Prior Park Landscape Garden
Ralph Allen Drive, Bath BA2 5AH
Adults £9.50. Children £4.80. National Trust members free.
Prior Park gives you one of the great views over Bath and ranks among the most significant landscape gardens in the South West. Ralph Allen built it in the 1740s to display Bath stone and entertain his guests — Alexander Pope designed parts of the grounds; the Palladian Bridge (one of only four in the world) sits at the far end of the valley. The garden has no car park, which means it arrives on foot or by bus from the city centre or from Combe Down village directly above. The 40-minute walk down from Combe Down High Street is the right approach: you arrive at the top of the valley and descend past the lakes toward the bridge. Allow 90 minutes minimum.
Hadley Arms
60 Bradford Road, Combe Down, Bath BA2 5BU
Pints from £4.50. Food mains £12–19. Booking recommended Friday and Saturday.
The village pub at the centre of Combe Down, functioning as its social and civic hub. Food quality is well above village-pub average — the kitchen takes proper care with ingredients and the Sunday roasts are booked solid most weekends. There is a large beer garden. The Hadley Arms is not a destination restaurant but it is a reliable one, and Combe Down residents would notice its absence immediately.
Firs Field
Bradford Road, Combe Down, Bath BA2 5DF
Free
A Local Nature Reserve on the western edge of Combe Down village. The field contains remnant unimproved meadow grassland — scarce in lowland England — and connects to footpaths dropping toward Tucking Mill and the Midford Brook valley. In spring it holds good populations of common spotted orchid and cowslip. The footpath through the field is a quiet alternative to Bradford Road and connects Combe Down to the Two Tunnels Greenway without going near the city.
Ralph Allen's Sham Castle
North Road, Bathwick Hill, Bath BA2 6JZ
Free. Viewable from the path at any time. About 1.2 miles from Combe Down village.
A folly built by Ralph Allen in 1762 as a picturesque prospect from his city townhouse. Three stories of Bath stone Gothic facade with nothing behind it — deliberately hollow. The walk along the ridge from Combe Down to Sham Castle passes the University of Bath campus and gives long westward views across the Avon valley. The folly itself is unfenced and freely accessible from the path. Combine it with a descent to Prior Park for a 3-hour circuit.
Combe Down village walks
High Street, Combe Down, Bath BA2 5EF
Free
Combe Down sits on the ridge south of Bath at 200 metres — high enough for proper views north across the city and south into the Cam Valley. The village was built largely by Ralph Allen's quarrymen and retains a working character despite its proximity to Bath. The ridge walk east toward Monkton Combe and west toward the Wansdyke gives access to some of the best Cotswold stone wall scenery within easy reach of Bath. The Bath Skyline Walk (National Trust, 6 miles) passes through the edge of the village and is well-marked.