In search of Banksy



Clifton Suspension Bridge

I've had another busy week this week so haven't been able to blog much until now so apologies for late comment approvals or replies to all your lovely comments.

I've just spent a long weekend in Bristol with my husband after taking my in-laws to visit relatives in the city.  Things I've learnt about Bristol: famous residents have included JK Rowling to Blackbeard the Pirate, Tarmac, Ribena and Concorde were first made in Bristol, it's home to the Clifton Suspension Bridge which is higher, from bridge to water below, than the Golden Gate Bridge and its also where Banksy is from.

Rather than a weekend of cocktails and cool bars, we decided to chill out, relax and do a spot of sight-seeing. We took some bottles of red wine for back at the hotel (the Premier Lodge at Emersons Green which I can highly recommend as a good base for visiting Bristol and the surrounding areas) and treated ourselves to some lovely cheese and crackers from Sainsburys.  It was great just to chill out and watch the X-Factor after a day seeing the sights, despite a disappointing result - Wagner, seriously!

We visited a cute market town Chipping Sodbury full of organic butchers, cake shops and the smallest town hall I've ever seen. I can only imagine this town is gorgeous at Christmas, I saw some pictures there when it snowed last year and it was so pretty.

We didn't have enough time to visit the city centre (but we will return) but we did go to Clifton which is has some lovely bistros and bars, unfortunately was quite busy so difficult to park but we did manage to drive across the suspension bridge and take a walk over. Now I never knew I had a problem with heights until now, but when I was halfway across the bridge I made the big mistake of looking down and basically went weak at the knees!  I actually felt quite nauseous.  I did at one point think about asking my husband to walk back across the bridge alone to pick up the car and come back for me but he also was a bit afraid too.  Gripping eachother's hand we slowly made our way back across, we must have looked like we were having a romantic moment but we were gripping those hands like our lives depended on it!

We also visited the Mall at Cribbs Causeway where my husband bought me some shoes for my birthday that I'd nominated as a shoe of the week post.  I also discovered the Twenty One shop, which we don't have up North, where I managed to get a couple of bargains: socks, slippers and a bodywarmer with hood to use when walking the dogs.

When visiting a city I always like to make a list of things I should see.  For Bristol, it was to find a Banksy. We knew that there was one in the Fishponds area, less than 15 minutes away from the hotel but could we find it! Despite numerous trips down an extremely long road, we couldn't find it, even with Sat Nav. So unfortunately this will be an outstanding item on my list until our return visit to Bristol in 2011. If anyone can tell me where in Fishponds the Banksy is, I'd be more than grateful; there's nothing I hate more than unfinished lists!