After their round at St George’s Hill, the group made the journey west to Bristol — a city that has a personality all its own.
Famous the world over for Banksy and its street art scene, Bristol’s graffiti-covered walls sit alongside a thriving mix of independent shops, restaurants and bars that make it feel genuinely lived-in rather than manufactured for visitors. It’s a city with real energy, and it made a strong impression on delegates experiencing it for the first time.
The group stayed at Hotel du Vin — a wonderfully historic and characterful hotel, and exactly the kind of property that adds real charm to a touring itinerary. Our thanks to the team there, and to Ellie Coton, Cluster Sales Manager, in particular, for looking after the group so well. Dinner at the hotel that evening was a genuine highlight of the trip, the perfect way to unwind after a day of travel and golf.
Bristol also proved itself a brilliant option for delegates flying in directly rather than routing via London. Bristol Airport offers direct connections to several Dutch cities, including Amsterdam, and good onward links into Scandinavia — and a number of this year’s European delegates took advantage of exactly that, flying into Bristol rather than Heathrow. Along with Exeter, it’s one of two regional airports that gave our overseas operators genuinely easy access into the South West this year.
The next morning, the group set off refreshed and ready for Burnham & Berrow Golf Club — just a 30–35 minute drive away. It’s an ideal journey: short enough to barely register, yet long enough to build real anticipation for one of the finest links courses on the Somerset coast.
They arrived to a genuinely beautiful day, and Burnham & Berrow did not disappoint. Dating back to 1890, the Championship Course ranks among the top 30 courses in Great Britain and Ireland and has hosted over 40 major amateur championships, including the Brabazon Trophy and the English Amateur. Its first professional, J.H. Taylor, went on to win the Open Championship five times — a fitting pedigree for a course regularly used as an Open Qualifying venue. Laid out in classic links fashion, the front nine skirts the dunes and coastline heading north before turning inland and looping back through Berrow village and past its church on the way home — a proper, old-fashioned test of links golf, and exactly the kind of course that reminds operators why this stretch of coastline has been drawing golfers for well over a century.