The Weston Big Wood is a nature reserve west of the Portishead town centre, approximately 20 minute drive from Bristol) that is owned and maintained by the Avon Wildlife Trust. The wood itself is thought to date back to the last ice age (10,000 years ago!) and contains lots of items of historical significance, such as city of Bristol marker stones from the 17th century.
We have a great route that takes us through the woods, fields and finally a child’s play park. Although there are concerns that the fields surrounding the woods may be sold to housing developers so double check your route before setting out.
We enter the field at the end of Weston Wood Road (make sure that you go through the kissing gate straight ahead into the field and not the footpath to the left). Walk to the top of the field and bear left across a small opening (first picture in the gallery) that takes you to another field. Keep left along the edge of the top field and you will find the gate to the wood shown in the feature image at the top of this post. Walk through that gate and wander along any path that you like, but head west towards Valley Road. When you near Valley Road you will reach a set of defined dirt/wood steps on the right and a path on the left. Follow the path on the left (towards the Blackrock Marble Company) until you see a clearing/field with a stile and wire fencing – follow the path to the left and keep to the woods (the fields have some prickly plants that Sash didn’t like) towards the Portishead disused quarry. Be careful here as you will arrive at the top of the quarry and there is a steep drop. Once you see the quarry follow the path to the right that takes you steeply down the hill. At the bottom of this path you will see some houses, turn left at the end and enter the wood again. We followed the wood all the way back to the Underwood Road play area, but you can follow it back to the starting point on Weston Wood Road.
Dog-friendly things to do
What more do you need than to walk and explore? You can stick to the woods using our route (above) or another from AllTrails. Or, you can incorporate the wood into a larger walk, such as one that includes the Portishead high street, marina, lake grounds and wood.
Dog-friendly places to stay
There’s lots of dog-friendly accommodation in Portishead, including the Ibis budget hotel, some Airbnb properties.
Dog-friendly places to eat
Most of the pubs in and around Portishead are dog-friendly (we are yet to find one that isn’t) but you can also eat at restaurants on the high street (e.g., the Impero Lounge) and in the on the marina (e.g., Hall & Woodhouse, in Aqua’s covered outdoor area, and Bottelino’s outdoor area).
Thank you for this interesting article. This provides me insights into the Weston Big Wood located in Bristol, UK. And thank you for sharing your experience exploring the wood with your dog and providing valuable information on the features of the wood, such as its accessibility, dog-friendliness, and wildlife. Can you provide more information about the wildlife present in Weston Big Wood? What types of animals and plants can visitors expect to see during their visit?
Thank you Alamosa for the lovely comment. The wood contains a wide variety of wildlife (that tend to hide when walking around with a dog) such as squirrels (Sash’s particular favourite), badgers and birds. I can’t pretend to be an expert on plants (I would have described it as being a typical English wood with large beautiful trees and prickly shrubs) and so I’m going to refer you to this site: https://www.avonwildlifetrust.org.uk/blog/elisabeth-winkler/explore-weston-big-wood. I hope that this answers your question. I really recommend visiting and getting lost with your pooch 😊