Top Things to Do in Bath and North East Somerset, England

Prior Park Landscape Garden is one of the most breathtaking and historically significant landscape gardens in England, managed by the National Trust. Situated on the southern slopes of a steep valley on the outskirts of Bath, this eighteenth-century garden commands sweeping views across the city and the surrounding Somerset hills. What makes it exceptional among English landscape gardens is its dramatic topography, its famous Palladian bridge — one of only four of its kind remaining in the world — and the grandeur of its setting against the backdrop of Ralph Allen's imposing Prior Park mansion. It draws visitors who appreciate both the artistry of the English landscape movement and the particular atmosphere of a garden that feels simultaneously intimate and monumental. The garden owes its existence to Ralph Allen, a self-made entrepreneur who made his fortune modernising the British postal system and quarrying the golden Bath stone that built much of Georgian Bath. Allen purchased the Prior Park estate in the 1730s and set about creating a landscape garden that would showcase both his wealth and his refined taste. He enlisted the help of the poet Alexander Pope, who was a close friend and an influential figure in early landscape gardening theory, to advise on the design. The landscape was also shaped by Lancelot "Capability" Brown, who worked on it later in its history. The result was a garden intended to embody Arcadian ideals, with carefully composed vistas, a chain of three lakes in the valley bottom, and architectural ornaments placed to create pictorial effects as the visitor moved through the grounds. The centrepiece of the garden is unquestionably the Palladian bridge, built around 1755 and modelled on the bridge at Wilton House in Wiltshire. It spans the lower lake with a covered colonnade supported by Ionic columns, its reflection shimmering in the still water below. Only three other Palladian bridges of this design exist — at Wilton, at Stowe in Buckinghamshire, and at Tsarskoe Selo near St Petersburg in Russia — making Prior Park's example an extraordinarily rare piece of architectural heritage. Standing on or near the bridge, with the lakes stretching away on either side and the wooded hillsides rising steeply above, the visitor experiences one of the most composed and theatrical landscape views in England. The physical experience of visiting Prior Park is shaped by its topography more than almost any other National Trust garden. The main entrance is at the top of the hill, near the grand mansion — which is now a school and not open to the public — and visitors descend steeply through the garden to reach the lakes and bridge at the valley floor. The paths wind through mature woodland planting, past Gothic features and across open grass, with views that open and close dramatically as you move. The soundscape shifts from birdsong in the upper wooded sections to the gentle lap of water and occasional distant rumble of the city as you approach the lakes. In spring, snowdrops and wild garlic carpet the ground beneath the trees, and in autumn the deciduous woodland ignites with colour. The surrounding area is deeply embedded in the heritage of Bath. The city itself, a UNESCO World Heritage Site famed for its Roman Baths and Georgian architecture, lies visible from the upper reaches of the garden. Nearby Bathampton and Claverton offer further walks and riverside scenery along the Kennet and Avon Canal. The University of Bath campus is a short distance away on the neighbouring hillside. Visitors exploring the region can easily combine a visit to Prior Park with the city's museums, the Jane Austen Centre, or the American Museum in Britain at Claverton Manor. One of the distinctive and practical points about Prior Park is that it has no car park, which the National Trust considers a deliberate encouragement for sustainable visiting. The garden actively promotes arrival on foot or by public transport, and it is reachable by a pleasant downhill walk from the city centre or by bus. This policy gives the garden a quieter, more unhurried character than many comparable attractions, since it draws a more committed and often slower-paced visitor. The walk from Bath city centre, about a mile and a half uphill, passes through the suburb of Widcombe and gives a sense of how the garden sits in its urban-rural fringe. A lesser-known aspect of the garden's history is its period of significant neglect. After Ralph Allen's death in 1764 and through the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the garden fell into a state of considerable disrepair. The National Trust acquired it in 1993 and undertook a substantial programme of restoration, including work on the Palladian bridge itself, which had suffered structural deterioration. The restoration drew on historical surveys and paintings to inform how features were rebuilt and replanted. The fact that one of England's finest eighteenth-century landscape gardens was essentially lost and then recovered within living memory gives the place a quietly poignant character alongside its grandeur. The garden is open year-round, though it is at its most spectacular in late spring, when the woodland garden is lush and flowering, and in October, when autumn colour is at its peak. Entry is charged for non-National Trust members, and the site includes a small café and facilities near the top entrance. The steep gradients make parts of the garden challenging for those with mobility difficulties, though the upper sections are more accessible than the lower valley paths. The garden is dog-friendly on leads, and the blend of woodland, open lawn, and water makes it an excellent destination for a half-day visit that feels genuinely immersive rather than merely picturesque.