This past weekend was spent out in Bristol, at the Mercure Bristol Holland House Hotel and Spa. We managed to grab a decent deal a few months ago on the net for a nights accommodation, bottle of wine in the hotel, full three course meal and a breakfast for almost next to nothing. Couldn't resist taking that up, plus it was good to see Bristol again. On Saturday morning we were up early and headed up to Paddington Station for some coffee, a snack and then on board the train out to Bristol Temple Meads, about an hour and a half away. The arrival into Bristol was rather worrying with the amount of urban decay and abandoned buildings near to the station, but seemed to just be that area, the rest of Bristol was lovely.

After arriving at the station we took a walk over to the hotel which was only about a ten minute walk away and checked into our room there. The hotel was perfect, with a gym and heated swimming pool downstairs as well as a spa with message and treatment rooms out the back, which we thought we'd book into on the Sunday. After dropping our bags upstairs into the room, we headed out and took a walk towards the town centre, via Queen Square which is a garden square in the centre of Bristol. It was originally a fashionable residential address, but now most of the buildings are in office use. The Square is now often used for public events, mostly in the summer months. From the square we headed over to the waterfront which is both part of Prince's Wharf as well as the Harbour. There were plenty of restaurants and other eating places to choose from, but we decided on No.1 Harbourside for lunch and went with the fish and chips options with a local ale from nearby Bath. You don't get much more British than that!

After our lunch and a drink, we decided to head over to the Clifton area which is both where the suspension bridge is as well as meant to be the nicer part of Bristol. We figured a taxi would be easiest, but turned out the first bus we saw was via Clifton so hopped on that and weaved our way through the streets out west. Since we were there a bit before sunset, which was what we had timed our trip over that way for, we figured we'd grab a coffee first before checking out the bridge. The one place that looked nice was Bar Chocolat, a family run cafe specialising in chocolates, and claiming to do the best hot chocolate in town. We decided on coffee and a few pieces of chocolate instead, which was excellent. From there we headed over to the Clifton Suspension Bridge, which crosses over the River Avon and links Clifton in Bristol to Leigh Woods over in North Somerset. Construction of the bridge started in 1829, has a total length of 412m and a clearance height of over 75m to the river down below. The bridge is a distinctive landmark, used as a symbol of Bristol on postcards and promo materials all over the place. It's also used as a backdrop to several films and TV programmes.

The sun was just starting to set, so timed that well, managing to snap a few from the bridge level as well as up on top of the park looking down the Avon Gorge. It's quite clear why the bridge is one of Bristol's top tourist attraction. With the sun down behind the horizon, we figured we still had a bit of light of dusk left, so took a walk over the bridge onto the Leigh Woods side and back again. It's only when you're on the bridge and half way over you realise how high it actually is! Now if only they had a black plastic motorcycle and a bungee cord... :)

Even though it was dark, it was only just after 5pm (got to love the British winter), so decided to head back to the hotel for a swim in the pool downstairs, so hopped in a taxi and made our way back to the Mercure for a bath swim. After a nice long swim, it was back up to the room to shower and change and head down for dinner in the Phoenix Restaurant downstairs. Normally we'd probably have headed somewhere into town for food, but since it was included in our offer, we stayed local. The food down there was really tasty, with a good choice on the menu, of which I decided on the crab and crayfish salad starter, the steak for mains and bread and butter pudding for afterwards. Can't go wrong with that!

Yesterday morning started off with a refreshing wake up swim downstairs, then over to the Phoenix Restaurant again for breakfast which was your classic hotel full English fry up. Then we checked out of the hotel, left our bags in the storage room and took a walk into town. We had booked into the spa for a massage, but wasn't for a couple of hours still so figured we'd walk around the waterfront and harbourside.

I wanted to go and see one of Banksy's most famous pieces which is on the bottom of Park Street, so we headed off via Queen Square and up to Park Street. Because of it's placement it's has to be the most viewed and photographed Banksy piece in Bristol, and unfortunately back in 2009, it was vandalised with blue paint, of which you can still see. Even though the majority of the public wanted to see the mural up there, I guess there are always some who don't.

After a takeaway coffee from No.1 Harbourside, the same place we ate on Saturday, we slowly made our way back to the Spa for a decent massage. I'd never really had a professional massage before, and was never all that bothered about them, but definitely enjoyed this one. Really was relaxing and a good way to spend the Sunday afternoon.

After the massage, we started to make our way back to the station to avoid having to rush and stress and reverse all the good work from the massage. En route to the station we walked past and quickly popped into St Mary Redcliffe Church, which is an Anglican parish church, renowned for the beauty of its Gothic architecture. Construction of the church started in the 12th century and was finished by sometime in the 15th century. The 89m high spire is the third tallest of England's parish churches. From the church it was over to the train station and then chilled out on the couple of hours back into London.