Discover Blaise Castle Estate

Blaise Castle Estate is one of Bristol’s best destination parks attracting over a million visitors per year.

Steeped in history, Blaise is a great day out, whether to picnic, play, visit the museum, see the castle, explore woodlands, imagine giants, discover caves, meet friends or relax in our café. It has something for everyone.

Blaise: a place of myth, legends, awe and wonder.

Find out more about what makes Blaise Castle Estate unique and distinctive by reading  Our Spirit of Place  assessment.

Blaise Castle Estate has a significant catchment area, attracting high numbers of visits locally, citywide and beyond as people come to enjoy this expansive green space and all its attractions. 

The park is a site of significant heritage importance including Registered Park and Garden status with over 20 listed buildings, plus geological and nature designations. Given its importance, Historic England will be a formal consultee on any significant changes.

We are looking for Blaise to generate income to help build a sustainable Parks Service and feel it offers great opportunities for businesses, communities, event providers and for delivering health benefits. 

Our vision is for investment that enables the park to appeal to the widest possible audience by offering a range of activities, whist protecting what is special about the park in terms of heritage, nature conservation and its  Spirit of Place . 

Any change should connect people to this special place and provide opportunities for appreciation and enjoyment.  

This is the main arrival point for many visitors, whether using the main car park or arriving by bus. The open parkland is busy with picnickers, the children’s play spaces are ever popular and outdoor activities like boot camps, Tai Chi and Nordic walking all bring this area to life. Toward the western end we have a large event space attracting near 9,000 day event goers. With good access to the castle, Blaise Museum and wider landscape this area is a perfect starting point from which to explore the wider park.

We see lots of opportunities in this versatile space including new leisure activity, outdoor exercise classes, food and beverage and events.

Blaise Museum is the main visitor attraction at this end of the park, telling the story of Blaise and people’s long association with this place. Attached is the Orangery, Dairy Garden and outdoor amphitheatre which together create a special enclosed space, currently used for wedding venues and as base for health programmes. 

Next to Blaise Museum is the old stable yard and various building. Along Kingsweston Road, adjacent to the Museum, is the site of a former miniature railway. 

The estate kitchen garden is to the rear of Blaise Museum which is let for  community food growing and associated health programmes . 

Dominated by the steep sided wooded gorge, through which runs Hazel Brook and the main footpath to Coombe Dingle, this part of Blaise is truly magical. From the romantic Castle atop the iron age hill fort, to Lover's Leap and Gorman’s Chair hewn from the rock, to butcher’s cave, to Tarn lake and Beech Cathedral this expansive wooded green space is rich in history, myth and legend.

This species rich meadow, recently enhanced using green hay from Ashton Court, combined with veteran trees and woodland edge create a space to enjoy nature at its best.

Our priority here is to continue to manage this space for nature and to encourage people to discover the quieter side of Blaise just a short walk from the busier parkland and main path running along Hazel Brook.

Here we are presenting ideas for what could thrive at Blaise Castle Estate. We are inviting Expression of Interests to take these ideas forward, or you could suggest another idea that you think will work in this place. These ideas are also detailed in the mapped zones.

The existing café offers a range of food and drink options that would complement various activities that could be operated from the estate.

Bristol is home to two large universities and around 58,100 students per year, and over 50 Further Education and training providers. Bristol’s citizens are an active bunch, but this ‘up for it’ generation in particular need something new to do!

Woodland Hill Slide – these large single runs or interconnected smaller slides are aimed at all ages and different accessibility levels.

Tree top adventure - combined with fabulous views across the estate.

In association with these opportunities is the Castle, steeped in history and far reaching views across the estate and gorge. By re-imagining this corner of the estate with a multi-use activity hub, amenities and some food and beverage, you would increase footfall to this hidden gem and provide yourselves, as an operator, with a captive audience.

With more children under 16 than people of pensionable age, Bristol’s 85,900 children make up 18.5% of the total population, which makes it a very attractive opportunity for any brands keen to engage with the youth market and spenders of tomorrow. The family market is incredibly strong in Bristol and citizens and visitors alike are in need of new and exciting activities. 

The estate already enjoys a variety of well used free-to-use play equipment and catering for multiple age groups and abilities. However, the offer can always be improved and there is scope for the introduction of some additional pay to use activities. A few early iterations of potential concepts have been included below, but we welcome innovative and exciting ideas. 

A balance bike adventure zone - biking amenities for all levels – the little ones could enjoy a dedicated balance bike adventure zone, providing a welcome environment for the parents to relax with a beverage.   

A themed adventure golf course - keeping with the essence of the site e.g. incorporating Bristol’s ‘Giant’ legends; the gorge, Clifton Suspension Bridge, Aardman characters (subject to agreements) and so on.

A drone academy - a trend that has exploded onto the scene in recent years. Encourage innovative gamers to play outdoors. The kids will love it and the parents will thank you for it!  

Already popular with boot camp, Tai Chi and Nordic walking, Blaise has plenty of space to grow your business. With good access to the car park and facilities you can run outdoor exercise classes year round.

Bristol has a vibrant and diverse business community, with employers looking for innovative ways to reward teams and thank customers, especially as we emerge from Covid-19. Blaise has some truly unique spaces that could expand your portfolio of corporate entertaining venues.

The Castle - a magnificent reward for those taking the short walk from the parkland below. Originally conceived as a place for entertaining, then richly adorned with tapestries and heraldry - this could make a truly unique venue for corporate entertaining.

The Orangery - a fantastic space within the enclosed Dairy Garden, perfect for corporate events alongside outdoor theatre or cinema in the amphitheatre.

With great road, transport links and a car park, the existing buildings on site present great potential and could be repurposed for the right opportunity.  

We are open to all ideas regarding the potential regeneration of the existing buildings to encourage greater use, improve the range of activities on offer as well as support enterprise, health, education, or environmental initiatives. 

Possibilities could include:    

·    Stable block - ripe for redevelopment as potential accommodation

·    Re-purposed buildings to become business bases for new operators within the estate 

·    Dairy Garden - open air theatre and cinema - linked to Orangery 

·    Rustic lodge, Castle, Stratford Mill - quirky accommodation 

With a great events space, Blaise Castle Estate has hosted numerous big commercial and community events over the years. Currently offering Legends Festival and Friends Fest - latter has capacity of around 9,000 event goers per day. Previous events have included Goram Fayre.

Bristol is home to Aardman, best known for being the creators of Wallace and Gromit, and whom has deep cultural roots in the city. Bristol is also enjoying an increasing draw from London, for both business headquarters and talented personnel. BBC, Netflix, Channel 4 and other prestigious companies have hubs in Bristol and the best talent is drawn to our city. Why not join them?

With more dog owners than ever before, owing to lifestyle choices during Covid-19, perhaps a dog agility space could attract dog lovers from all around.  

We see opportunities for orienteering, horse trails, forest school and other adventure experiences.

These are just some ideas. We welcome innovative and exciting ideas to really put Bristol’s already amazing parks and green spaces on the map! 

You may also be interested to learn more about our other sites featuring in the first round of Expressions of Interest:  Eastville Park  and  Dame Emily Park .   

The Map below provides additional information on the local environment and infrastructure surrounding this site. Further information is available from the following sources :

 Pinpoint  - The Bristol City Council public mapping and GIS portal 

 Open Data Bristol  - Raw spatial and non spatial datasets can be downloaded in various formats for use in your own applications

 Know Your Place  - A digital mapping project putting local neighbourhood’s heritage on the map.