Bristol was a big deal (or no deal!!)

Four years ago I cruised around the British Isles on Fred Olsen’s Balmoral and decided that there are many beautiful places in the UK that have yet to be discovered by me and this bank holiday weekend I managed to see one small area of my previously un-chartered territory… Bristol.

My lovely Mum has a special birthday in a couple of weeks and racking my brains to come up with a special present, I applied for audience tickets to one of her guilty pleasures “Deal or no Deal” which is filmed in Bristol. Amazingly, just a couple of days later, I got a call inviting us to see 3 shows being recorded so I put our trip together. All Mum knew was that she and I were going away but had no idea where to.

I booked 2 nights in the Bristol Hotel which sits right on the river Avon in the center of town.  I also booked dinner on the first night and found an open-top bus tour for our sightseeing day. I put together a folder of information for Mum and presented it to her on Thursday morning. Thankfully, she was delighted and we set off on our 3 day break starting with a couple of hundred miles along motorways.

The hotel was lovely with a large twin room and dinner overlooking the river and the many passers by. After dinner, we had a walk to the cathedral before bed.

The Bristol Hotel

The restaurant

Friday morning and an early breakfast then a short drive to the TV studios. We were greeted by very friendly staff and had front row seats. I can’t tell you anything else about the shows we saw but suffice to say, we really got involved and had sore hands from clapping and sore throats from cheering. The show is recorded exactly as seen on TV and so we really felt like we were watching it at home…..but much more exciting and quite surreal to actually be there.

Saturday, to put the icing on the cake, the sun shone and we boarded the open top bus for a tour of Bristol and the surrounding area including the impressive Clifton Suspension Bridge.

Our “selfie”

A spot of lunch and shopping rounded the trip off beautifully before heading home.

Avonmouth, Fred Olsen’s latest departure port is just 6 miles from Bristol so why not add a break there onto your next trip?

Happy Birthday Mum xxx