simple and unexciting".
John Nash added a connected conservatory or orangery around 1805 or 1806, and in 1832–1833, Charles Robert Cockerell designed the Picture Room for Harford's son, John Scandrett Harford, who had inherited the estate after his father's death in 1812.
The Picture Room extends into a portico which has six Ionic columns.
This now houses a display of paintings from the Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery.
The hall has bas-relief medallions by Bertel Thorvaldsen.
The elder Harford also had Blaise Hamlet built to house his servants and tenants, to designs of Nash and George Repton, in 1811.
The estate was sold to Bristol City Council in 1926, to preserve it from development.
During World War II the house was occupied by the armed forces.
A branch of the Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery since 1949, Blaise Castle House now features collections relating to household items in addition to its period interior decoration.
Galleries have displays of historic domestic equipment used for lighting, cooking, cleaning, washing, including a display of toilets.
Blaise Castle
On a hill above the gorge is a sham castle in Gothic Revival style overlooking Bristol, Avonmouth and the Avon Gorge, with views across to South Wales on a clear day.
It was built in 1766, by Robert Mylne, on the site of a chapel dedicated to Saint Blaise.
The folly is reputed to have cost £3,000.
The circular building is built of local ashlar stone with limestone dressings.
It has three turrets with crenallated parapets.
It was a popular attraction from the first, open to paying visitors, from which vessels could be seen passing on the River Avon.
The castle was mentioned by Jane Austen in her novel Northanger Abbey.
John Thorpe, planning a trip to Bristol with Catherine Morland and her brother, describes the castle as "the finest place in England – worth going fifty miles at any time to see.
It was inhabited into the 20th century and was elaborately decorated internally.
It is a Grade II* listed building and was restored in 1957.
The Estate
The castle and its 650 acres (2.6 km2) of parkland are now open to the public.
Along with Blaise Hamlet, the parkland is listed Grade II* on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens of special historic interest in England.
The grounds were laid out by Humphry Repton (1752–1818) a leading landscape gardener.
Parts of Repton's designs still exist, notably the carriage drive which winds its way from the house, sections of which follow the original route.
In addition to the conservatory and the almshouses in Blaise Hamlet, Nash built the limestone dairy in 1802.
The grounds include a gorge cut by the Hazel Brook through Bristol's limestone.
The gorge has a number of landscape features, including Goram's Chair, a limestone outcrop often used by climbers, and Lover's Leap and Potter's Point, two panoramic viewing spots. Stratford Mill was moved from West Harptree and re-erected within the gorge after Chew Valley Lake was flooded to form a reservoir.
Ongoing renovations started in 2004 of the mill, settling ponds and associated estate pathways.
At the gorge's southern end, Hazel Brook joins the River Trym, which continues its flow towards Sea Mills.
Other features within the estate include two pools: the Giant's Soapdish and the Penny Well, and two caves: the Robber's Cave and the Butcher's Cave.
Kings Weston Hill, to the west of the castle, also forms the part of the estate which is close to Kings Weston Roman Villa.