A Trip to Bristol and Somerset- Part 2

 As we are really fortunate to have immediate family living all over the place, we are lucky that we can plan quite spontaneous visits to go and see them, and luckily, both Mr F and I have immediate family who live in two different locations in Somerset. So with no fixed plans for August, a couple of weekends ago we made the 8.5 hour journey from where we live in Yorkshire down to Somerset. To be honest, it wasn't the easiest of car journeys, and with frequent stops to feed Little L, combined with lots of traffic, the car journey wasn't the best. But even if it was a long way, it was so worth the travelling as we had such a fantastic time and we made so many lovely memories together.

I have written about our weekend away in two parts- you can read all about part 1, our day at the seaside here, but here is part 2 of our adventures to the West Country..

On Sunday morning we were up fairly bright and early (with a baby I guess that's inevitable) and we headed into Bristol, as it's where my sister in law and her husband both work. They've worked in Bristol for 3 years so know the city pretty well. It was a really warm day so we headed over to Bristol Zoo for the morning. I wasn't sure what to expect from a city zoo, but it's not quite in the city centre, and there's quite a lot of space in the grounds, which are really beautiful with lots of flowers and trees.

 We only spent the morning at the zoo but you could probably make a whole day out of it if you wanted to. I think we got around most of the enclosures though in the few hours we were there.

 There were quite a few different animals, and seeing this huge lion prowl about eating his lunch was quite something. There aren't really any huge animals like giraffes however.

LO loved just wandering about looking at all the different animals. There's a mixture of indoor and outdoor viewing areas. 

I love this photo of Mr F and LO. They're so close at the moment, especially as I spend a lot of my time feeding Little L. These two have developed a really special daddy son bond and it's so lovely to watch. 

The aquarium bit was LO's favourite part of the whole zoo, especially as there was a Dory and a Nemo fish. Little L also loved the aquarium and kicked his legs frantically every time a fish swam past. 

 After visiting the zoo we drove into the centre of Bristol to have a look at the city's Millennium square, where @Bristol Science Museum and the Aquarium are located, as well as some really cool water fountains which people were swimming in as it was so hot.

 Just around the corner from @Bristol is a restaurant called Za Za Bazaar. It's an all you can eat World Banquet buffet, with different stations representing the different continents of the world. I wish I'd got a photo of the inside as it is quite an amazing sight to see all the chefs cooking so many different foods at the different stations.  This was the first of about 4 courses I ate... We all left feeling rather full.

After lunch we took a little detour through an area of the city called Stokes Croft. My sister in law wondered why we wanted to go there as on the surface it does look quite run down on the main street, but it's famous for it's long stretch of independent shops and coffee shops and also it's street art. I looked on a map to find the best streets, and we found it best to part along a side street and then have a little wander around. It was really fun to look down the side streets spotting which pictures we could find. My favourites were the pink panther and this gorgeous carnival mask- it's just so bright and colourful. We found these in the Wilder Street area if you're in Bristol and wanted to have a look. 

On Monday, we headed out towards Wells where my sister in law is from. It's a truly stunning part of the world and it's a shame we were only there a day and a half because I could easily spend a lot longer there, just relaxing and taking in these breathtaking views. 

 My brother took us for a bit of a trek up Glastonbury Tor- a ridiculously steep hill which can be seen for miles around. At the top is the ruins of an old church tower. Although it was sunny it was unbelievably windy at the topping I genuinely thought I was going to get blown off the hill.

It's most definitely not suitable for pushchairs as there's so many steps and steep grassy paths, so between us we carried LO and Little L all the way up and down again. After we went up the Tor we headed into Glastonbury itself. Every shop is quite individual and many leave pots of incense burning outside the doors. Of course as we were in Somerset we had a delicious cream tea in a little cafe called Abbey Tea Rooms.

I didn't manage to get a photo of it unfortunately as LO wasn't feeling too well, so instead I took him for a walk and we stumbled upon such a lovely toy shop called Little Imps. LO would have spent all day in there if he could, and they had all sorts of gorgeous wooden toys on display which he played with. He chose a toy giraffe to take home and we got Little L some wooden letters spelling out his name for his bedroom door.

 On Tuesday before we headed home, my sister in law took us to visit Wells Cathedral. It's an amazing building and lovely to just wander around inside and outside too in front of the West doors.

 Of course we had to take a few family photos outside the West Door. How tiny does Little L look in comparison to the door?!

LO had a lot of fun running about on the grass outside the cathedral before it was time to head home later that day. Even though it was just a short visit, it was a really memorable one, especially as it was our first proper trip away with Little L as well. 

I have made a little video of our long weekend away to Somerset if you fancy a look...