Meet Great George...Climbing to the top of the magnificent Wills Memorial Tower has been on my Bristol bucket list ever since I arrived in the city nine years ago. The flagship building of the University of Bristol has towered over Park Street for 90 years. It has witnessed all sorts of comings and goings in that time including that crazy water slide last summer! As my 10th anniversary of being in Bristol approaches we decided the time it was right to climb those 200 steps. The tower tour is the third best reviewed Bristol attraction on Trip Advisor and it's easier to see why. The 80 minute experience led by two very enthusiastic and entertaining guides was great fun! Beginning in the magnificent entrance hall we slowly made our way to the top stopping off to meet Great George, the 9.5 tonne bell which is surely the only bell to have its own Twitter account! Our little one got to strike George with a hammer just minutes before he struck one o'clock! From the top of the tower we got a spectacular view of Bristol. From there you really get a sense of how beautiful and architecturally interesting the city is. Council blocks sit alongside Georgian townhouses and the Clifton Suspension Bridge frames the skyline above the harbourside's famous coloured houses. Before leaving the building we visited the grand reception room containing an impressive painting of the university's most famous chancellor Winston Churchill and finished our tour in the awe-inspiring Great Hall. If the Wills Memorial Building isn't your Bristol bucket list, add it now and tick it off as soon as you can!
Words: Dan / Pics: Nina
Comments
No comments posted.
Loading...
|
|
