• Chippenham has an excellent museum of local history and is also home to the Wiltshire Records Office.
• Bristol Zoo, The SS Great Britain and @Bristol are just a few of the many attractions in the historic port city of Bristol
• Longleat, Stourhead, and Bowood are amongst the wide range of country houses open to the public and are well worth a visit
• The Theatre Royal in Bath, The Hippodrome in Bristol and the Wyvern Theatre in Swindon all have fantastic programmes of plays, ballet, musicals and pantomimes. We also have a number of venues offering open air productions of Shakespeare plays, classical & pop concerts and other festivals.
• The prehistoric stone circles at Avebury and Stonehenge along with the largest man made hill at Silbury make a good day out
• The Roman Baths in Bath sit side by side with the more modern Georgian Royal Crescent and museum of costume. A day spent in Bath is fantastic, whatever the weather.
• The National Trust village of Lacock is regularly used for filming - most recently for the Harry Potter films, BBC's Pride & Prejudice and Cranford . Take a walk around and see if you can spot the scenes from the films. Castle Combe, Box and Neston have all recently been used for filming and are beautiful places to take a walk.
• We are on the southern edge of the Cotswolds. Take a drive a short way north and visit the wool towns of Malmesbury (Malmesbury Abbey Gardens), Chipping Camden, Broadway, Bourton on the Water (Model Village, Perfumery and Bird Gardens), Burford, Moreton in Marsh and Stow on the Wold.
Things to DoShopping
• Cribbs Causeway along the M4 in Bristol is a huge indoor shopping mall open until late.
• Ikea, also in Bristol, is always worth a visit.
• The New Cabot Circus has recently opened in the Centre of Bristol.
• The Macarthur Glen Shopping Village in the old railway works in Swindon is full of designer shops selling a wide range of goods at discounted prices.
• The Georgian city of Bath has a range of high street shops and also a large number of individually owned small boutique shops.
• Many of the local villages have a range of small shops. For example, Lacock has a delicious bakery, hats for every occasion, antiques, woollen goods, clothing and locally made cosmetics.
More energetic activities
• Chippenham is on part of the Sustrans cycle network. There is a well signposted route to Calne (7 miles) and Lacock (4miles).
• The Kennet & Avon canal runs through the county and has a number of pleasant walks from Devizes, Bradford on Avon, Staverton and Bath. These are mostly flat but do include the famous flight of locks at Caen Hill.
• There are many good local walks. We can offer assistance with directions and advice if required.
• First rate golf courses are available in Chippenham, at Bowood, Castle Combe, Bath and other local locations.
• The Thermae Bath Spa and the Aqua Sana spa at Longleat Forest Centre Parc both offer the chance of an indulgent day out""Outstanding facilities and a welcome feeling. Thank you" VR - South Staffs
