A while ago I read that Bristol is a very up coming city when it comes to veganism and that it’s even one of the best cities in the UK for vegan options. Bristol is only an hour drive from where I live most of the time and so I decided to take my van and explore the city. Even though I did take my van, I’m not posting this under ‘Vanlife’, because all I basically used my van for was sleeping. For me Bristol was all about good vegan food, sunshine, beautiful historic buildings and the best views! If you want to know what to do in Bristol and where to eat, please keep reading and I hope I can inspire you to visit this lovely city as well.
I planned to leave on Saturday morning, but as I was a little slow and had to make a stop at Halfords (one of my fuses burned), it was more 14:00 by the time I left. I did some research on Park4Night to figure out where I could best park my van, but when I came to my chosen parking area, it was all full. The second option was the zoo. So I went there next. A lot of people were just leaving the zoo and so there were some free spaces and I found a perfect parking spot next to a beautiful tree. I arrived there just after 15:00 and it turned out that parking after 15:00 is free. Lucky me!
I took the bus to the city centre (bus 8) and there I searched on Happy Cow for a nice vegan restaurant. I decided to walk to ‘Vx’, an all vegan junk food restaurant. Honestly, the picture of a milkshake that included a donut and whipped cream made me go, haha! I only ate 2 apples so far and was quite hungry. I know this isn’t a very healthy thing to do, but I just didn’t take the time to eat a proper meal. It was a lovely walk in the sunshine and Nola and I enjoyed the first proper sights of Bristol. The area where the restaurant is located, is quite dodgy though and I wouldn’t feel safe walking there when it’s 
dark. I ordered the milkshake, that turned out to be a Vego milkshake.. I mean, can it get any better? I also ordered the Vx burger. If you go for junk food, you should do it right, right? The milkshake was so yum! The donut tasted fresh, the whipped cream delicious and it was really like drinking a vego bar. I think they used coconut milk and I do think that with maybe Oatly Barista it would taste even better. But in their defence, I think everything tastes better with Oatly Barista. The burger was ok. It was a good burger, but not very special. It came with tortilla crisps, but I was too full to eat those and so I took them with me. They have a little shop in the restaurant too,with lots of vegan goodies and I bought some chocolate to take with me to the Netherlands. The people who work in Vx are super nice and the restaurant is very 
dog friendly. I also would come back again for the milkshake. Only maybe the next time I will invite someone to come with me, so we can share it (I was sooo full and it took me quite a while to finish it). What was a little unfortunate is that I forgot to change shoes and I was wearing my vans. Weird enough, they happen to be my least comfortable shoes. So my feet were hurting and because of all that junk food, I didn’t feel very energetic. I struggled a little to get all the way back to the bus stop, but I made it and I was happy to see my van in the end of the day and to instantly relax. It’s a good thing to have your bed close by all the time.
It was the first night that I was sleeping in my van in a very unfamiliar place. I was so excited, that I didn’t sleep very well, but I was ok the next day. Around 9:00 there were zoo visitors coming into the parking area, but the ticket guys were all guiding them towards the other side first. I was the only one parked up in the back. I got ready and walked up to the guy to buy a ticket. He looked a bit confused, but he did sell me a ticket. Only £4 for a whole day. I’m definitely coming back to this park up. I found a cafe called ‘East Village’ and it was only a short walk. It was a beautiful walk though, with many nice houses, amazing trees and the stunning building of Clifton College. Arriving at ‘East Village’, I fell in love instantly. This is one of the prettiest cafes ever. The ceilings are super high, it feels so spacious and everything is just done well. I felt like staying there the whole day. 
It’s a vegetarian cafe, but a lot of what they offer is vegan. I was doubting between the savoury waffles or the acai bowl, but then decided on the acai bowl. I wanted to eat lots of healthy things today as I had so much junk food the day before. I also went for a fresh orange juice as that is my favourite! It was one of the prettiest bowls I’ve ever seen. It looked so nice, that I didn’t want to eat it, haha! I obviously did though and it was delicious, exactly what I needed. On the map I saw that there was a park not far from there, with a tower you can climb. So after a lovely slow breakfast I set off again. I swapped my vans for my hiking boots btw. It did look a little ridiculous with the clothes I was wearing, but I didn’t care. Comfy rules!
On my way to the Brandon Hill park I bumped into a zero waste shop: Smaller Footprints. Zero waste shops are popping up everywhere now! It was closed, but I waited 10 min for it to open. It was so nice! The girl who worked there, called Eve, told me that they opened over 5 months ago and that it was going well. We had such a lovely chat. I told her the whole story of Oliver and as she was thinking about van life too, we had a good chat about that too. She was also vegan and so we actually had a lot of things to talk about. We were chatting for quite a while! But after I bought a 2 year supply of dental tabs (no joke) 
and a new black metal reusable straw, I left. I was so happy that I decided to wear my hiking boots by the way, because Bristol is a lot of hills, going up and down. It was a lovely walk with lots of sunshine and as Brandon Hill park is already quite high up, there was a lovely view over Bristol. I took a little break and then climbed the Cabot Tower. The stairs are very narrow, but it’s very much worth it. I loved the views! It was such a good day as well to enjoy the view. Coming down again, Nola and I relaxed a little in the park, sitting in a rain of blossom and then made our way to ‘Beets n Roots’, to have lunch.
The cafe ‘Beets n Roots’ is all about healthy food. Exactly what I wanted! The only thing is that dogs are not allowed inside. Luckily it was very nice weather and so it was more than ok to sit outside (and they did let me go to the toilet, taking Nola with me). The staff is very friendly and one of the girls even offered to be Nola’s dogsitter. I ordered the Buddha Bowl. They come in 2 sizes. Because I had a biscuit as big as my head for snack (from East Village) a little earlier, I ordered the small buddha bowl with tofu and a coconut water. The food was so so good! There were different kinds of (fermented) salad, cauliflower, quinoa and humous. I didn’t want to over eat, but I could have easily eaten a big bowl of this. Next time! Because I couldn’t sit inside, I couldn’t charge my phone though. Luckily, a little further down the road was a Costa and so I had a tea there whilst my phone was on the charger. When charged sufficiently, I made my way to the very popular suspension bridge.
The Clifton Suspension Bridge was opened in 1864 and has been a toll bridge ever since. They use the money for the bridge’s maintenance. The bridge links Clifton (Bristol) to Leigh Woods (North Somerset). It is super high and very beautiful. I’m not crazy about heights, but I did want to cross it. So I did and even though I found it a little scary, it also gave me an empowered feeling. It gave me a similar feeling as standing in front of a tall building (which is my favourite). Feeling very small and very big at the same time. The sun was starting to go down and I did enjoy the lovely rays on the grass, next to the bridge. I didn’t want to walk too far for dinner, but opening my Happy Cow app, I saw that there was an Indian restaurant, called Thali, with lots of vegan options, a 20 min walk from where I was. I didn’t have Indian food for so long, so I went for it. The restaurants looked rather fun too.
It turned out that Thali was on the corner, only a few buildings down from ‘Smaller Footprints’. So I passed it earlier that day, but I didn’t notice. Probably because I was still buzzing from the positive energy the shop (and Eve) gave me. I was the first customer and even though dogs also weren’t allowed, the waiter who welcomed me let me off (as I promised nobody would notice Nola). After that he got the chef to come and he cuddled Nola and showed her to the rest of the kitchen staff (so far from not being noticed, haha!). It was so hard to choose food here, 
because there were a lot of vegan options and everything sounded so delicious. Eventually I picked a dish that was made out of little dishes. So it was perfect and it was also very tasty. I really enjoyed it. Together with a flatbread on the side, it cost me about £11, which I thought was a good price as well. I also really liked that it was a modern Indian restaurant. Often I find Indian restaurants a little dusty and dated, but there was a good vibe here.
Just before Nola and I got back to the van, the sun made everything look golden and so Nola and I enjoyed the last sun rays of the day on top of the hill. It was so lovely. Great end of the day. I decided to drive back to work that evening, because my battery only had one more stripe (I’ve got some electrical issues) and it didn’t make sense to only stay the night, drain the battery and then drive back. What a beautiful Easter weekend! I will definitely come back to Bristol.
HOTSPOT LIST:
–Vx Junk food bar: 125 East St, BS3 4ER.
–East Village: Boyce’s Ave, Clifton, BS8 4AA.
–Smaller Footprints: 9 Regent St, BS8 4HW.
–Brandon Hill/Cabot Tower: Park St, Bristol BS1 5RR.
–Beets n Roots: 39 Cotham Hill, BS6 6JY.
–Suspension Bridge: Bridge Rd, Leigh Woods, BS8 3PA.
–Thali: 1 Regent St, BS8 4HW.
Have you ever been to Bristol or would you love to go now you read this? Please let me know about your experiences or if you have any questions, please let me know in the comments. You can also tag me in your pictures or use #planetmanel on instagram. Thank you! X
FRIDAY
and rain, the weather got better and better. I planned to do some work on the train, but I was too distracted by the beautiful views. Especially when I arrived in Wales, the views were really breathtaking. So not a lot of work done, but a lot of thinking and enjoying. When I arrived at Haverfordwest, my employer was already waiting for me to pick me up. Before going to the cottage, we went to get groceries at a very big Morrisons. From there it was about half an hour to the holiday cottage and in the meantime it got rainy and dark. The cottage was so lovely. I couldn’t see the outside 
too well, but the inside was amazing. So much space and proper country side style. Light walls, old dark wooded floors and an amazing big bathroom!! My room was all the way upstairs, with a very cute en-suite bathroom. I shared the top floor with the girls, but they had their own bedroom though. I quickly warmed up some lentil soup and then unpacked my things. I love doing that, hehe.. The rest of the evening I just relaxed and read a little bit. Just before bedtime I wanted to take a shower, but I couldn’t get the water warm. So I had a very very cold shower, because I just can’t go to bed without a shower.. let alone in freshly washed sheets!
SATURDAY
SUNDAY
happy. There were things like: Asian slaw, Garlic bread, Spiced cauliflower & kale brown rice, Basil pesto penne, Grilled Harissa aubergine and even an Apple pie for dessert. I went for the Grilled Harissa Aubergine and gave them a compliment for their vegan options. The restaurant is called ‘The Lost Coins’ btw and I had a lovely lunch here. In the evening I was determined to get my shower to work, so my employer took another look and he got it to work within a minute. Turned out that hot is cold and cold is hot and you had to run it quite a while on ‘cold’, before it got hot. At least I had a lovely warm bath that evening, what was so lovely. I really enjoyed that.
MONDAY
TUESDAY
WEDNESDAY
THURSDAY
organisation to ask if it was normal. The only thing was that we didn’t have reception there. So somebody went up to find reception and we started to play around again. But then the seal suddenly wanted to go back to the sea. At that same moment the lady who made a call cam back and said we should leave him alone, but he shouldn’t go back into the sea, because he was waiting for his mum there. So we panicked a little, because he was on his way to the sea. We tried to stop him, but it was quite tricky. We decided to make a call to a sanctuary as we didn’t want him to die in the sea, because of losing his parents. Then another lady came onto the beach and said we should probably just let him. But we felt so guilty, because we went to this beach and that’s why it was disturbed. So we decided to take all our stuff quickly and run away, hoping he would stay on the beach if we left. But when we climbed back up to the cliff he did go into the sea anyway. I felt so bad, because if it wouldn’t survive 
it was our fault. As soon as we got back to the cottage I send the pictures I took to my best friend, who knows a lot about seals. Then he told me that the seal looked old enough to look after himself and that he looked very well too. I was so happy to hear that and felt a lot less guilty. All together it was very amazing to see a beautiful wild animal from so close though. So special! In the afternoon we went to Whitesands Bay again for a bit and when we got back I started to pack an prepare everything for tomorrow. I took a last bath and then curled up in my lovely bed for the last night. I slept so well during my stay. Very deep.
FRIDAY
For work I had to go to Taunton. After that I was off and because Bath is quite close, I decided to go to Bath. I always wanted to go there, because everybody always says it is such a great city. I was very excited to go. When I got out of the train it was already dark, but when I was heading to the AirBnB where I was staying, I already starting to love Bath. The lights shining on the old buildings, the Bath Abbey, the water. It’s so beautiful! I couldn’t wait to see it by daylight. I arrived at my AirBnB 10 minutes later than expected, but the hostess was very lovely and welcoming. She also had a very sweet and brave dachshund and I was just delighted to be in a house with a pet. The hostess showed me my room and it was so perfect. Within 2 minutes I knew it was going to be hard to leave, haha! The room was very stylish and the bathroom very modern, I loved this surprising combination. She gave me the key, we had a little chat and then I left again to have dinner somewhere. I say ‘somewhere’, because for the firs time I didn’t plan every minute of my trip.
I really enjoyed walking through Bath, even while it was dark. It was quite busy on the streets, probably because there was a rugby game going on. I walked and walked until I saw the Odeon cinema. Then I thought it would be nice to watch the new ‘Bridget Jones’ movie. So I quickly popped in and it turned out I had a good half an hour to find something to eat before the movie started. Not too far back I saw a Mexican place, called ‘Mission Burrito’, so I went there and asked if they could do something vegan. You could choose whatever you wanted and so it was possible. I chose a rice bowl. What is rice and all the (vegan) toppings they had, what meant: black beans, vegetables, salad, guacamole and a dressing. The presentation wasn’t great as it was all 
just thrown into a plastic container, but I must say that it did taste nice. The rice was perfectly cooked and the whole combination was rather delicious. It was a perfect meal before the cinema, because there was still some space left for popcorn. YUM! I love popcorn! When I was sitting in the cinema I heard Dutch people behind me and I had a little chat with them. They just moved here. How great! The movie started and I was very looking forward to it as I heard it was hilarious. And it was! OMG! I laughed so much, it was a very good movie. It’s been a while since I laughed about a movie this much. I’d love to watch it again. When I got back to my BnB I took a quick shower, listened to some music, decided where I wanted to have breakfast the next day and then fell asleep in this most fantastic bed. It was like sleeping on a cloud.
The next morning it was only a short walk to ‘The Green Rocket Cafe’, but on my way I discovered this really nice shop, called ‘Grasse’. It has a lot of unique stuff and it’s really worth to take a look inside. It was a lovely walk to the cafe, as it was a beautiful sunny day. ‘The Green Rocket Cafe’ is a super nice vegetarian cafe, with lots of vegan options. I chose the English breakfast (vegan option) and a cleansing juice with beetroot. It was so tasty! Very filling as it was quite a lot, but it was a very good start of the day. Like I said before, I didn’t plan anything and I didn’t do too much research before I came here. I 
decided to just go with the flow and see what it will bring me. I started walking and went into some lovely little shops. I especially liked the art gallery ‘Imagianation’ (beautiful art!) and ‘Arcania’, with the salt lamps, buddha’s, incense and much more. The shops led to the Bath Abbey and I took some lovely pictures. Behind the Abbey there were the ‘Roman Baths’ and I went inside to look at the ticket prices. They were £15 and I knew this was going te be something I will really like. It wasn’t busy at all and so queued up. I was right, I had a lovely time over there! I loved to learn about the baths and their history. In the end you could also taste the water. It wasn’t very tasty. It was warm and had a very strong taste. A bit earthy or something. But the minerals were very high, so I drunk 3 cups! Haha! I spend 2,5 hours in the Roman Baths and I can say that this was really a highlight of my trip.
Another great thing about Bath (and I think that everybody who visited this city already agrees with me), it has an amazing shopping centre. It’s very divers. There are big streets, little streets and narrow alleys. Full of shops, common high street shops, local shops, hand-made stuff, it’s like there is no end. I popped into FatFace as they are an ethical shop. (If you want to know more about this, please take a look at their 
rescues and re-homes cats and dogs. I gave him some money and had a cuddle with the adorable Golden Retriever who kept him company. The man gave me some treats to give her and it was so lovely, it made my day! Not much later I bumped into a sign what said ‘Art Cafe ->’. I remembered I read about this cafe and that they did some vegan things too. I was really craving a cup of tea and so I went there to get one. It’s a cafe under a chapel and it very nice. I chose a chai tea with soy milk on the side and a yummy looking piece of chocolate cake. And it was yummy! I had a lovely little break there before I did some more shopping. I got some 
nice things and also I did find some very good Xmas presents for family and friends. Of course I had to go into Lush (did you notice that I’m a fan?) and I bought my favourite bubble bar, ‘Rose Jam’. Then I headed to a health shop I read about, called ‘Harvest Natural Foods’. A very nice health shop you can compare with 
I wanted to have dinner in the ‘Acorn’, what apparently is the best vegetarian restaurant in Bath. Every time I mentioned I was visiting Bath for my blog and hotspots, the restaurant ‘Acorn’ came up. When I found it, it wasn’t open yet, so I decided to wait in Starbucks and have a small tea. When I then walked into the ‘Acorn’ I must say I had a very good first impression. The atmosphere is great and it all looks lovely. Luckily they still had some space for me and I ordered a cauliflower dish and a chocolate cake. They gave me very nice complimentary bread with olive oil and a seed dip and it was very very delicious. Just like the rest 
of the food. The chocolate cake was possibly the best I’ve ever had. It was very filling, but the taste was just define! As it was Bonfire Night I was just in time to watch the fireworks outside. It was very cold and though the fireworks were quite nice, I didn’t think it was that spectacular. When I got back to my BnB, I made myself a cup of tea, put on some music, run a bath and popped in my RoseJam bubble bar. I had the loveliest bath ever. It was so relaxing and I just felt so happy about my weekend. Everything was going so well and I just had such a good time. This bath in Bath was a perfect end for an unforgettable day.
The next day it was hard to get out of bed, knowing this was the last night. I really appreciated this BnB, a lovely break from daily life. I thanked the hostess and gave her back the key. I had breakfast at ‘The Green Rocket Cafe’ again. This is definitely my favourite breakfast-hotspot in Bath. This time I chose the yogurt with granola and a green juice.. it was perfect. After that I thought it would be nice to learn a little bit more about Bath by going on the HopOnHopOff bus (so touristy, I know..). There were 2 tours for 1 price. I paid £14,50 to go into the hills and overlook Bath and to go around Bath 
itself. It was quite cold that day, so I pulled my hat so far over my head that I was just able to see something. I still don’t know how I survived being in an open-top bus though. It was freezing! It was also very nice. Those buses might be touristy, but I think it’s a fun way to learn about a city. When I got off I started to walk to ‘Beyond Kale’, but on the way I bumped into some other lovely shops. ‘Timber Treasures’, where they sell hand-made wooden gifts, which are ethically and sustainably sourced and ‘Pink Art’, a lovely gift shop with so many nice things.
I was very happy when I could warm myself up in Green Park Station. This used to be a train station, but now it’s a place with different markets, events, shops and cafe’s. To see what market is on, on what day, 
I had one of my best weekends ever in Bath and I’m sure you will have an amazing time there too. Please let me know if you decide to go there or to tell me about your experiences with Bath. You can do this by leaving a comment below or to show me on Instagram by using #PlanetManel. Thank you! X
Planet Manel 