Bristol is blessed with some beautiful parks, nature reserves and other green spaces. This series is designed for you to enjoy a nice stroll around these places, collecting numbers on the way for the final co-ordinates of the cache.
Brief history of St George & St George's Park
St George parish was once covered by the Royal Forest of Kingswood. The forest started to be cleared for agriculture in the 13th century and was progressively reduced over the centuries. The area first came into industrial prominence in the late 17th century because of coal mining. The parish church of St George was built in the mid 18th century to serve the growing number of coalminers who had moved to the area for work.
The business of market gardening became firmly established in the 1860's as the land was well suited to this occupation. Vegetables and fruits were grown for sale in Bristol's markets and for local consumption. A large number of fields were cultivated in this area which were overlooked by homesteads and outbuildings. In other fields, mining significantly benefited from the invention of the steam engine. Primarily used for pumping water out of pints, a Newcomen steam or 'fire engine' was used in this area. It gave name to Fire Engine Farm, the fire engine turnpike tollhouse and the still survivng Fire Station Inn opposite the main entrance to St George Park.
In the 1890's St George became part of Bristol and Fire Engine Farm was converted into St George Park. The original gate pillars at the main Church Road entrance are all that remains of Fire Engine Farm. with networks of paths, a lake, some lodges and a bandstand. A splendid avenue of London Planes was completed in 1902. Since then some lodgings have been removed and the bandstand was demolished in the 1950's, however much of the other original features still remain today.
The Walk
1) Start at the Church Road entrance.
Hope you can find the year of Paleface? ABCD
2) Follow the path through the avenue of trees up to a building by another park entrance.
Access... EFGH
3) Head to next waypoint
What three words are written on path? Count number of letters. I J K
4) Head down the path to the lake steps and walk around the lake.
How many lakeside benches are there? L (Bench numbers have changed = answer is 3)
5) Walk to the park's centre where the bandstand used to be.
What hotel is here? The number of letters in this word. M (Bug Hotel is no longer there = answer is 3)
6) Walk to the recreational area
If table tennis = 2 what is Tennis + Bowls? N
7) Walk to the Wheel Park
Number of conditions O
You have completed a loop of the park and are near the start and the location of the cache.
N51 ( E - G ) ( H + M ). ( J + A ) ( E + K ) ( B - L )
W02 ( O - I + A ) ( D - E - L ). ( K - N ) ( C / H ) ( A + M )