Most people have heard of Wallace and Gromit, the stop-motion comedy films featuring the cheese-loving man and his dog. For 10 weeks this summer, ending September 8th, Bristol is host of 80 5 foot tall Gromits painted by various artists, the event is called "Gromit Unleashed". The artists include Quentin Blake (illustrator of the Roald Dahl books), Joanna Lumley, Pixar and Simon Tofield (maker of the YouTube videos "Simon's Cat").
I've been wanting to go to Bristol for a while so when I found out this "Gromit Unleashed" event was on I knew I had to go before it ended! I didn't want to book time off work for it since I knew I probably wouldn't need more than a day anyway, then, coincidentally, I got two consecutive days off work! Perfect! More time to find the Gromits!
I worried about the weather when I got to Bristol, it was proper throwing it down with rain! Luckily, for most of the time while I was there there were just some short showers.
In the day and a half I spent in Bristol I managed to find 54 out of 80 Gromits. One Gromit is in London Paddington Station and quite a few is a way outside Bristol. If you have a car and make a small trip to London you will probably be able to find all 80 in a day. I am happy to have seen the 54 I did manage to see, it would have been fun to have been able to see all 80 but at the same time I don't feel like I've missed out or anything.
If you are able to get to Bristol before September 8th I do recommend that you do. Not only did I have fun looking for the Gromits, I also got to see parts of Bristol that I probably wouldn't have seen if I had just wandered around aimlessly. At the end of the Gromit Unleashed event the sculptures will be auctioned off to raise funds for Wallace and Gromit's Grand Appeal, the Bristol Children's Hospital Charity.
Bristol seemed like an okay city, other than hunting Gromits I didn't really do a lot. I am not one of those people that are comfortable eating alone in restaurants so unfortunately I didn't get to check out any of the many great-looking restaurants there. I wouldn't mind going back with someone as there seemed to be a lot to see and do in Bristol but at the same time it's not a city I would go back to on my own again (unless there was another event I really wanted to go to).
