A two-week programme of walks has been announced for Bathscape’s annual walking festival, encouraging locals to get outside and enjoy the landscape.
Bathscape Walking Festival | Photo © Bathscape
This year’s festival will be launched with a family day in Kensington Meadows on Saturday 11th September in partnership with Cleveland Pools Trust.
There will be nature-based activities including wild play from the Bath Area Play Project and a new walking trail suitable for all ages from the Cleveland Pools Trust.
The festival programme includes a range of themes and difficulty levels to suit walkers of all abilities.
The walks will be in small groups with stopping points, while others will be self-guided trails for which people can download a map.
Councillor Jess David, cabinet assistant for Neighbourhood Services said: “The walking festival has been running for the past four years and is always very popular with residents and visitors alike.
“It’s a great way to explore some of the fabulous countryside in our area as well as the more hidden stories of the city. This year we have a huge range of walks, so there is something for everyone to enjoy.”
Those keen on history can learn about industrial heritage on a walk from Paulton to Dundas following the Limestone Link and the route of the Somersetshire Coal Canal, which was built to carry coal down to the Kennet and Avon Canal. There’s the option of a minibus back to Paulton after the walk.
Outside the city, there are rural hikes to explore the countryside around Upper Swainswick, Weston, Lansdown, North Stoke, Kelston, Somer Valley and Combe Down.
New for this year are walks tracing the story of Bath’s LGBTQ+ lives, activism and community, uncovering the city’s links to the Transatlantic slave trade, and telling the history of the Southdown housing development, seen as a model neighbourhood.
Popular walks led by local experts are a mainstay of the festival and this year include: The Circus with Kirsten Elliott, Ralph Allen’s Garden with Robin Dixon, Beckford’s Landscape with Amy Frost, Sydney Gardens with Richard White, the Victorian Way of Death with Molly Conisbee and the Hidden Corners of Bathwick with Andrew Swift.
Bathscape’s Walking Festival will run 11th-26th September.
More information can be found on the website here.
