An Autumn Visit to Arnos Vale: Bristol's Victorian Garden Cemetery

I joined a local hiking group this year, which has been a huge amount of fun. I've organised a few walks in my new seaside hometown, and have gone on several others in and around Bristol (though not nearly as many as I'd have liked!).

It's really nice having a group of people to get out and walk with, and I've found that organising walks (which you're then committed to because other people are coming) is a great way to get myself out of the house and exploring. I've decided to use this as a way of kicking myself into finally visiting places which have been on my "Ooh, I want to go there!" list for ages... and this autumn the first place I've ticked off the list is Arnos Vale Cemetery.

 

It sounds a bit weird to say that I took my hiking group for a walk round a cemetery, but Arnos Vale is somewhere pretty special. Established in 1837, the 45 acre site is really beautiful: a veritable maze of little woodland paths with interesting gravestones and memorials around every corner.

I arrived early to get my bearings before the others arrived and it didn't take me long to get slightly spooked out walking around the site. Okay so the ghost stories I'd been reading that week probably didn't help, but this is an incredibly atmospheric place to explore (particularly on your own, first thing after it opens on a slightly misty autumn morning!).

Later, after the other ladies from the group had headed home (and after we'd had some truly delicious cake from the on-site cafe), I went for another solo wander to take photos and explore some of the smaller paths we'd missed out when following the main discovery trail.

The trail map is available via the website or as a free leaflet from the gift shop - where you can also buy self-guided trail leaflets that tell you more about the history of the cemetary, some of the people buried here, and the symbolism used in gravestones and memorials.

"What did you do on Saturday, Laura?"
"Oh, I walked around a cemetery and thought about death! It was great!"

I'm already trying to work out when I can fit in a return visit.

A Walk in the Snow

It snowed here last week, which was annoying (because, hello, where is Spring? I want it to be Spring, please!) but also rather gorgeous.

I popped out to take "a few photos" and ended up going for a three and a half hour walk, taking rather more than a few photos along the way...

The beach itself wasn't covered in snow (unlike earlier in the month when the Beast from the East brought us LOTS of snow and a blast of very cold temperatures), but enough had settled on the benches and fences and bushes along the beach to make everything very picturesque.

I love the lines of snow clinging to these poles...

... and how the sand dunes looked like iced gingerbread.

 

There's a steep footpath that leads up from the beach and down through the golf course on the other side. I couldn't resist walking up it to take a peek at the snow-covered course.

Can you spot the Old Church of St Nicholas on the hill in the distance?

Then I carefully clambered back down the path (to the great fascination of a passing dog which was amazed that a person had magically just appeared on the beach) and walked further up the beach and down Beach Road towards Uphill village and the boatyard.

The road should have been closed that day for the local half marathon, but the organisers had taken the sensible decision to cancel due to the weather!

My winter shoes were lovely and cosy, but I wish I'd brought wellingtons so I could have braved the muddy paths around the boatyard. I went this far and no further, retracing my steps back to the road.

Uphill hill was looking almost other-worldly in the snow, a bleak but beautiful landscape of white and brown and grey.

I followed the path up through the nature reserve, past groups of kids on sledges and people out walking their dogs (both dogs and people wrapped up warm against the cold).

I love how transformative snow is - making the ordinary extraordinary, at once concealing and revealing.

 

After all that walking (and taking my gloves on and off so I could take photos with my smartphone) it was definitely time for a cup of hot chocolate at the boatyard cafe (yum) then to head home and get warm!

You might also enjoy my walk in the fog, and to see how different the nature reserve looks in May.   

Weston-super-Magic: Snapshots from the Seaside

Six months ago I decided to start an Instagram account devoted to pics taken on my walks in my new seaside hometown. I've had a bit of a break recently (this summer has been very hectic!) but I've really enjoyed having a space to share these pictures, which have a totally different vibe to the bright colours of my main Instagram account.

Here are some of my faves taken since February...

The seafront has some very charming Victorian shelters, but I love this more modern one as well. All those different geometric shapes and textures coming together, with that pop of colour? Delicious!

 

There are a lot of fabulous walls in Weston; this is one of my favourites.

 

Sometimes when you stop to take photos of very "ordinary" things you get very baffled looks from passers by. A guy out walking his dog on Uphill Beach was most perplexed when I decided to photograph this!

 

"DANGER. Soft sand and deep mud. It is not possible to cross the riverbed on foot." These soft, muddy colours pop up a lot at the beach (they don't call it Weston-super-Mud for nothing). They are growing on me a lot.

 

It's not all greys and browns though - sometimes there is some actual sunshine! I went for a loooong walk along the seafront one sunny weekend in the spring, it was lovely being able to take lots of photos with that gorgeous blue sky as a backdrop but when the town was still quiet before the summer season.

 

I've not had a chance to take many photos in town yet, but I couldn't resist photographing these doors. They are fading fabulously.

 

I also love this snap of nature doing its best to overflow and burst out from the formal lines of the Victorian Grove Park. 

I am getting a teeny bit obsessed with all the texture round here. There are so many wonderfully rusting, fading, peeling and cracking surfaces (thanks to all the coastal wind and rain)...

 

... but there's also the texture of all the interesting walls around town, and the rocks at the North end of the beach. I mean, what's not to love about this?

Or these delightful pebbles and that oh-so-Instagram-able pink rock?

I also can't get enough of the wide open space of the beach. I've only been living here a few months but I practically pined for the sea when I was away this summer.

Slightly further afield, I've loved exploring the local nature reserve...

... and Uphill Village, with its magical bluebell field.

Finally, I have to include one of the photos from the wonderful sea fog! Believe it or not, I took this picture on a bright and sunny day... 

You'll find all my photos of Weston over on my Instagram account: @westonsupermagic. It's been a little while since I've updated it, but I've got lots of walks planned!

A Walk in the Fog

The end of May was wonderfully sunny but one bright, hot afternoon I decided to go for a walk on the beach only to find that the beach had vanished!

 
The rest of town might have been baking under a clear blue sky, but you stepped onto the beach and into the enveloping mists of a thick fog rolling in from the sea.

 

It was incredibly atmospheric and slightly eerie, with all the familiar landmarks looming up out of the fog. Of course, I couldn't resist taking lots of photos!

There were just a few people out in the fog like me, and a few holidaymakers at the sunnier edges of the beach trying to make the best of their day out. People looking a little depressed as they ate their picnic lunches, kids throwing balls and yelling "I can't see where it's gone!", the tourist horse and cart disappearing up the beach and into the whiteness leaving a trail of hoof marks on the sand.

It was especially surreal being able to hear the end of the pier but to not be able to see it. Just knowing you were getting closer as the 60s and 70s hits got louder and louder...

Definitely not the kind of walk I was expecting, but a very enjoyable one all the same!