London

Possibly the most famous city in the world thanks to the recent birth of the future King George VII, London has tourist attractions aplenty. Using the underground tube, you can travel the city with ease, seeing landmarks like Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, the Shard, and the many shopping districts, as well as have easy access to the bounty of museums and galleries.

Take the family for a walk along the Southbank, a hub of culture that has many attractions standing along the banks of the river Thames. Here, you can go for a ride on the London Eye to see a beautiful panorama of the city, or pop into one of the many waterside art galleries, including the Tate Modern, to introduce the world of art to your children.

The London Eye on the Southbank by DAVID ILIFF. License: CC-BY-SA 3.0

Bristol

The tenth largest city in Great Britain, Bristol is commonly known as one of the friendliest places in the UK and has plenty of family friendly activities to offer this summer, including a science museum and aquarium. Currently, the city has seen 78 Gromits from the Wallace and Gromit franchise spread across the city (with 2 more in Cheddar Gorge and Paddington station, London). The Gromit Unleashed art project runs until the 8th September and touring the city in search of Gromits is a great way of finding out what else the city has to offer.

In aid of The Grand Appeal charity, you can download the Unleashed app, or head to their website for a trail map to find where the celebrity and artist designed dogs are hiding!

At the Bristol Aquarium by shellac

Snowdonia

For families that are looking to escape and have a holiday that lets them get closer to nature, head for a camping holiday in Wales. The Snowdonia region has a wide range of outdoor activities to keep your family entertained during their holiday, with centres offering kayaking and canoeing hire, rock climbing sessions and organised walks of the region. Home to Wale’s highest mountain, Snowdon, families can head visit the summit either by walking or by the Snowdon Mountain Railway.

Whether you want to stay by the sea and have a beach break, or head inland for a countryside retreat, there are plenty of pretty campsites in Snowdonia, as well as some lovely local guesthouses. The picturesque village of Beddgelert is popular amongst visitors due to its many guesthouses, ice cream shop, nearby campsites and idyllic nature.

Snowdon Mountain Railway by Porius1

Cheltenham

On the edge of the Cotswolds, lies Cheltenham, a spa town in the Southwest of England. The town gets busy during the annual literature, science, and music festivals which have plenty of events that are suitable for families and children. The collective festivals’ website will give you a full listing of events and it is also worth checking out their free Sunday Family Fun Day events in Imperial Park.

Outside of the festivals, there are still plenty of fun things to do and places to visit. The Holst Birthplace Museum gives a musically and historically educational day out as you visit the home of the famous composer and see how an English Victorian house was run. Other town highlights include the Sandford Parks Lido, which is the perfect place to go on a hot summer’s day. With slides, children’s pool and paddling areas, the outdoor heated lido will provide a day’s worth of fun for all the family.

Sandford Parks Lido, Cheltenham, England, UK by Iain Barton

Beth Stubbings works for Holiday Inn Express, a comfortable hotel in Cheltenham. She thinks that Britain is a wonderful destination for your family holiday!

The post Great Destinations For Your Family Holiday In The UK appeared first on Europe Explored.

Bristol Cathedral, England, UK by Adrian Pingstone

Its early economy prior to reinventing itself relied mainly on the commerce generated from being a naval port. Even to this day it still remains the largest importer of cars in all of the UK. The aerospace industry became prominent too, with many of the aircraft used in the Second World War being manufactured in the city’s factories. It also went on to develop civilian planes and played an important role in working together with their French counterparts to produce the Concorde aeroplanes.

The majority of the jobs available in the city are in the public sector, with people employed in healthcare, public administration and education. The largest organisations employing people within these sectors are the NHS, the ministry of Defence and the University. Put together, this accounts for nearly quarter of the workforce in the city.

Financial services are one of the particular areas of growth in Bristol, with a thriving banking and insurance sectors. This has led to Bristol becoming the fourth largest financial services hub in the UK. High tech and IT play important roles in the economy too, with Hewlit Packard choosing to set up their national research laboratories there. Internet Marketing companies feature prominently; when it comes to SEO Bristol has a large number of firms offering services to help clients rank well in search engines. For anyone looking to break into SEO Bristol is a good place to start. A simple search on Google for SEO Bristol companies gives nearly a million results.

As a place to live Bristol has often been seen as an ugly duckling compared to the more picturesque town of Bath in close proximity. However Bristol has managed to rejuvenate this image with some major redevelopment of its urban makeup, and a thriving arts scene showcasing major artists at some of the concert venues. This has been so successful that the city has now become a significant tourist destination, reportedly receiving over nine million visitors each year making it the seventh most visited city in the UK. Many of these tourists are attracted to exploring the city to try and spot the iconic artwork by street artist Banksy, which can be found around a number of unusual places and cleverly explores the boundaries between satire, graffiti and art. His fame spread so much that much of his work has been purchased by famous celebrities such as Christina Aguilera and was commissioned by Brad Pitt.

Eilidh MacRae works for Marketing By Web, A SEO Bristol company.

The post Working And Living In Bristol, UK appeared first on Europe Explored.

Bristol Cathedral / Heather Cowper

The scale of business grew and grew, until there was a small harbor built. Bristol waters were treacherous and the ships that docked there were subject to huge currents, that often resulted in the timber of the ships getting damaged. Because of this sailors had to reinforce their ships, and it quickly put Bristol on the map for their ship craftsmanship. The harbor is still in use today, and it makes the perfect destination for you to visit and learn more about UK history. One of the most famous ships in the UK- the SS Great Britain, which was the first iron hulled propeller-driven ship to travel over the Atlantic. It’s now rested in Bristol, and you can visit the ship. It’s a very popular tourist attraction within Bristol.

Of course with all the ships and the great harbor that Bristol is home to; it’s no surprise that Bristol was notorious for pirates. The city was home to many a pirate, and today; the streets are still the same! If you’re into history, then you’ll be able to find yourself taking a step back into time with a walk around Bristol.

The famous UK soap casualty was filmed in and around Bristol, so if you’re a fan of the show you’ll be able to set foot in the city where it was filmed, until 2009, when the show hung up its production line. The show was filmed in an old warehouse in the city, and numerous places in and around Bristol!

Bristol is home to many museums, and you can find yourself entertained for days by visiting some of them. In fact, it’s home to the Clifton suspension bridge museum, the Bristol museum and art gallery, and Blaise’s castle house and museum. This is just a selection of the museums you can visit when in the city. There are others that will have you flabbergasted and spoilt for choice!

Of course, like any other city, Bristol is also home to many events, including the recently hosted Olympic flame torch- and the shopping in the city is fantastic. It’s home to many a UK retailer where you can just let your shopping devil let rip, and you can shop until you drop!

And when the day is done, Bristol is home to some of the best hotels. Including, the Doyle hotel in Bristol. Where you’ll be able to kick off your shoes and rejuvenate ready for the next day’s sightseeing and shopping!

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