Might there be pictures allowed in the Bakelite Museum?

(he asks, hoping the answer yes)

I can't help but have a certain fondness for Barry Island Pleasure Park (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barry_Island_Pleasure_Park). Quite what it's like now (some 20 years after I moved away from the area) I can't say, but it was a faded gem then

You could pop to the Clifton Observatory in Bristol. Clifton is a lovely area of the city, and you can see the camera obscura, the 'rock slide' and a 'cave':

http://www.bristolconnect.co.uk/places/sights/obscura.htm

Robert - yes, there are some on Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/trevira/sets/72157600871503900/. I'll take more, obviously!

Andy - I've heard great things about Barry Island but I'm not sure we'll make it that far this time.

Tom - that sounds ideal. I can never pass a camera obscura.

On your way down you might call at Keith Hardings World of Mechanical Music, near Cheltenham:

http://www.mechanicalmusic.co.uk/index.html

I've been wanting to go there for ages!

The Curzon Community Cinema in Clevedon looks interesting too:

http://www.curzon.org.uk/index.html

And there's a tiny little dolls museum in Dunster, which is not far from the Bakelite Museum. You can't miss it, its on the high street.

oooh! yes.

1. slippy slidy rock. if you do go to the obervatory, make sure the more dare devil members of your party go down this
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rethinkingchildhood/651707362/

2. Bristol's museum on park st. a wonderful place of crusty old incredible exhibits (including a stuffed gorilla that held me in terrified thrall for many years of childhood visits) and the new trendy stuff. and wagon wheels.

3. Bristol docks. there was a great bill owens exhibition of photos of surburban things at the arnolfini last time i went but that might be over.
but the docks are nice anyway, arnolfini and watershed both worth a look down there.
but the piece de resistance is wookey hole and it's a MUST in my book. stalactites in the shape of witches and a fun fair. it's superb.

4. W-S-M is self explanatory. you just go and find the fun.

there's bound to be more. will keep thinking.

in my overexcited haste i didn't give wookey hole it's own number. it's genius and derserves one.

There's a vintage Lambretta scooter museum in Weston Super Mare, if you like that sort of thing. It used to be attached to a a scooter spares shop, which has closed. The museum shut too, but is meant to be opening again "sometime in april".

http://tinyurl.com/ywlpfy

If you make it round the coast to North Devon there's a model village at Babbacombe, cliff lifts at Lynton and Lynmouth - the villages themselves pretty-but-slightly-odd due to them being rebuilt after a catastrophic flood in 1952. There's a Gnome Reserve at Holsworthy, and just into Cornwall - Hawker's Hut at Morwenstow (the NT's smallest property) with it's spooky ship's figurehead in the graveyard.

Duh. Babbacombe is of course in SOUTH Devon. Sorry.

However, there is an an amazing lighthouse on the beach at Burnham On Sea. It's got four legs and looks like it's just walked out of the Bristol Channel.

The best cafe in Bristol used to be the one at the top of St Michael's Hill - terrific breakfasts and a phenomenal jukebox. Haven't passed through in more than five years though - can anyone still confirm?

That'd be a good stop-off before a trip to the Arnolfini.

yes, Roxy's on St Michael's hill is worth a visit but mainly for the famous optical illusion tiles outside.

but that reminds me, http://www.citikey.com/business/10037446
the york cafe's good too.

1. Ride on the transporter bridge at Newport, South Wales.

2. Museum of Welsh Life, St Fagan's, Cardiff. Lovely (and free) museum - recreations of shops, houses, a church etc etc - original buildings taken down brick by brick from around Wales, then rebuilt on site. Set in gardens with a small castle.

3. South Wales seaside - Barry Island (funfair apparently only open in summer but has nice beach, and arcades), Nash Point for rugged scenery, lighthouse and weird cliffs or similar at Southerndown beach, or Mumbles Pier, Swansea.

pop into the Here shop on Stokes Croft in Bristol to stock up on comics, fanzines, postcards and lots of handmade goodies. happy travelling.

OOh and Greenbank Pool in Street is a lovely open air pool if the weather is warm enough.

Blimey, Street! I totally forgot! There's the terrific Clarks Shoe Museum there too.

Thanks for the reminder Camilla.

If you dont mind a couple of hours driving go spend a few days in Pembrokeshire... it's freakin gorgeous there...go enjoy ;-)

Check out Minehead, a lovely Edwardian seaside resort. You can travel there by the West Somerset Railway, a volunteer run steam rail line from Bishops Lydeard to Minehead. See their website at http://www.west-somerset-railway.co.uk/Home.html. Also have a look around Exmoor National Park, especially Porlock Weir for water views and Selworthy for a lovely chapel.

Clevedon is a nice sleepy Victorian seaside town with a fine pier and is well worth a visit.

Thanks. These all sound brilliant. Sounds like enough to fill a few holidays.