The Bristol Magazine May 2016

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THE

Issue 143 I MAY 2016

THEBRISTOLMAG.CO.UK

£3.95 where sold

MAGAZINE

LIFE THROUGH A LENS 24 HOURS IN BRISTOL – A CAPTIVATING PICTORIAL SLICE OF THE CITY

THE SISTA RETURNS BEVERLEY KNIGHT BACK IN BRISTOL

BIG FISH

NEW DISHES FROM NATHAN OUTLAW

THE LIGHT AQUATIC

WE’RE CRUSHING ON ABIGAIL MCDOUGALL’S WATERCOLOURS

FIRST CLASS FARE AT THE NEW POST BOX EATERY

PLUS

BEHIND THE SCENES AS BRISTOL OLD VIC TURNS 250 T H E C I T Y ’ S F I N E S T M O N T H LY G U I D E T O L I V I N G I N B R I S T O L

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CLEARANCE SALE

We are refurbishing our entire showroom with all new models All showroom models reduced by 50-75%

Sofa and curtain delivery time 2/3 weeks

Curtains and Blinds Sofas and Fabrics Bespoke Cabinet Furniture and Wardrobes

Bespoke Cabinet Furniture 3/5 weeks

All types of reupholstery Traditional to comtemporary styles Antique and Vintage pieces

FABRICS

terms and conditions apply

We are just past Clifton Down Shopping Centre 56/60, Whiteladies Rd, BS8 2PY Mon-Sat 9.30 - 5.30/Sun 12 - 5

TEL: 01173 292746

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THE | CONTENTS

MAY 2016 Photo © joncraig.co.uk

28 52

72 50

26 12 ZEITGEIST Five things to do this month in Bristol

14 THE CITYIST We chat to Bristol duo Meadowlark

44 ART

72

We’re crushing hard on Abigail McDougall’s light-filled watercolours

What not to miss at Bristol Walkfest

78

46 ARTS & EXHIBITIONS

...finds himself in a dilemma

48 FOOD & DRINK NEWS

80

We’re feeling totally tropical...

22 PHOTOGRAPHY A sneak preview of some of the stunning shots from this year’s 24 Hours in Bristol

26 FACE TO FACE We chat to soul queen Beverley Knight

28 THEATRE As Bristol Old Vic turns 250, we head behind the scenes

34 MAYFEST We ask artistic director Matthew Austin for a few of his highlights

36 WHAT’S ON Pencils and diaries at the ready

42 BRISTOL MUSIC Meet the lady behind the city’s first allfemale youth label, Saffron Records

Even more great content online: thebristolmag.co.uk

50 RESTAURANT REVIEW We check out new Claverham eatery The Post Box

84

94

We head down to Hanover Marina and meet the chaps at Bristol Classic Boat Co

GARDENING Margaux Speirs is inspired by Yeo Valley’s organic garden

Renowned seafood chef Nathan Outlaw shares two of his new recipes

56 BRISTOL AT WORK

SHOPPING: HOME Planning a Great British garden party?

86

52 RECIPES

CREATIVE BRISTOL We catch up with Bracey Interiors as they celebrate their 50th birthday

Tasty titbits from local restaurants

20 SHOPPING: FASHION

CITY BEAUTY Get set for summer with beauty buff Emma Hollingworth of Harvey Nichols

What’s on at the city’s galleries

18 BARTLEBY

OUT AND ABOUT

NEW BUILDS A look at some of the latest developments coming to market

104 PROPERTY FOCUS

58 BRISTOL UPDATES Business news from across the city

Three lovely homes under £800,000

66 FAMILY FUN

ON THE COVER

Spring activities for kids

We’re pretty sure we don’t need to tell you where this is... One of the many excellent photographs taken as part of 24 Hours in Bristol competition. See p22 for more

67 FREELANCE MUM Faye Dicker checks out a local candle company and enjoys a bit of me-time

70 EDUCATION NEWS Latest goss from the sector

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Image left: Loving this pic of Bristol’s iconic cranes, taken for 24 Hours in Bristol. We’ll be revealing the names of the talented photographers we’ve featured after the judges have announced their winners

THIS MONTH WE’VE BEEN...

EATING

Doisy & Dam lemon, poppyseed and baobab organic white chocolate – available at Bearpit Social, Better Food, Watershed, Small St Espresso, Mockingbird, Brew Coffee andBristol Old Vic doisyanddam.com

from the

COVETING

EDITOR One shot, one opportunity...

“You can look at a picture for a week and never think of it again. You can look at a picture for a second and think of it all your life.”

T

his month it feels like we’ve really zoomed in on the city – contemplating every corner of it through the eyes of some of the region’s most talented photographers as part of the 24 Hours in Bristol competition, which took place recently. You can see a random selection of some of those striking shots on p22 – before the finalists are announced and the winners revealed on 20 May. Elsewhere, Jenny Hayes lifts the curtain on what goes on behind the scenes at the newly bicenquinquagenarian (mmm, snappy) Bristol Old Vic, meeting some of the unsung heroes who pour their hearts and souls into crafting the theatre’s in-house masterpieces (p28) – and we’ve also been shining a spotlight on other sides of the city’s creative scene – specifically its first all-female youth record label Saffron Records (p42) and Jamaica Street Artists’ Abigail McDougall (p44), whose often exotic, aquatic watercolours, some of which beautifully depict Bristol harbour, are begging to be mounted on our bedroom walls. Sticking with the marine theme, we also chat to Mark Rolt down at his boatyard on p56 as part of our Bristol At Work series; then visit the brand new eatery over at Claverham. See p50 for the verdict.

We also squeezed in a bit of Knight time (the Beverley variety) before her Colston Hall show; borrowed a couple of new recipes from renowned seafood chef Nathan Outlaw; scouted out some new property developments; and shopped tropical togs. And yes, after all that, we do need a gin, please (see p12...!)

And at the risk of sounding like a broken record, we barely had enough paper to jot down all the great events going on this month – being on the cusp of festival season and all that. You might check out Mayfest, Walkfest, Dot to Dot, Love Saves The Day...the list is endless...

Butterfly by Matthew Williamson embellished jungle kaftan, £38, from Debenhams; debenhams.com

Santiago dress, £229, from Hobbs, The Mall at Cribbs; hobbs.co.uk AMANDA NICHOLLS EDITOR Editor’s image by Paolo Ferla

@thebristolmag

4 THE BRISTOL MAGAZINE

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HELPING YOU MOVE IN 2016 If you are considering selling a property this year, now is the time to speak to an expert.

We pride ourselves on exceptional service and unrivalled market knowledge, with a global network of 417 offices across 58 countries that can showcase your property to the widest possible audience.

Call us today on +44 117 295 0425 to arrange your free market appraisal.

Knightfrank.co.uk/bristol bristol@knightfrank.com

Guide price: £2,250,000

KnightFrank KnightFrank.co.uk

Litton An unlisted former farmhouse (4,676 sq ft) in a peaceful setting. 5 reception rooms, kitchen/breakfast room, utility. 5 bedrooms, 3 bath/shower rooms. Party barn, 4 stables, swimming pool, pool house, games room, stores, cow shed, tennis court. Woodland, gardens and grounds. In all about 10.2 acres. EPC F.

Guide price £1,250,000

nTheMarket.com

Guide price £535,000

Sneyd Park

Clifton

A unique house (3,487 sq ft) with stunning views. 2 reception rooms, kitchen/breakfast room, utility. 5 bedrooms, 2 bath/shower rooms. Sun terrace, terraced gardens, swimming pool, parking, garage. EPC F.

A fine lateral hall floor apartment (1,172 sq ft). Drawing room, kitchen/breakfast room. 2 bedrooms, ensuite bathroom, shower room.

Private terrace, off street parking. EPC E.

Knight Frank May.qxp_full page 18/04/2016 11:39 Page 2

HELPING YOU MOVE IN 2016 If you are considering selling a property this year, now is the time to speak to an expert.

We pride ourselves on exceptional service and unrivalled market knowledge, with a global network of 417 offices across 58 countries that can showcase your property to the widest possible audience.

Call us today on +44 117 295 0425 to arrange your free market appraisal.

Knightfrank.co.uk/bristol bristol@knightfrank.com

Guide price: £2,250,000

KnightFrank KnightFrank.co.uk

Clevedon A stunning contemporary house (6,716 sq ft) with views of the Bristol Channel. Reception room, kitchen/breakfast room. 4 bedrooms, study/bedroom 5, 4 bath/shower rooms. Swimming pool complex, sauna. Terraced gardens, balconies, sun terraces, garage with workshop. EPC C.

Guide price: £1,200,000

nTheMarket.com

Guide from £1,250,000

Sneyd Park

Belluton

Contemporary family home (2,551 sq ft) set within a gated development.

2 reception rooms, kitchen/breakfast room, utility. 6 bedrooms, 4 bath/ shower rooms. Garden, summerhouse, parking, double garage. EPC D.

An attractive Grade II listed house (4,305 sq ft) in a pretty valley. 4 reception rooms, kitchen/breakfast room, cellar. 5 bedrooms, 3 bath/shower rooms.

Gardens, garage. Paddocks, fishing rights, stream. In all about 2.76 acres.

Knight Frank May.qxp_full page 18/04/2016 11:40 Page 3

HELPING YOU MOVE IN 2016 If you are considering selling a property this year, now is the time to speak to an expert.

We pride ourselves on exceptional service and unrivalled market knowledge, with a global network of 417 offices across 58 countries that can showcase your property to the widest possible audience.

Call us today on +44 117 295 0425 to arrange your free market appraisal.

Knightfrank.co.uk/bristol bristol@knightfrank.com

Guide price: £2,250,000

KnightFrank KnightFrank.co.uk

Edington An architecturally and historically important Grade II* listed country house. 5 reception rooms, 7 bedrooms, 6 baths. Grade II listed gazebo, swimming pool, tennis court, walled kitchen garden, paddock. In all about 4.65 acres.

From £735,000

nTheMarket.com

Guide price: £785,000

Clevedon

Old Sodbury

A stunning and unique Grade II Listed Georgian town house (2,279 sq ft) with views. 3 reception rooms, 5 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, direct access to Hill Road's amenities, stunning gardens and views.

A well presented family home (3,826 sq ft) situated in the heart of the village. 3 reception rooms, kitchen/breakfast room, utility. 4 bedrooms, 2 bath/shower rooms. Garden. Garaging. EPC D.

Knight Frank May.qxp_full page 18/04/2016 11:40 Page 4

HELPING YOU MOVE IN 2016 If you are considering selling a property this year, now is the time to speak to an expert.

We pride ourselves on exceptional service and unrivalled market knowledge, with a global network of 417 offices across 58 countries that can showcase your property to the widest possible audience.

Call us today on +44 117 295 0425 to arrange your free market appraisal.

Knightfrank.co.uk/bristol bristol@knightfrank.com

OIEO £750,000

KnightFrank KnightFrank.co.uk

Wedmore A pretty Grade II listed Georgian house (3,192 sq ft) with views. 4 reception rooms, kitchen/breakfast room, utility room. 4 bedrooms, 3 bath/shower rooms, attic space. Barn with stores and games room. Gardens, summer house.

Guide price £2,250,000

nTheMarket.com

Guide price: £625,000

Clifton

Compton Bishop

An elegant Grade II* listed townhouse (5,200 sq ft). 3 reception rooms, kitchen/breakfast room, 5 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms (2 ensuite), 1/2 bedroom apartment, cellars, garden, off-street parking, communal gardens.

4 bedroom barn conversion (1,871 sq ft) with stunning views. Drawing room, kitchen/dining room, study, 4 beds (1 ensuite), bathroom. Log cabin/summerhouse, workshop. Large gardens and parking. EPC D.

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BRISTOL MAGAZINE Bristol and Exeter House, Lower Approach, Temple Meads, Bristol BS1 6QS Telephone: 0117 974 2800 www.thebristolmagazine.co.uk Š MC Publishing Ltd 2016 Disclaimer: Whilst every reasonable care is taken with all material submitted to The Bristol Magazine, the publisher cannot accept responsibility for loss or damage to such material. Opinions expressed in articles are strictly those of the authors. This publication is copyright and may not be reproduced in any form either in part or whole without written permission from the publishers.

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ZEITGEIST

Top

5

things to do in MAY

JOIN THE DOTS

CHEERS TO THAT The UK's largest gin festival returns to Bristol this month, following a sell-out event last year.

Expect – stay calm now – over 100 different gins including new varieties from brand new producers. There’ll even be one made especially for the festival, called Tregothnan, plus a variety of entertainment, food, and talks from industry experts. On arrival, gin aficionados will also be handed their own festival glass and a brochure full of information to ensure their knowledge of the Mother’s Ruin is up to scratch. Tickets cost £7.50 (plus booking fee). For more information, visit: ginfestival.com

Yep, summer festival season is on the horizon, and one of Bristol’s first is Dot to Dot, which hits Bristol on 28 May – bringing with it the likes of indie-rockers The Mystery Jets (pictured right) who released their fifth album Curve of The Earth back in January. Also appearing are The Temper Trap, Augustines, The Sherlocks, Sundara Karma and Bristol’s Lauren Aquilina, plus lots more acts. Gigs will take place across various venues – join the dots and create your own festival experience... dottodotfestival.co.uk

MIRACLE MAN The multi award-winning master of psychological illusion, who is now one of the world’s most renowned live performers, is back on tour with a brand new one-man show. Expect trademark wow moments from the dark manipulator of magic and plenty of mind control as part of Derren Brown: Miracle, which runs this month at the Bristol Hippodrome – from Monday 9 May to Saturday 14 May. Performances start at 7.30pm; tickets are available from £40.40. For further information visit Derren’s website: derrenbrown.co.uk

WUNDERBAR! If gin isn’t really your thing, Bristol will also be hosting its first German Bierfest – based on the German sommerfest – at Millennium Square from 5-8 May, promising visitors an immersive taste of German culture. The Bristol version will see a vintage village setting populated with the customary wooden huts – filled with hot wurst, sweet treats and souvenirs – as well as bier and Sekt gardens where visitors can try the famous sparkling wine; plus various games such as Hau den Lukas and bull-riding. Opposite the market will be the Fest Tent, featuring a German band playing live music, beers including Bavarian Weißbier, Festbier and Craftbier from Bavarian Festbeer Brewery, and savoury delicacies such as schnitzel, brezel and hendl. Entrance to the German village is free; and entrance to the Fest Tent is free on Thursday and Sunday and £5 on Friday and Saturday. For more information, visit: bristol.bierfest.co.uk

FLASH BACK Throughout hip-hop history, few names have become as well known right across the globe as that of Barbadian-born Grandmaster Flash. The first act of his kind to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Flash is credited for re-inventing the genre and helping to create a worldwide musical culture with his pioneering use of the turntables. The big man’s back in Bristol this month, we hear – catch him at Motion on Avon Street on Friday 13 May from 7pm.

Tickets cost £22. Visit: motionbristol.com

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ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE

5 reasons to spend this summer on Scilly

#TravelLocal

Scilly’s white sands and picturesque harbours might well be enough to tempt you to hop on a flight, but beyond the postcard perfect beaches you’ll also find a vibrant and welcoming community. When you travel to Scilly there’s a real sense that you’re not just a tourist, you’re part of island life, and it’s this feeling that entices visitors back to the islands year after year.

Read on for the top 5 reasons to travel local and choose Scilly this summer... ➊ FOR THE WARM WELCOME Scilly is home to just a couple of thousand full-time residents, but visitors become honorary islanders for the length of their stay. You’ll be immersed into the Scilly way of doing things, leaving your car on the mainland and getting around by boat, bike, on foot or in a golf buggy. ➋ FOR ITS AUTHENTICITY Beach BBQs, buying homemade fudge from honesty box stalls, fishing for your own mackerel. If your idea of the perfect holiday is experiencing a different way of life, a stay on Scilly might just have you hooked. As you get to know the islands better, you’ll find yourself slipping into the islands’ calmer pace and you’ll soon get used to planning your schedule around the tides.

Fly Having been welcomed aboard an eight or nineteen seat aircraft by your pilot, you’ll kick-start your holiday with a scenic flight over the coast of Cornwall. Skybus planes have the added bonus of an open cockpit, so you’ll enjoy the rare treat of watching your pilot fly.

Sail Once you’ve collected your retro travel token, you can relax on the deck enjoying views of St Michael’s Mount, the Minack eatre and Wolf Rock Lighthouse. You might even spot a pod of dolphins following the ferry during the crossing. ➌ FOR UNIQUE EXPERIENCES Island living is all about making the most of the great outdoors and there are so many ways you can enjoy Scilly’s spectacular landscape. You could lace up your walking boots and head to the coastal paths.

Breathe in the fresh sea air and seek out secluded beaches and caves. Water lovers can try standup paddleboarding, swim with grey seals or visit the uninhabited islands by boat.

Take me there Travel to Scilly and you can enjoy a slice of island life without the long haul. e islands are a mere 60-minute flight from Exeter Airport, 30 minutes from Newquay and 15 minutes from Land’s End. You can also sail from Penzance in under three hours on the Scillonian III passenger ferry.

www.islesofscilly-travel.co.uk Tel: 01736 334220 #TravelLocal

➍ FOR A TASTE OF ISLAND LIFE Wherever you are on Scilly, you’re never more than a short walk or boat trip away from freshly caught fish and seafood. From pop-up crab shacks to lively gastropubs and food festivals, you can easily spend a week letting your taste buds do the exploring. ➎ FOR THE JOURNEY Whether you choose to fly to Scilly by Skybus or sail on the Scillonian III passenger ferry, Isles of Scilly Travel goes to great lengths to make sure the journey is part of the island experience. You’ll be travelling just as the locals do, with the company they started nearly a century ago.

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ist

THE CITY THE BUZZ

My BRISTOL

We take five with Kate McGill – one half of Bristol pop duo Meadowlark How long have you been in Bristol, Kate?

I've been here for about four years now – I love this city so much.

What can music fans expect from the Dot to Dot Bristol show on 28 May? A lot of love from both sides of the stage. We love playing here and the shows are always full of friends and family. The atmosphere is pretty electric!

Summer lovin’ Tickets for Bristol Summer Series are selling like hotcakes – with the Sigur Rós, James Bay and Catfish and the Bottlemen (pictured above) shows already sold out. Tickets are still available for the Last Shadow Puppets gig, taking place on 24 June. For more information visit: bristolsummerseries.com

Coming into bloom The Glos Rd Central community host their Mayfest event on 7 on May, marking the arrival of the traditional Jack in the Green procession of musicians and dancers and coinciding with Neighbourhood Partnership Week. This year will see 40 flower planters installed outside shops by the Avon Wildlife Trust, to encourage pollinators as part of their My Wild City programme. Traders like Billie Jean, Odd Sox and Bristol Vintage will spill their wares across the pavements, while Room 212, Paper Plane and Moodles offer free creative activities – and there'll be live music, facepainting and needlefelting as well as free samples from Joe’s Bakery, treats from Cake, a barbecue from Giles Butchers, a Fairtrade stall and local delights from Pizzarova, Cafe Dream and Nico's Kitchen. glosrdcentral.co.uk

What do you rate about this city?

I just love its character. Each pocket of Bristol is so different and has so much to offer. It's such an artistic city and I feel inspired daily because of it.

What do you enjoy most about being a musician here?

Connecting with other like-minded people.

Every creative that I have met in Bristol has been really chilled and cool. Everyone loves living here and it shows in the work we create, I think.

What are you reading at the moment?

I'm reading Wired for Joy: A Revolutionary Method for Creating Happiness from Within

by New York Times best-selling author Laurel Mellin. I'm learning a lot about myself... It's kind of fascinating.

What’s pumping through your speakers?

Polyenso's new album Pure In The Plastic. It's an insane piece of art. The production and the songwriting just blows my mind. It's so interesting to listen to, I can't get enough of it.

I'm definitely annoying my housemates with it, let's put it like that.

Which local restaurant are you loving?

We went to Rack's Bar & Kitchen for a Sunday roast the other day. Their cauliflower and cheese was unreal.

Favourite watering hole in Bristol?

I'm loving the White Bear on St Michael's Hill.

It's become a local for us recently – plus their Monday burger deal is the best.

Which other Bristol performers do you admire at the moment?

We're big fans of Katie Sky, Lionface and Stevie Parker! They have such awesome live shows.

What projects are in the pipeline for the rest of the year?

We're just about to master our debut album!

And we'll be releasing new music throughout the rest of the year, on top of some tours and some festivals. Living the dream, basically... meadowlarkofficial.tumblr.com

READ ALL ABOUT IT...

This month Charlotte Pope at Foyles bookshop recommends Remarkable Animals by Tony Meeuwissen Where on Earth might you find a trabootor? Why, in the world of Remarkable Animals, of course... With the head of a trunkfish, the body of a baboon and the tail of an alligator, the trabootor is just one of the incredible creatures that can be created with this great kids’ book. Its pages are split into three pieces, allowing children to mix and match parts of each animal – there’s potential to come up with 1,000 different crazy creations. Each animal comes with their own short passage, detailing their habitat and personality: the meevim, for example (part mohoohoo, part weevil and part opossum), is fond of muddy watering holes and is somehow often found accidentally among imported bunches of bananas! With the book’s striking colour illustrations, kids can watch their wacky and wild beings spring to life. Delightful and ingenious, Remarkable Animals offers up some great family fun.

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THE CITY MEAT, MUSIC, MAYHEM...

Grillstock has announced the rest of its line-up for this year’s hillbilly hoedown on 2 & 3 July at Bristol Harbourside. Joining headliners The Stranglers are Scottish indie rockers The Fratellis, the Cuban Brothers, country blues three-piece, Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band, hip-hop nine-piece Mouse Outfit, Big Joe Bone and the UK’s most familiar nacho-nibbling Mexicans, The Mariachis. The Dive Bar Stage has its most epic line-up to date with top audio visual artist, DJ Cheeba, Bristol band The 45s, hip hop DJ duo Nextman, Gaz’s Rockin' Blues, garage rock group Fruit Bomb, Benny Guitar Carr, The Wholls, plus local favourites The Jacques and Mad Apple Circus. “This epic soundtrack sets the scene for the weekend,” said Grillstock Ben Merrington, who last month brought out his first recipe book with co-founder Jon Finch. “It won’t be long until the smell of juicy meat cooking on smokin’ coals fills Bristol’s harbourside and we’ll all be kicking back with mates, chowing down and having a blast.” As ever, the festival will bring together the best in live-fire and low ‘n’ slow barbecue street food with a record number of 30 teams confirmed for King of the Grill, the biggest cook-off the festival has ever seen – with teams all over the country entering in hope of being named 2016 BBQ Champion. grillstock.co.uk/tickets

BRISTAGRAM Some of our favourite recent snaps taken by folk around the city! Tag your best pics of Bristol using #thebristolmag Optimisti c ice crea m van Brandon Hill: @sjta on nton

Glaswegian indie-rockers The Fratellis will be playing the Saturday night

s88’s @ben_adam ol view Brist favourite

Cider plo

ughman’s per @theapple fection: ciderboat

ARENA GETS THE GREEN LIGHT Bristol City Council’s Development Control Committee has given the go ahead for the 12,000 capacity Bristol Arena and approved outline plans for the rest of Arena Island.

Two applications were brought back to committee and both applications received unanimous support; a detailed planning application for the arena building with a public plaza and new access routes, and an outline application for the future development of housing, business and leisure uses close to the venue. The new venue is due to be located on the derelict former diesel depot site, close to Temple Meads station. The arena will be a flexible indoor venue with spaces for public exhibitions, fashion shows and conferences; able to accommodate from 4,500 theatre-goers to 12,000 live music fans. Work could start on the venue, due to open in 2018, later in the year. For more information, visit: bristoltemplequarter.com/arena er

inbows ov Moody ra n Blu: so is ad R e th ounded gr ly ct ri st @

Picture © Populous Arena Team

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Spring dilemma

F

or a long time I’ve been meaning to sort out the ivy. By which I mean, get rid of it completely. Hack it down. Dig it up. Shred it. Every few months I look out of the window and say to myself; it’s time. That ivy has to go. Once upon a time, it may have been ornamental, but not any more.

It’s already devoured the fence at the end of the garden, and is gradually spreading, inch by inch, foot by foot. It’s getting closer, in fact. Eventually it will come creeping in at my window like that Other Ivy, the stuff growing on the front of the house, once did. That was an alarming moment – opening the curtains one morning to find that a dark tendril had snuck in during the night and glued itself to the window frame.

The Other Ivy was rapidly dispatched but the plant I see from my window now has proved a little more difficult to tackle. Is ‘plant’ even the right word for this tentacled invader, that wraps itself around trees and sucks the life from them? Watching it grow, I can understand why my neighbours have all grubbed up their hedges and shrubs and put in smart new fences. But when we moved to Bartleby Towers, the view from the kitchen window was quite rustic. Today we see fences, one beyond the next, in a series of uncompromising DIY-store styles.

A fence is a nice, manageable thing, but the vanishing of bushes does present a problem for the hard-pressed local bird population. It’s one of the curious phenomena of modern life that we go out of our way to make the already precarious existence of actual (ie non-televised) birds ever trickier.

Modern roofs leave no nooks for sparrows or swifts, and low-maintenance modern gardens offer our feathered friends no shelter either. Hang up as many nuts as you like, it’s that annoying old shrub the birds really need.

It’s quite understandable that we wish to control our borders, to make the

❝ A DARK TENDRIL HAD SNUCK IN DURING THE NIGHT AND GLUED ITSELF TO THE WINDOW FRAME

❞

boundary between us and our neighbours secure, but there is a downside.

Replace a porous, living hedge with a sturdy, impermeable fence and so much is lost: insects, birds and bats, sound and colour. In short, life.

Which brings us back to the dreaded ivy. As I said, I’ve reached the point on several occasions over the past few years of saying; right, that’s it! As if the ivy were a naughty child who won’t go to bed (or a teenager who won’t get up). That’s it! Action. Now! Then I stop. There are only a very few birds that live in our funny little stretch of fenced-in gardens: a couple of great tits, a blackbird and, bizarre as it may seem, a pair of goldfinches that seem to have wandered in from some other reality. Finally, there’s a pair of hedge sparrows, innocuous little brown birds that don’t seem to sing and are mostly invisible, hidden in the – ahem – ivy.

They seem to add very little to our lives, those latter two little birds. If the great tits are the entrepreneurs of our little garden society and the goldfinches the artists, then these hedge sparrows are, I don’t know, inconspicuous librarians? There’s no reason to provide accommodation here, in our garden, is there? They could go and live somewhere else, and be just as happy. Yes, this time I really must get that ivy sorted out, put up a new fence and make everything properly ship-shape. I’ve been tolerant long enough.

But here’s a thought. A friend in a nearby street has a nice big clump of ivy, and guess what? A pair of robins are nesting in it. Robins! The doctors or headteachers of the garden bird world! Suppose next year their offspring go househunting and come here… Now that would be something. ■ 18 THE BRISTOL MAGAZINE

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SHOPPING | FASHION

CLUB

shiFt Dress, £20 Jungle-inspired prints have got our temperatures rising...

Next, The Mall at Cribbs; next.co.uk

TROPICANA PenDant, £45 From the Bill Skinner collection, with crimson beads and 18ct gold plating. Available at Amulet & online; billskinnerstudio.com

PaPerselF lashes, £12.99 Ideal for parties and festival season, these lovely light lashes are inspired by the patterns of Chinese paper-cutting.

Amulet; amuletboutique.co.uk

Floozie by Frost French sunglasses, £16 Add a little romance to your summer ensemble with these playful sunnies. Debenhams; debenhams.com

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PanaMa hat, £45 Need we say more?

Debenhams; debenhams.com ePoMMy clutch, £60 Go bright or go home!

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́ , £2,013 18ct ring Add some statement bling with this yellow gold and diamond ring Diana Porter; dianaporter.co.uk

abigail sanDal, £119 Grab your jungle threads and jazz them up with these black suede beauts with chic ankle strap Mint Velvet; mintvelvet.co.uk

butterFly by Matthew williaMson leoParD Digital suit, £42 Excuse us, we just need to pop out of the office and purchase this, immediately...

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20 THE BRISTOL MAGAZINE

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stretch bracelets, £8 With geometric and hammered disc charms for a luxe finish.

Accessorize; accessorize.com

Valley oF the Dolls azle skirt, £35 First we plan the wardrobe, then we plan the trip to Mexico.

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Michael kors Dillon blue bag, £155 Pair with vibrant tangerine perhaps for a decadent take on the tropics. House of Fraser; houseoffraser.co.uk

bag, £29 This cross-body bag with citrus-hued sequins will give your outfit extra zing.

Accessorize, The Mall at Cribbs; accessorize.com

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PHOTOGRAPHY

LIFE THROUGH A LENS The 2016 ‘24 Hours in Bristol’ photography competition saw shutterbugs from near and far step up to the tripod – with some staggering results. While the finalists and winners are yet to be announced, we asked very nicely for a sneak preview of just a small handful of the shots entered...

T

hat fickle old fellow, the sun, really came good last month when he popped his hat on for the many amateur and professional photographers that gathered in Millennium Square – each armed with one particular hour of one particular day and tasked with the challenge of documenting it in the most beautiful, quirky, Bristol way possible. This year’s unique photo-marathon, aiming to record a day in the life of the city and produce 24-hour coverage of Bristol at work, rest and play, was open to all – whether simply in possession of a smartphone, or snazzier apparatus – and promised £6,000 worth of prizes.

“We asked everyone with cameras, mobile phones and a sense of fun and adventure to photograph 24 hours in the life of this vibrant city," said Mike Porter, competition judge and director of 24 Hours in Our City Ltd, based at Harbourside Arts Centre on Millennium Promenade. "This year is Bristol's 800th anniversary and so we wanted to see images that reflect the diversity of the city and celebrate its unique personality."

After a countdown to the start of the event, and as shots from previous years were shown on At-Bristol's large outdoor screen, eager lensfolk then dispersed to every corner of the city in search of award-winning opportunities – heading back to competition HQ, open for the full 2422 THE BRISTOL MAGAZINE

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hour period, to relax a little and recharge their batteries between photographic forays.

Judges for the competition – whose job we do not envy after we were lucky enough to have a look at some of the images rolling in – include Benedict Brain, editor of Digital Camera magazine, award-winning photographer and UWE professor Amanda Harman, and CEO of Destination Bristol, John Hirst. Entries have now been submitted onto the event website in the hourly slots in which they were taken and the panel are now locked in the process of picking out three winners from each of the 24 hours plus three overall winners, and the best image taken with a mobile phone, as well as a £1,000 Bristol Energy prize, before they are announced at a prize-giving and exhibition preview evening on 20 May. But if you’re anything like us, you might not be able to wait that long, so we thought we’d pick out a few of the hundreds of striking shots deserving of a good eyeballing – like this gorgeous image of Clifton Suspension Bridge, taken seconds after the spring sun had set. (Which we’re unable to credit until the judges have made their final decisions.)

You can see the winning 72 images exhibited at the Harbourside Arts Centre, off Millennium Square, as of 21 May. For more information, visit: 24hoursinbristol.co.uk ■

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PHOTOGRAPHY

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PHOTOGRAPHY

We love how this photo seems to simultaneously capture the tranquility of the harbour and the energy of the city at night

XXX

Go on, ladies and gents!

A familiar sight in Bristol – but perhaps not from this vantage point!

A pair of swans show their love for the city

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A spectacular panorama: Clifton Suspension Bridge after dark!

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PHOTOGRAPHY

Dangerous waters...

A leap of faith, superbly captured at just the right moment

Who’re this lot, then? Why, the Gasheads, of course!

Some photographers headed down to the dragon boat races taking place on the water

Look carefully: can you can spot a couple of daring rock-climbers?

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FACE | TO FACE

KNIGHT TIME As Beverley Knight prepares to return to the Colston Hall as part of her 2016 tour, LOUISE HARROLD catches up with the queen of UK soul about her new album, her foray into theatre, and moving to Bristol...

LH: So Beverley, with your tour, and your eighth album due, 2016 is shaping up to be a busy year! What can we expect from the album?

BK: It’s a very rooted, earthy, soul record inspired by time spent in Memphis. I’ve been there twice now and it is such an amazing place – the birthplace of rock and roll, and of what we would consider to be modern music. When I went there initially it was to research my role of Felicia Farrell in in the musical Memphis and I had the opportunity to really have a good look around and feel the history of the place. It is like few other places in the United States, especially musically, so I just came away thinking I had to go back and record there – and I did. It is quite an experience to be able to go to the places and work with people in studios where you know legendary records have been made.

We’re excited! Your career has now spanned over 20 years, and you’ve formed a formidable parallel career in theatre, as well as being awarded an MBE for services to music and charity. Any goals left to achieve?

Oh yes! I really have just started. There is so much more I am determined to do with myself. I am really interested in doing more theatre, and hopefully having a little knock on the door from the States! I would love the chance to do Broadway, and if I managed that then it could lead to anywhere which is really exciting. I would also love to get the album released abroad too. There is just so much left to do.

Does the buzz that you get from performing on stage differ to the feeling you get from a gig?

It is definitely a different kind of buzz.

When you are on stage by yourself there is a lot more pressure. It’s all on you, so the pay-off when people love what you are doing is huge. However when you are on stage and you are part of a show, the show is always the star. It’s that collective buzz you and the other performers all feel which I love, that ‘we are winning!’ feeling. There is nothing else like it.

You won Celebrity Mastermind with Prince your specialist subject, right?

That’s right! I’ve got pretty decent general knowledge, but I knew my Prince knowledge was on point. I thought; “OK, let’s see if you guys all know your specialist subject as well as I know mine, because I know mine.” And I was so chuffed when I won. Although sitting in that black chair, I felt so much pressure, I felt like I was five years old.

So last year was the 20th anniversary of the release of The B-Funk. Did you ever imagine when you released it that it would remain such an important soul album after all this time?

No! Let me tell you, I wrote that album while I was trying to finish my

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This month we’ve also been chatting to Saffron Records – Bristol’s first allfemale youth label. Can you tell us about your experience of being a female in the music industry?

That sounds fantastic. In terms of my experiences, I can say it is not easy. At all. You are often considered to be ‘fluffy’. People can think of you as being nice and sweet and that you must do what you are told which is to look beautiful and sing beautifully – and if you can sing well then great, and if you can’t then the label will do what they can in the studio but it will all be fine as long as you make sure you look good. The image is what always seems to be the most important thing. My main, and really only, interest was that I knew sonically what I wanted my records to sound like. I felt I had a vision of how I wanted to sound and the direction I wanted my career to go in, but as I was young, and as I was female, lots of questions were asked about me. My appearance was questioned several times, so many times actually – meetings were called just to discuss my appearance! I mean, there are no two ways about it, image is important, but it is interesting that for a woman it is considered so much more important. A male artist can make a record and the label will put out an image of him on his record and say; “This is it guys, go buy this!” – yet a woman in the same position will be scrutinised and examined and the underlying assumption is that somebody else must call the shots for you because you do not know your own mind.

❝

My husband and I have talked about where would we move to if we left London, and it would probably have to be Brizzle

❞

For many fans, The B-Funk and Prodigal Sista were part of the soundtrack to their adolescence – who were the artists you would run home from school to listen to in your bedroom?

What a lovely question. Well my absolute hero is Prince – anything he did, I was all over it. I also loved Michael Jackson, Bowie and bands like Shalamar. Chaka Khan was such an influence, and then when Whitney came along, well. She had a huge impact on the way I sang.

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thesis at university – don’t ask me how I managed it – it was just pure madness. I suddenly had this music career that was taking off and the record label and DJs were all saying; “Where’s the follow up, where’s the next record?” and I was still at uni, I didn’t have a follow up! So I had to quickly write an album and when I released The B-Funk in 1995, I had no idea that it would even do what it did at the time, with the plaudits and the accolades.

For people to still talk about it 20 years on is amazing. You can never tell, you can never see these things coming. You do what you do and you hope people enjoy it and if they do it’s just amazing.

You’re an artist that has challenged that imbalance. You seem to have never compromised yourself or your music – is that accurate?

I have never wanted to do things that were contrary to being respected and having integrity. Integrity has driven everything for me – the material I write, the way I look, interviews. That has always been the main concern for me.

You’ve been to Bristol many times; and collaborated with Roni Size. What’s your impression of Bristol and our music scene here?

I just love it. My husband and I have talked about where would we move to if we left London, and it would probably have to be Brizzle. We love the feel of the different areas, and more seem to be coming up all the time. You’ve got the Avon, the Suspension Bridge, it’s so picturesque. Musically it is such a powerful place too. The amount of stuff that has come out of Bristol, particularly during the ’90s, is incredible, and that movement happened all by itself. It was very much a Bristolian sound and scene and I loved it.

Beverley plays the Colston Hall on Monday 6 June. Tickets start from £20.96 including booking fee and are available from: colstonhall.org ■

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n Hot Chip will be playing the main stage at Love Saves The Day on Saturday 28 May. Tickets are available at lovesavestheday.org

A need to be respected and maintain integrity has driven everything from her look to the material she writes, says Beverley

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BEYOND THE CURTAIN

What goes into the making of a masterpiece? As Bristol Old Vic celebrates its 250th anniversary, JENNY HAYES steps backstage to meet the team and find out

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Opposite page: We love this shot by photographer Philip Vile, beautifully showing the contrast between the warm auditorium and the industrial-cool feel of the backstage area

W

e hope it won’t have escaped your attention that there is a rather special birthday coming up this month. Bristol Old Vic, the cultural matriarch of our city, is turning 250. To celebrate such a momentous occasion, the talented team are staging myriad performances over the course of the year – featuring so many famous alumni you’ll probably be able to play celebrity bingo every time you step onto King Street.

As we watch these well-known faces tread the boards, it’s easy to get lost in the world playing out before us and forget the team beavering away behind the velvet curtain. These people are the lifeblood of this historic theatre, pouring their energy into bringing so many magnificent productions to life.

So when the ground-breaking Pink Mist, Bristol Old Vic’s critically acclaimed, multi award-winning in-house production, returned to the theatre earlier this year – telling the tale of three young lads from Bristol who go off to fight in Afghanistan, and the repercussions of that decision – it seemed a good time to step backstage and meet some of the people who created it…

SETTING THE SCENE Every performance starts with an idea, and the genesis of Pink Mist began with novelist, playwright and poet Owen Sheers’ desire to bring to light the real legacy of war. Originally written as a play for radio for BBC Bristol, it caught the eye of director John Retallack at Bristol Old Vic, who immediately saw that dramatic potential in the piece for the stage.

“Pink Mist really began when a producer at BBC Bristol approached me to create a five-part radio drama for the Bristol Festival of Ideas,” says Owen. “I decided to return to the territory of 30 interviews I’d done with wounded service personnel and their families for a previous project, and then graft them with a story I’d invented. As part of my research, I came to Bristol and spent a few days here. I asked for a

squaddies’ tour, if you like, and that’s how I found places like Shirehampton, Severn Beach, Dundry Hill and Thekla.”

The sights and sounds of the city that Owen encountered in those few days inspired much of the powerful imagery within the play, but it was the language of the people themselves that gave birth to the distinctive vernacular and linguistic patterning of his rich verse. “There is a real difference in writing for stage and radio,” Owen says. “For radio you are writing for the ear, which is what led me down the route of verse drama and the piece having that strong rhythmic drive. I think that adapting that for the stage was a real challenge, and although I had that writer’s instinct that it would work, I didn’t have the solutions to prove it.”

Which is where the vision of the team at Bristol Old Vic comes in, particularly that of seasoned director John Retallack, who was associate director at the theatre in 2013 when Owen’s script came in. “I just thought it was fantastically good,” he says. “It was the first thing I really, really wanted to put up at Bristol Old Vic because it is about three boys from Bristol. So it’s a national story with this setting, and so well expressed. It wasn’t immediately obvious how you’d stage it, but I just thought this dramatic poem had to be on stage.

“What was ironic is that the script came in two weeks before I was due to take up a new position in Oxford. But Emma Stenning, chief executive at Bristol Old Vic, said they really wanted to do the play and have me direct it. I knew that the only way it would work was to have a really good movement person on board, and that turned out to be the theatre’s new associate director, George Mann.”

PHYSICAL THEATRE George Mann is, indeed, a really good movement person.

Having trained at the renowned Lecoq School of Physical Theatre and founded the multi award-winning Theatre Ad Infinitum, George joined the Old Vic team back in December 2014. “Coming into Pink Mist, I knew I would be working

Yep! That’s the King Street theatre back in the 19th century

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Rebecca Hamilton as Gwen and Phil Dunster as Arthur in Pink Mist

alongside John to try to bring a sense of movement to the play,” says George. “We workshopped the piece to get to know the text, the characters, and also to understand how the play could potentially move.

“One of the things I learnt during my training at the Lecoq School was the language of gestures, which always stems from the person performing.

So we started to build outward from the movements of the cast to find a physical language that was as poetic as Owen Sheers’ incredible text.”

“It was like trying to find a PIN code,” says John. “You didn’t know what any of the numbers were when you approached each new act.

Sometimes you thought you’d got it, but then it just didn’t add up. So finding the movement and word dynamic that worked – that was the real teaser.” But it was a conundrum they cracked, combining their distinct skills as directors to find a physical vocabulary that enhanced the dynamics of the text without detracting from its oral richness. The result was a subtle yet powerful physical language that breathed life into the radio poem and brought Owen’s words to life before audiences’ eyes.

DRESS REHEARSAL

Photo © joncraig.co.uk

Working alongside John and George was a creative team who built on the words and movement of the piece to create the theatrical landscape that would root the audience in the disparate sights and sounds of both Bristol and Afghanistan.

Composer and sound designer Jon Nicholls had worked with Owen on the original radio play, and joined the Old Vic to create a soundtrack for the stage version. “Pink Mist was the first show I’d done with Bristol Old Vic,” he says, “and it was absolutely fantastic to work here. I remember walking onto the stage and just getting this unbelievable sense of history, thinking of all those thousands of actors, musicians and crew who’ve been doing the same job you’re doing for hundreds of years. It was quite spine-tingling.”

It wasn’t just the magic of Bristol Old Vic that inspired Jon in his work, but also the city itself. “Bristol is such an organic part of Pink Mist,” he says. “All the locations are incredibly specific, and so the sounds and music became massively important. The idea of using lots of current Bristol dubstep came to the fore, as well as going back to artists such as Portishead and Massive Attack. I also went on a sound-gathering tour around Bristol so that a lot of the background sounds are actual location recordings. I captured the motorway going past Shirehampton, the noise of the crowds in Thekla and V Shed, and the birdsong on Dundry Hill.”

Lighting designer Peter Harrison also looked to the city for inspiration.

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images of Camp Bastion and the Afghan landscape, and of big grey skies over the Severn.” But bringing these diverse landscapes and moods together proved a challenge. “The eureka moment came when I found a photo of an amazing sunset. It was the inspiration for the explosions and fire over the backcloth as it held all the violence of war, but also had the beauty of nature and skyscapes. This led on to how we treated the backcloth throughout the production, with images of clouds and skies throughout, abstracting themselves as the fire, explosions and pink mist.”

Designer and regular Bristol Old Vic freelancer Emma Cains drew on a similarly abstract aesthetic for her set and costume design. “The text was so beautifully rich and lyrical, the team wanted to make sure it remained at the forefront of everything we did,” she says, “so the set became more and more pared back through the process. To me, it felt like all the characters were still haunted by the experience of Afghanistan, so this became this inspiration for the costume design, with colours taken directly from images of the Afghan landscape. I wanted the characters to

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That unbeatable view from the gods, though...

feel very real, so I used a mixture of street wear and garments reminiscent of army fatigues.”

BEHIND THE SCENES It is backstage that the true secrets of the theatre are revealed. From concept to completion, behind every production is a dedicated team working in the wings to pull all the creative and administrative elements together. These key members of the Bristol Old Vic team are the unsung heroes of the theatre, and finding out what they do will transform your experience forever.

At the centre of the action is Owen Thomas, stage manager and Bristol Old Vic Theatre School alumnus, whose job is arguably the busiest in theatre. “Stage management are the people in the theatre who make sure everything happens how and when it should,” he says. “It’s a broad role that sits between the production side of a show and the creative side – Bristol Old Vic’s longest-serving member of staff, Tim Streader – photo © joncraig.co.uk

we’re the ones that make sure both teams are to talking to each other and working well together.

“During rehearsals I keep a record of the whole show – all of the blocking and movement – and also make sure any suggestion made gets implemented. I take on a slightly different role during a performance, in that anything set to happen on stage doesn’t until the stage manager calls it. So I scribble all those cues on my script, and it’s my job to make sure the cast come on at the right time, that set gets added and removed, and the lighting and sound effects all work on time. So each evening, once front-of-house give me clearance that the audience are all in their seats, it’s over to me. That’s the brief but amazing moment when it feels like the theatre is mine… and then I call the cue and the performance starts.”

One of the people he’ll be talking to throughout a performance is Tim Streader, chief electrician and Bristol Old Vic’s longest-serving member of staff. “I joined in the summer of 1971,” he says. “I’d just finished school and my mother was pushing me to get a job. Bristol Old Vic was advertising for an assistant electrician, which is the lowest position in the electrics department, and I got the role.”

Even now he’s at the top of the pile, Tim’s job is still very hands-on, translating the lighting designer’s plan into a workable system for the theatre. “I look at where the designer wants the lights to be, and make sure there is a safe way for them to be in that position,” Tim explains. “Then I spend a lot of time actually focusing and directing each light that’s used.

And when some shows use above 300 lights, that’s a time-consuming job.

“Some of our lights are seven metres up, so we use a tallescope to reach them, which is basically a ladder on wheels with a bucket on top. In 1975 I fell out of the bucket and broke my wrist. It was a bit of an experience – it felt like about five minutes elapsed between the bucket tipping and me landing on the stage – but these things happen!”

Also busy behind the scenes is experienced producer Catherine

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Morgenstern, who has been working on Bristol Old Vic productions and co-productions since 2006. “I have overall responsibility for each project from start to finish,” she says. “I do all the administration that goes on behind the work the creative team are doing – so everything from recruiting a team, doing the contracts, running the budget, and being the central point of contact for everyone.

“It’s been an exciting journey from the time I started here, because the amount of work we are doing and the scale of our projects has changed a lot. I think the new era, that began with Tom Morris and Emma Stenning coming in, really contributed to that development. Since then it’s been a rolling process of knowing the kind of work we want to make, developing the artists we work with, and creating shows that resonate with Bristol audiences.”

TAKING THE STAGE It is this Bristol audience, comprising loyal patrons and newcomers to the theatre, who support the work of the incredible team above. But we wouldn’t know that intelligent, challenging theatre productions such as Pink Mist were taking place if it wasn’t for the publicity team.

“We are the ticket sellers,” says Duncan Smith, marketing officer, “creating brochures and flyers for all our shows, and then publicising them on the website and through social media. We are also always looking to find ways to engage with a wider audience. One of the really interesting things about Pink Mist was that it was based on real stories from Bristol, so we were able to reach out to groups that may be interested in the subject matter and issues of the play – such as returning servicemen, veteran groups, and their families.”

“We pride ourselves on being Bristolian, and we want to represent our city,” says Charlie Coombes, press officer. “We have an incredible literary team who find new scripts and work with new writers all the time, because we want to deliver theatre that can delight, surprise, entertain, challenge and even sometimes shock our audience.”

It is this commitment to staging productions with the Bristol audience in mind that has earned Bristol Old Vic its well-deserved reputation for staging diverse yet high quality theatre. Another guarantee is that, from the moment we set foot inside, we’ll be greeted with the warmest of welcomes, and that’s thanks to front of house manager Liz Hebden and her team of ushers, bar and security staff. “Our job is to make sure everybody who visits the theatre is comfortable and safe,” she says.

“There are about 40 people on the team, ranging from keen students to people who just enjoy the theatre. It’s a good way to get in and see performances, and also find out more about the building and how it works because you get to see a production from different sides.”

Scenes from beyond the curtain: the Old Vic’s paintshop

As audience members, we’re often oblivious to the quiet presence of the ushers in the auditorium, but rest assured, if you find yourself overcome by the action taking place before you, each and every one of them could step in and resuscitate you if required. Which may be a very real worry given the high-calibre, convincing performances given by actors that tread the boards on this historic stage! And we’re not just talking the famous Bristol Old Vic Theatre School alumni that are returning this year, but the next generation of leading lights who’ve recently graduated.

“I was in my final year at the theatre school when I got an email from the head, Jenny Stephens, asking if I’d go and audition for Pink Mist,” says Rebecca Hamilton, who played Gwen. “I’d never been to Bristol

“It felt like all the characters were still haunted by the experience of Afghanistan, so this became this inspiration for the costume design, with colours taken directly from images of the Afghan landscape” – Emma Cains

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“I remember walking onto the stage and just getting this unbelievable sense of history,” says composer and sound designer Jon Nicholls – photo © Philip Vile

until I came to the theatre school, but I spent the best three years of my marks a new future for Bristol Old Vic, so let’s all raise a glass and toast life here. All through that time, Bristol Old Vic was this magical place to the last 250 years – and the next... with amazing shows and incredible people, and it was my dream to be up on that stage. So when I got the part and found out I’d be performing on the main stage, I couldn’t believe it. To be able to start my career here will To mark its 250th anniversary, Bristol Old Vic has an exciting weekend of celebrations planned over the bank holiday weekend, Saturday 28 – always make it a really special and important place for me.”

Monday 30 May. For further details, or to find out more about the That sentiment is echoed by co-star and theatre school classmate, Peter performances coming up over the year, visit: bristololdvic.org.uk ■ Edwards, who played Taff. “I’m from Bristol, so to get into the theatre school, and then follow that with my first job at Bristol Old Vic, was very special. It was a massive Thank you, Bristol Old Vic, for making honour to have been chosen to be part of its 250th magic moments like these possible for so anniversary celebrations, and brilliant performing many years! to the Bristol audience again. Watching them react when we’d mention places like Thekla or Severn Beach made it really personal.”

CURTAIN CALL After it’s triumphant return to Bristol Old Vic, and a successful run in London earlier this year, Pink Mist is all set to fly the flag for Bristol theatre when it embarks on a national tour in 2017. This phenomenal journey, from unknown radio play to acclaimed stage show, is testimony to the talent and pioneering spirit of the team behind it.

It also goes to show that, despite turning 250 this month, Bristol Old Vic is still young at heart. Our local theatre is unique in its heritage yet not constrained by it, daring to produce forwardthinking and experimental productions like Pink Mist, which is what makes it extraordinary. The dramatic refurbishment taking place later this year

Photo © Jack Offord

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THEATRE

MAYFEST Artistic director Matthew Austin picks out a few highlights from the city’s annual festival of contemporary theatre, running throughout this month and produced by MAYK in collaboration with the Bristol Old Vic

“A DREAMY, SURREAL, POWERFUL PIECE THAT TELLS A DISJOINTED STORY OF DEATH, GRIEF, BEAUTY AND HUMANITY”

It Folds 20 – 22 May Fusing the distinctive choreography of dance company Junk Ensemble with the innovative theatricality of Brokentalkers, this show features a large cast of Irish and Bristolian performers brought together to present an assortment of characters who attempt to find a connection. A dreamy, surreal and powerful dance/theatre piece, full of stunning imagery and humour, that tells a disjointed story of death, grief, beauty and humanity. We saw it at Dublin Fringe last year where it won the Best Performer Award.

Opening Skinner’s Box: 20 & 21 May Why do we love? When would we kill? How do we learn? Why do we believe in the unbelievable? What is memory? Why do we keep doing things that hurt us? These were questions for religion and philosophy until about a hundred years ago; then science joined the conversation... Legendary company Improbable come to Mayfest for the first time, with a show based on Lauren Slater’s book Opening Skinner’s Box. The show explores some of the 20th century’s great psychological experiments – trying to make sense of what we are and who we are. If you enjoy the kind of Dead Centre drag Platonov into the 21st century

popular science found in the the likes of Malcolm Gladwell’s books, I think you’ll love this production.

Fashion Machine: 21 & 22 May Guaranteed to be a riot, this show offers a unique combination of performance art and design, and is a UK premiere from Canada’s Theatre SKAM. We’re training up a bunch of ‘tweens’ to design, cut, sew and amend clothes – then brave audience members can have their outfit specially customised by the expert team of fashionistas. Over the final weekend of the festival, SKAM will be setting up the kids’ fashion machine in the Arnolfini’s auditorium, and if you’re wearing an ‘I’m In’ sticker, you could have your outfit made over...

artist Volker Gerling. Since 2003, Gerling has walked over 3,500km around Germany, creating beautiful flipbook portraits of the people he meets along the way. In this show, he shares the heart-warming and moving stories behind the encounters he most enjoyed during his travels and brings some of his favourite portraits to life through projection. ■ Mayfest events will be taking place in various venues across the city – to book tickets, visit mayfestbristol.co.uk, and to keep up to date with all the festival news, follow @mayfestbristol on Twitter

Chekhov’s First Play: 12 – 14 May Generally dismissed as completely unstageable, Chekhov’s first play Platonov is a five-hour-long chaotic mess. Ireland’s Dead Centre have taken the play by the scruff of its neck and dragged it into the 21st century – full of passion, death, despair and romance. Another UK premiere, this is big, ambitious and thrilling theatre from one of the hottest companies of the moment and absolutely not to be missed.

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Enjoy Portraits in Motion on 17 and 18 May

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LOCAL | EVENTS

WHAT’S ON There’s plenty to do in the city this month...

The Boxer Rebellion head to The Exchange

Bill Bailey visits the Hippodrome

Tickets £15-£25; stgeorgesbristol.co.uk

FROM MAY 1 4 MAY, DOORS 7PM

FROM MAY 8

The Boxer Rebellion, The Exchange Head to The Exchange and check out this London quartet whose fifth album Ocean by Ocean was released just last month. Now in their 15th year as a band, the boys will be playing audiences their first single from the album, Big Ideas, plus plenty more. Tickets £13; exchangebristol.com 4 – 7 MAY, 7.15PM

The Love I Feel Is Red, Zion Community Space A powerful new piece of theatre from the award-winning writer and poet Sabrina Mahfouz – directed by Tobacco Factory Theatres’ very own director in residence, Nel Crouch. Explores the ever-topical and emotive subject of abortion in the 21st century. Tickets £7; tobaccofactorytheatres.com 7 MAY, 7.30PM

City of Bristol Choir concert, St George’s Bristol The City of Bristol Choir will be joined by professional orchestra The Lochrian Ensemble and, in addition, soloists Ruby Hughes and Paul Agnew, for this celebration of the music of George Frederick Handel. The show will include some of his most beautiful and thrilling choruses, arias and duets from a range of oratorios.

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10 MAY, 7.30PM

Breaking Convention, Colston Hall Sadler’s Wells’ acclaimed international festival of hip hop dance theatre is back. Now in its 13th year, and firmly established as a major highlight on the British dance calendar, the show is hosted by associate artist Jonzi D. The tour line-up includes France’s Antoinette Gomis, who presents atmospheric solo Images, inspired by the music of Nina Simone and Civil Rights. Spain’s awardwinning Iron Skulls crew also present the surreal Sinestesia – where skilled dancers morph into post-apocalyptic survivors. Tickets 8.26-£16.50; colstonhall.org

Colston Hall welcomes Adam Ant

has released three albums with The Libertines as well as three albums with Babyshambles. He is currently putting the finishing touches to his second solo album, and will play just a handful of shows in the UK in May. Tickets £28; academymusicgroup.com 12 MAY, 7.30PM

Kula Shaker, Komedia Bath Kula Shaker are the last great heretics of British rock. Named after – who else? – a ninth-century Indian emperor, their esoteric mix of psychedelic riffs and Eastern mysticism laughed in the face of Britpop orthodoxy in the 1990s.

Brimming with energy, vitality and most importantly, killer tunes, their latest offering K 2.0 is the sound of a band rebooted, reenergised and focused solely on making music that speaks for itself. Tickets £22.50; komedia.co.uk

10 MAY, 7.30PM

13 & 14 MAY, 7.30PM

Piano recital, Bristol Music Club

Paradise Lost, Circomedia

Talented young pianist Bo Lyu, from the Royal Academy of Music, performs music by Beethoven, Handel/Brahms (variations), Chopin and Rachmaninoff at the Bristol Music Club at 76 St Pauls Road. Tickets £5; bristol-music-club.co.uk 11 MAY, DOORS 7PM

Pete Doherty, O2 Academy Peter released his first solo album, Grace/Wastelands in 2009, and

MAY 2016

There is a possibility that God made everything because he was terrified of doing nothing. Here is a re-telling of the story of the beginning of everything, inspired

by Milton's epic poem and told through words, music and the easily misunderstood medium of dance. A show for anyone who has ever created anything (a child, a garden, a paper aeroplane) and then had to watch that wonderful thing spiral out of control. Tickets £8/£12; circomedia.com

14 & 28 MAY, 1.15PM

Vocal concert, Lord Mayor’s Chapel Head to the Lord Mayor’s Chapel on College Green this month for a concert given by the singing students of Angela Hickey of the University of Bristol. Visit: lordmayorschapel.org.uk

FROM MAY 15 16 – 19 MAY, 8PM

Bill Bailey: Limboland, Bristol Hippodrome The gap between how we imagine our lives to be and how they really are is the subject of Bill’s new show. With his trademark intelligence and sharp wit, he tells tales of finding himself in this halfway place. He recounts the hilarious saga of a disastrous family trip to Norway to see the Northern Lights. He rails against a world that doesn’t match up to our expectations and contemplates the true nature of happiness. And no Bill Bailey show would be complete without music, so there’s Bill’s version of the protest song, a heart-rending country and western ballad played on a Bible, and a fabulously downbeat version of Happy Birthday. Tickets £28.90; billbailey.co.uk 17 – 21 MAY, 7.30PM

Never Swim Alone, Alma Tavern Theatre Bristol Old Vic Theatre School

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presents Canadian playwright Daniel MacIvor’s original play, as directed by Cameron Carver, with design by Fiona Rigler. The story unfolds as we are invited into the world of childhood friends Frank and Bill, who have spent many a summer together at camp. The time has come to settle the score, as competition rears its ugly head and their friendship is tested and revealed in a fresh light. What did happen that summer, a decade ago? Tickets £10; almataverntheatre.co.uk 18 MAY, 7.15PM

Big Smile, Wide Shoulders, Redmaids’ School The Welsh National Opera Friends welcome all to this talk and music event presented by Ian Douglas, company manager, WNO, whose work is full of thrills and spills, exhilaration and disappointment.

He carries his work lightly upon his lofty shoulders and promises to answer audience questions with plenty of candour. Tickets £5/£7; wno.org.uk 19 MAY, 7.30PM

Spelt night, River Cottage Canteen River Cottage Canteen will host an evening with spelt champion Roger Saul. The delicious threecourse feast will feature mouth-watering recipes from Roger’s spelt recipe book. During the evening, Roger will discuss his passion for spelt, its health benefits and the inspiration behind the Sharpham Park estate – and sign copies of his book, which will be available for sale on the night.

Tickets £28; rivercottage.net 19 MAY, 7.30PM

Bristol Ensemble show, Colston Hall The Bristol Ensemble is joined by talented violinist Gilles Apap and a chorus of voices from three of Bristol’s leading choirs for this joyful celebration of the music of Mozart. Watch Bristol Youth Choir, City of Bristol Choir and

Exultate Singers perform Mozart’s Requiem under the baton of conductor David Ogden, and see Gilles Apap perform the Fifth Violin Concerto, including a brand new cadenza that the violinist has created in his own unique style.

Tickets £8-£25; colstonhall.org

Lolostock/Dani Mayes

LOCAL | EVENTS

20 MAY, 7PM

Contemporary Poets and Utopia, At-Bristol 15 leading poets, commissioned by the Festival of Ideas, will convene at At-Bristol to present their work on the utopian theme; and talk about exactly what inspired them; as well as joining a debate on creating perfect worlds. This event launches the May 2016 Festival of Ideas season and the May Bristol800 Weekender. Tickets £12/£15; ideasfestival.co.uk

FROM MAY 22 25 MAY, 7.30PM

Adam Ant, Colston Hall See the new-wave icon, who came to prominence in the early 1980s as the frontman of Adam and The Ants, and whose album Kings of The Wild Frontier smashed into the UK charts with three top 10 singles. Since 2010, Adam has been mounting another comeback, forming new label Blueblack Hussar, writing new material, and touring extensively. Tickets £17.47 to £34.94; colstonhall.org 26 MAY, 6.30PM

AC Grayling: The Age of Genius, At-Bristol The British philosopher AC Grayling explores the story of 17th-century Europe and the birth of the modern mind as part of the city’s Festival of Ideas. He argues that it was a time of creativity unparalleled in history both before and since, and reveals how a fundamentally new way of perceiving the world emerged, a shift that would define western thought for centuries to come.

Tickets £6/£7; ideasfestival.co.uk

The Love I Feel Is Red comes to the Tobacco Factory

NEXT MONTH...

See Antoinette Gomis at Breaking Convention

18 JUNE, 7.30PM

High Sheriff’s Concert, St George’s Bristol Bristol Symphony Orchestra’s unique, exciting programme brings together diverse, beautiful orchestral pieces with unusual and interesting stories behind them.

The High Sheriff commissioned William Goodchild and Bristolbased Senegalese master kora player Mamadou Cissokho to write a concerto for kora and orchestra, and this evening will see the world premiere of the new piece. Tickets £5-£32; bristolsymphonyorchestra.com

Photo © Belinda Lawley

Spelt night at River Cottage Canteen 18 JUNE, 7.30PM

UB40, Westonbirt Arboretum With over 70 million album sales and over 50 hit singles in the UK, UB40 are a reggae band to be reckoned with. They will be on stage with an eight-piece band, bringing a hit-laden set of classics from Red Red Wine and Kingston Town to (I Can’t Help) Falling In Love With You. Perfect summer sounds to groove to on what will undoubtedly be a really special night out. Tickets £38.50; forestry.gov.uk

EDITOR’S PICK...

SUNDAY 29 MAY

Dizzee Rascal, Love Saves The Day London-born MC and grime producer Dylan Kwabena Mills captured the attention of all the right people after his debut album Boy In Da Corner earned him a Mercury Prize Award in 2003. Dizzee’s distinctive production style and clipped vocal flow has allowed him to blend sounds and influences spanning the genres of ragga, garage and rap; and he has continued to evolve his sound and stay ahead of his contemporaries. With UK number one spots, five albums and his own record label, Dizzee’s arguably one of the hardest working grime artists on the circuit. See him at Eastville Park this month.

– lovesavestheday.org

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CLASSICAL RECORDS WANTED Top prices paid for clean Classical Music vinyl LPs (Beethoven, Mozart etc.) from the 1950s onwards.

Labels include Columbia SAX, HMV ASD and Decca SXL. CD collections and vintage hi-fi equipment also of interest.

Call Tim: 07502 331438 or Adam: 07738 772381 or email: adam@viva-tonal.com

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BOOKS

READING MUSIC

Local bookworm Saber Khan hits all the right notes with these recommendations for May

GEEK APPEAL

Complicated Game: Inside the Songs of XTC,

by Andy Partridge and Todd Bernhardt, published by Jawbone Press, £14.95 Todd Bernhardt originally put this series of interviews with the former XTC frontman on MySpace and had 370,000 views, so he’s compiled them into this book.

Andy Partridge grew up in Swindon and we’re given a tour of his part of town, street by street. Like many other quirky, imaginative great British singer-songwriters, Partridge’s upbringing and surroundings influence his work. Fans of his, and the post-punk era, can meet the man himself at Topping & Co in Bath on 25 June.

RESURGENCE OF INTEREST

Shostakovich: A Life Remembered, by Elizabeth Wilson, published in paperback by Faber and Faber, £20 Elizabeth Wilson’s detailed (and mighty) collection of stories about the life and music of Shostakovich was first published in 1994, but following Julian Barnes’ novel The Noise of Time, there has been a massive fresh interest in the life of one of the 20th century’s greatest composers. He was a creative genius, who could perfectly recall a piece of music after hearing it only once.

He and his family and friends also suffered brutal persecution at the hands of Stalin. It is a privilege to read firsthand accounts of the composer’s conversations.

CULT LABEL

Popkiss: The Life and Afterlife of Sarah Records by Michael White, published in paperback by Bloomsbury, £16.99 Sarah Records was founded in a basement flat in Clifton, Bristol, by a pair of music enthusiasts, Clare Wadd and Matt Haynes, in 1987. The pair worked tirelessly for years, running a tiny record label that soon attracted a fiercely loyal following among lovers of indie music as well as bands like The Field Mice, The Sea Urchins, The Hit Parade, Blueboy and The Orchids. Canadian teenager Michael White – now an author – was one of Sarah’s followers and when he came to the UK, he met the couple briefly for an hour. In 1995 Sarah Records was deliberately shut down by Wadd and Haynes, with the promise that there would be no encore. Even if you’ve never heard of the label, White’s telling of its rise and rise, and its death, makes this this collaborative retrospective book a fascinating and absorbing read.

AN INSIDER’S VIEW

Beethoven for a Later Age: The Journey of a String Quartet by Edward Dusinberre, published in hardback by Faber and Faber, £18.99 Edward Dusinberre was first violinist with the celebrated Takacs quartet and this carefully written book gives an insight as to what it’s like to be on the other side of the music in a concert hall. Each player is an accomplished musician in their own right, but of course they have to play as a team. As he points out: ‘The risk of losing control lies at the heart of any vivid encounter with one of the later Beethoven quartets.’ A welcome addition to a string player’s library.

SIGN OF THE TIMES

How Music Got Free: the Inventor, the Mogul and the Thief by Stephen Witt, published in paperback by Vintage, £8.99 I suppose a lot of us don’t really think about it as we pop our headphones on and summon up a mood-appropriate playlist; that the way we listen to music has changed so much. This is a very detailed account of the people who developed the technological know-how to steal commercial music and share it with other music fans. This led to listeners expecting – and getting – their music for nothing. It changed the music industry on both sides of the Atlantic for ever. But, as witnessed by the revival of vinyl, the way we listen to music and the ways musicians make money, is ever-evolving.

A book for the millennial generation.

IN SEARCH OF A DIVA

What Happened, Miss Simone? by Alan White, published in hardback by Canongate, £20 Nina Simone’s songs, from the 1958 My Baby Just Cares for Me to the 1960s’ Feeling Good, I Put a Spell on You and Ain’t Got No . . . I Got Life, have stood the test of time. Her distinctive voice is instantly recognisable. But how many of us know about the woman behind the songs? Hers is a tale of a troubled, talented musician who was also a leading figure in the Black Power movement. Nina – real name Eunice Wayman – was born into a poor Christian family and, showing early promise, trained as a classical pianist.

When she started playing in jazz clubs, she changed her name to protect her family from the fact she was playing

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‘the devil’s music.’ She had a very turbulent series of relationships with men, including with her husband and manager Alan Stroud who raped her on the eve of their engagement. Journalist Alan Light’s biography was written following a biopic of the same name. Her later years were blighted by periods of depression and violent rage, and among other incidents, threatening a fan who’d come for an autograph with a knife and was abusive towards her daughter Lisa. These outbursts were prompted by her untreated bipolar condition. At the height of her success, Nine Simone played the Carnegie Hall, but due to race laws at the time, her own parents were forbidden from watching her performance.

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BRISTOL | MUSIC

Photo © Joe Lyster

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BRISTOL | MUSIC

DOING IT FOR THEMSELVES We chat to Laura Lewis-Paul, creative director of Bristol’s first all-female record label, Saffron Records

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ith a reputation for experimentation, independence and creativity, and a dynamic community of entrepreneurs and artists carving out their own unique spaces, the Bristol music scene often finds itself at the forefront of industry innovation. One such change it’s advocating is an increase in opportunities for, and shift in the perception of, women working in music, thanks to the likes of the city’s first all-female youth label Saffron Records.

Creative director Laura Lewis-Paul moved to Bristol to study for a fashion degree, but on graduating, pursued youth work. In 2014 she worked with the Creative Youth Network on charity label Temple Records, based in The Station, and subsequently decided she could make a positive impact on the local music scene – specifically, in services available to young women. With the help of The Princes Trust, she set up Saffron in 2015. The catalyst was the realisation that, still, relatively few women are working within the music industry, as well as the desire to actually do something to effect change.

“Young people – and people in general – can be scared to enter the music industry. Historically it can be quite a hostile environment. So I felt it was important to be approachable when setting up the label,” says Laura, going on to explain how her love for music was reignited when she came to Bristol. “This city is a completely creative and inspiring place to be. There are so many different types of people here in terms of culture, interests and backgrounds, and there is such a big community of people supporting social enterprises like ours – which has really shown since we launched in September. I’m not sure we could have done it without the local community to be honest. There is something very special about Bristol, especially in terms of its music scene.”

Laura has also seen, first-hand, how the city has become pivotal in the gender debate within the music industry: “It’s improved massively,” she says. “And since starting, I’ve become part of Bristol Women in Music, and Ladyfest. It feels really well supported.”

Those women who have made a mark on the music industry have also been a real source of inspiration. “I’m really into Lady Leshurr at the moment,” adds Laura. “I think grime is a really difficult industry to break into as a woman and she has done it with such strength and integrity. She has fans of eight years old and 50 years old, because she is so conscientious. She will stay to the end of every performance, chatting to fans and having selfies, and always considers her responsibility as a role model to young girls. And then there’s probably my all-time favourite artist Lauryn Hill; she gained respect from the hip hop community with her vitality and courage, and wasn’t afraid to show her vulnerability. She was a real role model for me through my younger years.”

being to act as an ‘open door’ for artists. “We’ve listened to every single submission and given everyone personal feedback so they can go and develop themselves and find other opportunities,” says Laura. “We have now signed our first three artists – neo/soul/jazz artist China Bowls, alternative R&B artist Azadi and hip hop artist Lauren Martin – and are starting to work very closely with them, providing workshops, masterclasses and additional individual artist development. We’ve already started recording with China Bowls – who we are getting lots of requests for – and will start this month with Azadi and Lauren as they are each completing their final year at university.”

The label forward on relevant opportunities including recording slots at Factory Studios and the Emerging Talent competition for Glastonbury Festival, and are now hosting their own monthly open mic nights with Temple Records, where emerging artists can touch base and receive guidance. “They will be running at No.51 Stokes Croft every third Thursday,” says Laura. “It’s part of creating a community of young artists that can collaborate with one another and will be a great opportunity for the industry to come to and scout young musicians. We are also part of SWU FM and will be doing a two-hour radio show to showcase some of our young DJs, in collaboration with Bristol Women In Music. They have some incredible mentors that work with our young women, including Shanti Celeste, Em Williams, Daisy Moon, Anina Yates and Danielle Doobay. Then we are off to Palestine in August with The Amos Trust; joining grassroots projects set up in refugee communities, working with people through singing and creative writing workshops and taking part in the annual Bet Lahem Live Arts Festival. The whole team is going, so it will be a real bonding experience.”

Sounds like it’s all go at Saffron – but beyond that? “We’ll continue to focus on making vital connections within the city so we that can develop further in future,” explains Laura. “For our first year it’s important to stay within the Bristol community, but we plan to organise a nationwide Saffron Records tour in 2017!”

In recent months there’s been quite some noise about the lack of women on various major festival line-ups – but it’s labels like Saffron Records who could help to change that and restore some balance. Bristol, be very proud – and world, watch out... ■

Laura’s top tracks: Alanis Morissette: Ironic Alanis would allow you to shout, scream, cry and release the antsy teenager within. She accepted you in any state!

Breaking down barriers Saffron’s aim is to positively bridge gaps between youth, gender and the music industry – offering support, mentoring, workshops and networking opportunities. Its purpose is to nurture aspiring female musicians, DJs and producers to develop their talents and provide them with a platform to launch their careers. It works closely with patron Eva Lazarus of Bristol band Dub Mafia as well as Sian Evans (Kosheen), and was involved in some of the BBC 6 Music fringe events earlier this year, including a specially curated event with St George’s and Bristol Women in Music which featured talks from key speakers and artists like Lady Nade and DJ Queen Bee. “It’s about motivating women to become artists and take those next steps,” Laura says. “Even if they’re not ready to be signed, we can identify other opportunities; developing them as backing vocalists or in production. It's incredibly important for us that the music industry is not only a safe space for young artists who are female, but one that encourages and empowers them as innovators and powerhouses. We are building up a community of musicallyminded artists and creatives to break down the stereotypical barriers of gender within the industry.”

So far, the label has welcomed submissions from all across Bristol – the idea

Lauryn Hill: Ex-Factor Lauryn Hill managed to capture every feeling you felt in your teenage years (and beyond). Hurt, pain, happiness. Her Miseducation of Lauryn Hill album was always on repeat – I didn't really realise then the emotional levels that it was reaching.

Tracy Chapman: Behind The Wall I remember listening to this in the flat I grew up in Tottenham. There was a woman that lived below us who suffered a lot of domestic violence throughout her life. This song now always reminds me of her.

Destiny’s Child: Survivor This song makes you feel empowered; like you can achieve anything, and that any problems are non-existent!

CocoRosie: By Your Side I love this song, it’s by an American group formed by two sisters. There is so much vulnerability, love and commitment in it.

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ART

THE LIGHT AQUATIC We’re currently crushing on the vibrant watercolour works of Bristol-based artist Abigail McDougall, showing at Coldharbour Gallery this month. We want them all over our walls...

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ith a particular talent for capturing the light in her subjects, Jamaica Street Artists’ Abigail McDougall has become known for her wonderful use of colour, and the little details that she interprets to great effect. Having lived in the UK, Italy and Canada, her vivid compositions are inspired by her various travelling experiences, which she has drawn on extensively to develop her work, as well as her current milieu.

After graduating from Falmouth College of Art in 2005, Abigail relocated to Bristol to establish herself as an artist, and began to work from Jamaica Street Studios – finding its communal atmosphere both energising and receptive to her ideas – on a project called ‘Bristol in a Different Light’ that comprised a series of paintings dedicated to landscapes and varying perspectives across the city.

“I decided to do most of my work based on Bristol scenes, with a few Italian landscapes that I already had, thrown in,” says Abigail, who was commissioned to produce further work for Bristol’s Marriott Royal Hotel and Ernst and Young after the success of the series. “I was working in watercolour, oils and acrylics, but eventually started working mostly in watercolour because I loved the unique effects I was getting with the light, colour and transparency.

“Bristol’s art scene has been brilliant for me because it’s so varied and inspiring and do-it-yourself, but friendly, down-to-earth and accessible at the same time,” she adds, before explaining how she observes the rich and varied landscapes around her, then adapts these to fit with her own sensibilities, which often grow out of immersing herself in music and the natural landscapes of places like Cornwall. “Cornwall was such a contradiction for me because on the one hand, the massive seascapes made me feel very small, lonely and isolated,” recalls Abigail. “Yet, I met my longest standing friends and colleagues while I was at Falmouth. I enjoyed exploring both the sense of isolation and community that I felt, artistically.”

Abigail’s compositions often focus on the natural light present in a particular moment. From water lilies to forests reflected on a pond’s surface, she intuitively captures a fleeting flicker and expresses it in her chosen medium. “My work is all about light and colour and you can really experience and observe this if you paint outdoors in different locations,” she continues. “The clarity and transparency of water inspires me, as does music when I’m in the studio – atmospheric, filmic music like David Lynch or strong female voices like PJ Harvey. For me, her music encapsulates the atmosphere of the raw British landscape. I’m also inspired by authors including Hermann Hesse and Margaret Atwood.”

Abigail is also planning research trips to Mexico and Belgium in 2017, and going by the work she’s produced so far, we can’t wait to see what they inspire... A selection of her work is showing at Coldharbour Gallery until 21 May. Or you can catch it as part of the RWA’s upcoming Artist Network show or Abigail’s Open Studio (to take place at Jamaica Street Studios in June). For more information, visit abigailmcdougall.com ■

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Top to bottom: We love this image of sail boats in the harbour at Hotwells; Nymphaea Tropic Sunset; Liquid Light

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ARTS | & EXHIBITIONS

STATE OF THE ART BS9 Arts Trail, at various venues, 14 & 15 May This month art aficionados can see the work of 75 creatives in 18 venues across Stoke Bishop, Henleaze and Westbury-onTrym, and buy affordable original paintings, prints, drawings, photography, mosaics, turned wood, hand-created books, jewellery, ceramics, sculpture and more, direct from the artists. On 14 May, there’s also a free all-day drop-in craft workshop in Westbury Village Hall with recycling enthusiast Miss Rochie – who, on a simple peg loom, will help you weave your own magic into a communally created piece of fabric. Venues include Oatley Hall, St Monica’s, Cote Lane, Westbury Village Hall, Stoke Bishop Village Hall and the University of Bristol Botanic Garden where artist Jackie Johnson will be spinning yarn from plastic bags and showing her crocheted plastic yarn evening dress, recently exhibited in London. For more information, visit: bs9arts.co.uk Pictured: Tiger Argentina by Laura Robertson

Bristol’s Lost City, at Bristol Cathedral, until 30 May

My Wild City, at Room 212 Gallery, until 31 May Glos Rd Central are holding their annual Mayfest on 7 May, tying in with the launch of the Avon Wildlife Trust project ‘My Wild Business'. To coincide, Room 212 will be featuring artists inspired by nature and/or our fantastic city. Artist Tess Chodan of Hunter Collector – who restores beautiful domes, lanterns and cabinets and creates antique or sustainably sourced butterfly, moth and beetle displays – will show her work in Bristol for the first time.

Other Bristol art will include watercolours

by Emma Burleigh and Hannah Bailey, illustrative prints by Knitted Pea and Isabelle Deakin, lino prints by Mary Collett and Molly Lemon and ceramics by John Pope. On 7 May, doors will also be open to the Room 212 eco house – constructed from sustainable and recycled materials with a living roof, upcycled furniture and willow 'fedge'. For more information, visit: room212.co.uk

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Part of Bristol Cathedral’s WWI centenary commemoration We Have Our Lives, this free exhibition is curated by local historian and author Clive Burlton in conjunction with Bristol Record Office and Bristol Reference Library, and tells the story of Bristol’s transition from peacetime to wartime in 1914. For more information, visit: bristol-cathedral.co.uk

See the beautiful work of Tess Chodan among others

Photo © Bristol Record Office

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ARTS | & EXHIBITIONS

Briswool exhibition, at M Shed, 14 May – 12 June

Bristol Zoo © Briswool

Briswool is a huge, intricately crocheted and knitted model of Bristol featuring all our favourite hang-outs. See it in all its woolly splendour and spot landmarks like the Clifton Suspension Bridge, Bristol Zoo and the M Shed cranes as well as the infamous Bristol crocodile, a Banksy mural and Wallace and Gromit, before making your own woolly additions. Coordinated by Paper Village on North Street, the city of Briswool has seen dozens of customers and staff knit and crochet numerous models representing Bristol – from pubs to tiny bicycles. The finished model also includes the Colston Hall and Beese’s Tea Gardens in Hanham as well as the high-rise flats in Barton Hill.

For more information, visit: bristolmuseums.org.uk Cliftonwood Houses

by Jim Munnion

Southbank Arts Trail, various venues, 14 & 15 May Over 150 artists and makers share their work as part of one of the largest, liveliest and longest-running arts events in Bristol, now in its 14th year.

Navigate a route around a network of shows, installations and exhibitions of work – ranging from fine art to street art and prints, drawings and sculpture to ceramics, textiles, photography, jewellery, glass, bespoke furniture, music and theatre – displayed in over 60 homes and public spaces across Southville, Bedminster and Ashton. There will also be a programme of workshops and live performances. Visit ceramicist Yurim Gough, painter and puppet maker Caroline Watson, children’s book illustrator Henning Löhlein, Angie Parker for hand-woven floor art, and Roy Gallop whose ‘Wonky House’ workshop features mechanical toys and a human jukebox.

Also expect marketplace shows in the Tobacco Factory, the Southville Centre and the Southbank Club, as well as local churches, the Margot May Tea Rooms and Mark’s Bread. Visit: southbankbristolarts.co.uk

Alisdair by Aine Divine

Also not to be missed... ● May Collection, at Lime Tree Gallery, 7 May – 8 June A strong and vibrant exhibition featuring a wide selection of 'painterly' works by notable contemporary artists. Portraits from two artists, exhibiting in Bristol for the first time, feature strongly: Chris Bennett, a member of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters, and Aine Divine, finalist of the 2013 Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year award. There is also still-life painting by up and coming young Scottish artist, Martin Hill, and Lime Tree Gallery continues its Swedish connection with evocative landscapes by Elisabeth Lindstedt and beautiful handmade jewellery by Swedish-born silversmith Moa Smith, who now lives in Bristol. For more information, visit: limetreegallery.com

● Art from Elsewhere, at Bristol Museum & Art Gallery and Arnolfini, until 17 July Art from Elsewhere deals with current social and political issues through the eyes of contemporary artists from around the world. The cutting edge work – from video and installation, to photography and sculpture – is predominantly by artists from Africa, Asia and the Far East who explore themes such as life in conflict zones and migration. This exhibition, shown jointly with the Arnolfini, brings together work recently collected by museums and galleries across the UK, purchased with five £1million awards from Art Fund International.

Pictured left: There Is No Border Here © Shilpa Gupta, 2006

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FOOD & Drink

TASTY TITBITS FROM THE CITY’S RESTAURANTS, CHEFS AND PRODUCERS

FESTIVAL FIX From 13 to 15 May, The Downs welcomes the Foodies Festival – bringing with it the likes of Rosemary Schrager, Nigel Brown, Ping Coombes, Xanthe Clay and Kalpna Woolfe to its chefs’ theatre. Expert sommeliers will also host champagne and wine masterclasses, while Street Food Avenue will see a focus on Brazilian dishes such as feijoada to celebrate the Olympic host. As well as 120 local artisan stalls selling everything from seaweed seasoning to champagne-infused fudge; cake wizardry from top local bakers; and master chocolatier Fiona Sciolti, there’ll be a vintage tea room; the chance to sample Vietnamese delicacies including grasshoppers, caterpillars and scorpions; plus a cookery school for kids; a chilli-eating challenge; live music and a giant Pimm's teapot. Tickets at: foodiesfestival.com

10 YEARS AT THE TRAP VEG OUT! Vegfest arrives at Bristol’s Amphitheatre on 21 & 22 May, offering sumptuous vegan cuisine including sushi, paella, stir-fries, barbecue fare and falafel wraps, Caribbean stews, pizza, Moroccan street food and Thai curries. Visitors can also expect five licensed bars; chai tea and smoothie stands; tips on creating amazing vegan plates via inventive cookery demos; and talks on vegan nutrition, lifestyle and campaigns – plus a kids’ area, acoustic music on two stages, DJs, the Stereo MCs and vegan reggae artist Macka B. Tickets £5/£8; bristol.vegfest.co.uk

NEW WAY TO SHOP An initiative bringing people together to buy food directly from local farmers and producers has launched in Easton. Every week, Easton Food Assembly customers can order sourdough from Cherry Orchards Camphill Community; jams and chutneys from GingerBeard’s; meat from Model Farm Shop, plus fresh veg and cheeses – from within an average 28 miles – online before picking them up at a local venue. For every £1 spent, over 90p stays in the local economy, with producers keeping over 80% of product sales. “It offers us the chance to engage with the people producing our food,” explains organiser Freya Meredith. “People are so disconnected from the source of their food; I hope this will encourage them to consume more consciously.”

Visit: foodassembly.com

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Josh and Holly Eggleton have launched a 10-course tasting menu inspired by food produced by their Michelin-star kitchen over the last decade, to celebrate their 10th year at The Pony & Trap.

“When we took over, we had no idea where we would be today, and it’s thanks to our locals, regulars and suppliers, who are fantastic support to us,” said Josh. “We have been working hard to create a menu which will celebrate some Pony favourites and rework some original dishes. We’re looking forward to another 10 years – there is so much we still want to do.” Expect meat from Blagdon Butchery, foraged seasonal produce from Heavenly Hedgerows, smoked fish from Chew Valley Smokehouse and leaves from Bristol’s Severn Project. The menu will run until the end of May, alongside the standard a la carte menu, and cost £70 excluding wine. To book, call 01275 332627 or visit: theponyandtrap.co.uk

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RESTAURANT | REVIEW

THE POST BOX EATERY Amanda Nicholls heads to the newly opened Claverham restaurant and finds a menu full of first-class food…

H

aving put in some seriously hard graft at the likes of Le Manoir and Michelinstarred Bristol restaurant Wilks, former Backwell School student and River Cottage apprentice Jonny Burnett made his first solo foray into the foodie world last month, opening a charming little diner in the old post office of the tiny Somerset village he grew up in.

The paint’s barely dry when we show up for their very first review, seven days after opening – no pressure, then – and the gods are on their side; the spring sun blazing down on us while we wind our way round the country roads towards the sleepiest High Street you’ll ever see. Passing chalkboards scrawled with the day’s specials in the alfresco dining area – beef and parsnip stew with honey-roasted carrots and mash, and chilli squid – we head inside to find an intimate dining space with room to cater for around 30 covers, and a simple, fresh, contemporary look. A couple of crimson feature walls, a counter covered in homemade cakes and Jonny’s fresh baked bread, as well as various wooden crates full of cookbooks by his heroes, help create a rustic ambience, while there’s a nod to the restaurant’s earlier incarnation, and namesake, in the form of little red postbox salt shakers on sun-drenched windowsills, and a large plant sat on a set of old postal weighing scales. Each wall sports bright, suitably seasonal artwork – courtesy of Jonny’s cousin and featuring beloved local spots like the bluebell woods at nearby Wrington.

“Since I fell into cookery at school – all the other subjects were already taken – and realised I loved it, I’ve always wanted to open my own restaurant serving locally sourced produce here in my hometown, and funnily enough, I always wanted it to be in this building, which was a café before I got a bit of money together and took it over,” Jonny explains as we settle down beside the whitewashed front windows.

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foodie spots and this place is an 18-second walk from my house, just round the corner from my primary school too – it’s nice having so many people I know coming in, and Claverham and the surrounding villages have so much to offer – I’m thrilled to have the chance to help put them on the map.”

Jonny’s a friendly lad, clearly focused and quietly driven, so we decide as he dashes off to bring us out a dish of piping hot pig’s cheek with white onion purée, red vein sorrel and a round of British black pudding for us to try before we tuck into the chilli squid special and a wheel of irresistibly soft, mild and creamy goat’s cheese, stuffed with pieces of fried walnut for extra texture and served with red onion and apple jam and a tomato salad. As the restaurant fills up for lunch, we overhear the next table praising the cauliflower cheese soup, and the Post Box scotch egg – soft-boiled Claverham egg wrapped in sausage meat, stuffed with apricot and parsley, dusted with bread crumbs and served with homemade chutney – and curse ourselves for not ordering the latter too.

Above: Piping hot pig’s cheek with white onion purée, red vein sorrel and a round of black pudding

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Reluctantly eschewing the potato and aubergine curry (veggie and gluten-free) with homemade sag aloo spuds, my companion plumps for the thick slices of home-cooked ham and two giant duck eggs, sunny side up, stacked on a wooden board along with a generous fistful of skinny fries standing in a charming white and blue enamel beaker – and sings its praises between every mouthful. Meanwhile I side with the battered cod – huge hunk of – with homemade tartare sauce, fries and salad. The fish falls away perfectly at the touch of a fork while the light, citrusy sauce, with its fresh caper chunks, makes for a pretty divine plate fellow.

It’s wholesome, and while prettily presented, not prententious in any way. For example, rather than getting a thimbleful of the ‘refreshing lemon posset’, it’s more like a small bucketful of the uber-ambrosial stuff. Refreshing it is too, practically melting away on the palate. We have one to share, and pair it up with the tip-top Post Box chocolate lava cake with a subtle hint of orange and a berry coulis.

❝

“The fish falls away perfectly at the touch of a fork while the light, citrusy sauce, with its fresh caper chunks, makes for a pretty divine plate fellow”

❞

The menu here changes daily, and there’s an array of breakfast, lunch and dinner options as well as lighter bites including freshly made sandwiches. Ingredients come from the surrounding area – Jonny certainly concurs with the back-to-basics River Cottage ethos – and include meat from his Yatton butcher and eggs from the village. He’s also hoping to get an allotment arrangement sorted, he tells us.

And the evening offering looks an elegant affair, with options including king scallops with herb-fried potatoes, apple purée, bacon and white wine sauce; carrot and paprika soup; and pork schnitzel with black pud, roasted carrots, duck egg, mash and cider gravy.

With smooth, genial service and well-executed fare, this is a chef with real potential, who has pulled off his first project with aplomb.

Oh, and did we mention that he’s only 19? If he’s managing to produce food like this at this tender age, we reckon the future looks pretty bright… ■ The Post Box Eatery, 2 High Street, Claverham, BS49 4NA; 01934 834667; @postboxeatery

A quality local independent Italian that's family run and well established.

WWW.PIAZZADIROMA.CO.UK 178 WHITELADIES ROAD, CLIFTON, BRISTOL, BS8 2XU OPEN 6PM TO 11PM TUESDAY TO SUNDAY (AND BANK HOLIDAY MONDAYS)

T: 0117 973 4183

FROM A ROMANTIC MEAL TO A PARTY BOOKING, YOU WILL BE WELL LOOKED AFTER

THE MENU

SPECIAL OFFERS PICTURES & REVIEWS

ON OUR FACEBOOK &WEBSITE

15% off your food bill (eat in or takeaway) You must have the voucher with you, voucher cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer, voucher must be presented before ordering drinks or food, only one voucher per group or table, management reserves the right to modify or cancel this offer at any time, applies to main menu only not specials board, please let us know that you are using the voucher at the time of booking to avoid disappointment.

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FOOD | RECIPES

Photography © David Loftus

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FOOD | RECIPES

BIG FISH We caught up with renowned Michelin-starred chef and seafood devotee Nathan Outlaw ahead of his appearance in Long Ashton later this month, to talk sustainable fishing, his third cookbook, and the three-second rule...

T

hose lucky enough to have bagged a ticket for Nathan Outlaw’s Feast With A Chef event in Long Ashton Village Hall on 29 May – you guys did well, they sold out in just two days – will soon be able to sample a selection of the esteemed seafood chef’s brand new dishes, cooked by the man himself in a wonderfully intimate setting. Those who didn’t, needn’t cry too many tears into their trout terrines, as he has just bestowed upon us his eagerly awaited book Everyday Seafood, featuring the likes of prawn noodle soup; cold dressed lobster salad with verjus; crab and saffron pasta bake, and lots more. We had a chat with the big fish, who was kind enough to share two of his delicious new dishes...

TBM: So Nathan, tell us a little about the new book Nathan: Well, I’m still writing recipes in the style people expect of me as it’s my unique way of doing things. However, I’ve taken on board comments from readers of my last two books and I’ve made the recipes simpler and quicker. I think Everyday Seafood should be much more accessible for the home cook.

What can those with tickets expect from the Feast With A Chef event?

Firstly, I’m grateful to them for buying tickets! I’m intent on giving them an evening filled with dishes from my new book, some banter from me, a bit of a laugh. I like the intimacy of cooking for a small group in a village hall. It should be a fun evening.

Favourite restaurant in Bristol?

Casamia on Lower Guinea Street.

What’s the golden rule in the Outlaw kitchen?

No lying. If you’ve done something wrong, own up. I’d rather know than it come as a surprise halfway through service.

What’s your view on the three-second rule…

It’s 10 seconds in my kitchen! (Haha!)

Nathan’s fish stew (serves 8) “Fish stew exists all around the globe. Where you are or where you live determines what goes into it. I personally like to use fish with a firm texture and that will give a real depth of flavour. Roasting the fish heads and bones and cooking the vegetables in this way really intensifies the flavours. The scallops are a nice luxury along with the mussels, both adding their own unique qualities.”

Ingredients: Why seafood?

I love the challenge it brings. Seafood caught in the ocean is truly wild so no two pieces are ever the same – the flesh will behave differently according to the waters the fish swam in and the life it’s had. As a result, each portion, even of the same species, has to be treated slightly differently. This means I have to stay on my toes in order to do it justice. I also love eating seafood so it’s really an obsession rather than a job.

What’s your take on sustainable fishing?

If we want to be eating fish into the future, we need to do something about the sustainability of our seas. My advice for anyone buying fish is to ask questions and if your fishmonger can’t tell you where the fish he’s selling comes from, don’t buy from him! Shoppers need to arm themselves with relevant and up-to-date information as it can change very quickly. Good sources of info are the MCS Good Fish Guide and the Good Cornwall Guide.

Also, if you can, talk to the fishermen because they know their business!

Biggest kitchen disaster?

Touch wood, I’ve never really had a kitchen disaster. The nearest would have been opening night at Restaurant Nathan Outlaw in Port Isaac. We were still cleaning at 4pm with our first customers due at 7pm. As service began, the floor of the washing up area began to fill with soapy water. Our new industrial-sized dishwasher was leaking and we couldn’t stop the thing.

Unbeknownst to everyone seated upstairs, myself and the rest of the staff spent the whole evening taking turns to bail out the kitchen!

What would be your desert island dish?

That would have to be barbecued mackerel over coals served with a simple salad and good bread. No doubt I’d shred some coconut into the salad, being on a desert island and all!

Guiltiest foodie pleasure?

Cake. Any cake. It’s my biggest downfall and one that, try as I might, I just can’t resist...

Surprise us...

As a young child I’d only eat fish fingers and they had to be out of a yellow box because they were the ones my nan gave me! I’m also opening a restaurant in the Jumeirah Burj Al Arab (the one shaped like a sail) in Dubai in September. That’s very exciting. And I’m writing book number four...

• 1 monkfish tail, about 1.5kg, bone removed and reserved, trimmed of sinews • 2 gurnards, 600g each, filleted (heads and bones reserved) • 8 large or 16 medium scallops, shelled and cleaned • 40 live mussels, de-bearded and rinsed • 1 garlic clove, peeled and chopped • 1 rosemary sprig, leaves picked and chopped • Zest of 1 lemon (microplaned) • 100ml light olive oil • 1 large cod head, cleaned • 300ml white wine • Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the stew: • • • • • • • • • • •

2 onions, peeled and sliced 4 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed 2 fennel bulbs, finely chopped 2 red peppers, cored, deseeded and sliced 1⁄2 tsp dried chilli flakes Zest and juice of 1⁄2 orange (zest microplaned) A big pinch of saffron strands 3 bay leaves 1 rosemary sprig 50g tomato purée 8 ripe tomatoes, chopped

To serve: • • • •

1 large baguette Light rapeseed oil for frying 1 garlic clove, halved Spicy anchovy mayonnaise

Method ❶ Preheat your oven to 180°C/Fan 165°C/Gas 4. Cut the monkfish into 8 equal chunks. Halve each gurnard fillet to give 8 pieces. Put the monkfish, gurnard, scallops and mussels into a bowl and add the garlic, rosemary, lemon zest, olive oil plus salt and pepper. Mix carefully, cover and leave to marinate in the fridge for 1 hour.

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FOOD | RECIPES

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FOOD | RECIPES ❷ To make the stock, line a roasting tray with a sheet of baking parchment. Lay the cod head and reserved fish heads and bones on the paper and roast for 25 minutes. Turn them over and roast for another 25 minutes. ❸ Place the tray over a medium heat on the hob. Add the wine, stirring and scraping to deglaze. Simmer for 5 minutes, then tip everything into a big cooking pot and add water to cover. Bring to the boil and skim off any impurities from the surface. Lower the heat and simmer for 30 minutes. ❹ Meanwhile, heat another large pan over a medium heat and add a drizzle of olive oil. When it is hot, add the onions, garlic, fennel and red peppers. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. Now add the chilli flakes, orange zest, saffron, bay and rosemary and cook for 2 minutes.

Stir in the tomato purée and cook, stirring frequently, for 5 minutes. ❺ Add the chopped tomatoes and orange juice. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes. Pour the stock through a sieve onto the vegetables and simmer for 20 minutes. Taste and adjust the seasoning, if necessary. ❻ In the meantime, cut the baguette into thin slices. Heat a 1cm depth of rapeseed oil in a wide pan. When hot, shallow-fry the bread slices until golden on both sides. Drain the croûtes on kitchen paper, rub with the cut surface of the garlic and season with salt. ❼ Add the monkfish to the stew base and cook for 1 minute, then add the gurnard and mussels and cook for another 2 minutes. Finally add the scallops and cook for 1 minute. Serve the stew in the centre of the table with the croûtes and spicy anchovy mayonnaise on the side.

For the mayonnaise: Put 2 egg yolks, a pinch of saffron strands, 2 chopped garlic cloves, 1 finely chopped deseeded chilli, 4 salted anchovies in oil and the juice of 1⁄2 lemon into a blender or small food processor and blitz for 1 minute. With the motor running, slowly add 400ml olive oil through the funnel. Season the mayonnaise, scrape into a bowl, cover and refrigerate.

and spices and fry for 3–4 minutes until the mixture begins to colour.

Add the chopped tomatoes, season with salt and pepper and cook for 68 minutes until they begin to collapse. ❷ Transfer the contents of the pan to a food processor and blend until the mixture is as smooth as you can get it. Pass through a sieve into a clean bowl and allow to cool. ❸ Add the prawns to the cooled sauce and leave to marinate for at least 10 minutes, longer if you have the time. ❹ To cook the new potatoes, put them into a pan, cover with water and add a pinch of salt. Bring to the boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 10-15 minutes until they are cooked. Drain thoroughly and leave to cool slightly while you cook the prawns. ❺ Heat a frying pan over a high heat. Remove the prawns from the sauce with a slotted spoon, keeping the sauce. Add a drizzle of oil to the hot pan, then carefully add the prawns and cook for 2 minutes on each side. ❻ Add the sauce to the pan and bring to a simmer, then take off the heat.

Stir in the spring onions, coriander and mint. Now add the potatoes (or combine in a bowl if your pan is too small). Season the prawn salad with salt and pepper to taste and toss well. ❼ Serve the salad, scattered with extra coriander and mint leaves, either on its own, or with a green salad if you prefer.

Nathan Outlaw’s third book Everyday Seafood (published by Quadrille, £20) is on sale now. n

Prawn, chilli & potato salad (serves 4) “Potatoes, chilli and prawns sit so well together in this effortless, comforting salad. I like to eat it just as it is, but you could serve it as a side salad if you like. I have also made it with crab, lobster and scallops – all work brilliantly. I make it quite spicy, so if you don’t like the heat, you might want to cut down on the chilli. It is really versatile and can be served hot, warm or cold. I love it!”

Ingredients: • • • • • • •

600g large raw prawns, peeled and deveined 400g small new potatoes Sunflower oil for cooking 4 spring onions, trimmed and sliced 2 tbsp finely sliced coriander, plus extra leaves to serve 1 tbsp finely sliced mint, plus extra leaves to serve Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the sauce: • • • • • • • •

Sunflower oil for cooking 1 red onion, peeled and finely chopped 3 garlic cloves, peeled, halved (germ removed) and chopped 2 red chillies, deseeded and chopped 1 tsp black onion seeds 1 tsp coriander seeds 4 ripe tomatoes, core removed, deseeded and chopped Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method ❶ First make the sauce. Heat a frying pan over a medium heat and add a drizzle of sunflower oil. When it is hot, add the onion, garlic, chillies THEBRISTOLMAG.CO.UK

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com

BRISTOL AT WORK: Bristol Classic Boat Co Our series of portraits by Charlotte Stone shines a spotlight on the folk that help make up the fabric of city life...

“B

ristol rather chose me!” says Mark Rolt while articulating his reasons for selecting this fair city for his jolly boat building business. “I came down for the weekend back in 1986 to see my brother, who had opened a shop in Colston Street, and he mentioned that a boat was being rebuilt on Canons Marsh – they took me on and I’ve been here ever since.”

Mark and his team of shipwrights – which comprises of two apprentices, the odd labourer and a list of ‘subbies’ he calls upon when needed – repair and maintain vessels of all shapes and sizes, as well as building new ones from scratch, from their workshop in Hanover Place marina. “Mostly it’s the odd plank, paint job or new mast,” Mark says, “but this year, already, we have re-fitted a 50-year-old 50' cabin cruiser, and are in the middle of restoring a 120-year-old, 50' sailing yacht, in addition to painting and varnishing a dinghy.

“Business is good at the moment, but that can turn very quickly,” he adds. “It is very much a feast or famine occupation, which is why the people who do it are usually exceptional! In order to counteract this aspect of the work, I’ve acquired a chandlery business which sells stuff that other boatyards and boat owners use. It was established 20 years ago on the east coast, but it has now moved to Bristol. It’s not so much the stainless bling we sell as much as the tallow, and yarn, oakum and turpentine. Though we do have a magnificent line of gorgeous bronze port holes.”

We office dwellers were rather envious on the super-sunny day in April that we chose to visit Mark – loving the idea of grafting in the open air beside the water; and a good old-fashioned, rewarding trade.

“Yes, there’s nothing quite like taking the responsibility for your work, upon which others are going to depend for their lives,” agrees Mark, before pondering over favourite past projects. “The Matthew was fun, and it’s great to see it still causing heads to turn. I do love my job. And all the names of the boat parts we use – futtocks, buttock lines, baggywrinkles, lubber holes...”

Happily, it seems Bristol was the right choice for this man and his boatyard. “It’s just the best here, isn't it?” says Mark, who, we discover, also owned the boatyard on Redcliffe Wharf for 15 years previously. “There are no pretensions about the place, you get what you see. I love that my family has grown, flown and then returned to the city.” It sounds like a close-knit scene too: “Everyone who belongs to the boating community of Bristol, or has a boat near Bristol comes by the Hanover marina at some point – it’s the hub of boating life here.

If you don't know someone, you’ll have heard of them, or know someone that knows them. Living or working on and around the water, it’s inevitable that you know most people who do the same – it’s like a great big village! A microcosm of Bristol.

“We’ve even got our own anthem – adapted by the boat-builders round here from a song called Dem Bones...” laughs Marks. “It goes: ‘The deck plank’s attached to the beam planks, the beam plank’s attached to the beam shelf, the beam shelf's attached to the futtocks, now hear the word of the Lord... The futtock’s attached to the hull planks, the hull plank’s attached to the stem board, the stem board's attached to the keel board, now hear the word of the Lord!”

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BRISTOL UPDATES BITE-SIZED BUSINESS NEWS FROM ACROSS THE CITY

THE GO AHEAD

Precious cargo...

The development is expected to provide a new foodie quarter for the city

Plans for Cargo – Bristol’s first retail hub made of converted shipping containers – have been given the green light.

Developer Umberslade has also revealed new plans for a second hub, Cargo 2, due to demand. “We have been inundated with interest from across the country, from pop-up street food vendors to fine dining restaurateurs,” said director Stuart Hatton. “So we decided to submit plans for Cargo 2 to meet this demand.” The first site, which it’s hoped will become a new foodie quarter, will comprise 10 shipping containers located between Gaol Ferry Steps – the new walkway connecting south Bristol and the city centre – and Museum Square. Work should be completed this summer. wappingwharf.co.uk

BACK IN THE GAME

A HELPING HAND

ANIMAL MAGIC

A business development specialist has launched a service to help employers support redundant employees who would like to run their own businesses. Abdullah Ali-Ahmadi of Bradley Stoke’s Axent SBS – who has 35 years' experience as a business coach, trainer, mentor and advisor – has created a business resources kit giving future business owners all the tools and templates they need, plus practical guidance delivered in person, over email, phone or Skype. "The Business Resource Kit is what everyone starting a business needs to have, all in one place," explains Abdullah. "Knowing what to do, having tailored practical support and being taken through every aspect of business ownership is what start-ups need.” axentsbs.com

A unique new store has had tails wagging in Clifton recently. Barkers, located at 18 Portland Street, offers an all-round sensory experience for local canines. “The store has been designed exclusively for dogs,” explains manager Ricky Jones.

“There are some really exciting areas where dogs can interact, complete with intriguing smells and toys. We want to become a real hub for the dog-owning community.” The store – which was officially opened by VIB (Very Important Barker) Toby, a chocolate labrador rescue dog – has a spa offering grooming, nail clipping and spa treatments plus a community board sharing local walks, dog-friendly places and days out. barkersfordogs.com

Backwell House, a new film and fashion location and wedding and party venue, launched recently – with live music, ballerinas, acrobats, locally sourced nibbles in outdoor tipis, and special guest Michael Eavis. Never before open to the public, and newly renovated, it features nine en-suite bathrooms, quirky vintage touches, a wood-fired garden hot tub, cinema room, pool and croquet lawn, plus a walled garden supplying herbs, honey, eggs and vegetables. "This is the kind of venue Bristol has been crying out for,” said the brains behind the venture, Guy Williams. “I'm so excited we can now host weddings, parties and fashion shows that will be talked about for years to come!" backwellhouse.co.uk

PSSST... Blow Me Hairdressing on Passage Street has won Salon of the Year at the fifth

annual English Hair and Beauty Awards – held in Manchester recently. "This was an unexpected award but a fantastic achievement for the whole team,” said owners Buster Simpson and Richard Connelly. “Having been open just four years, we are delighted – it's nice to be recognised by the industry and we hope this award will help push us to the next level. We would also like to thank everyone who's continued to support us.” blowmehair.com

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What you need to know about Meningitis Many of you will have heard a lot about meningitis over the last few months with the distressing photos released of a baby who died of meningitis and the petition to extend vaccine use. England rugby player and Question of Sport captain Matt Dawson also talked about his son’s battle with the disease.

823,345 people signed the petition making it the bestsupported campaign to go to government. It was calling for a rollout programme to vaccinate all children, at least up to age 11 from the current 2-5 month olds. Michelle Bresnahan, cofounder of ‘a Life for a Cure’ expressed her determination on ITN Lunchtime News to also see the vaccine extended to the second at risk age group 15-24 year olds, to ensure other fit young adults like Ryan do not lose their lives to this killer and infectious disease.

Meningitis can affect anyone – not just babies. There are many different strains and no vaccine to protect against all types so we have included some key information about what you need to know about all types of meningitis and meningitis B in particular.

• The recent petition raised a huge amount of awareness, benefitting thousands. The petition did not cause the shortage of the Men B vaccine (the shortage was made public late in January).

• The current NHS Men B vaccination programme covers all babies born after 1 May 2015 and is unaffected by the shortage.

• The Men B vaccine is expected to become available privately again this summer.

• GPs and private clinics have been inundated with Men B calls, impacting on their normal appointments – please remember, this vaccine is not available privately currently.

You can join waiting lists for the vaccine.

• The Men B vaccine is not an easy or quick vaccine to produce. GlaxoSmithKline is the only UK supplier.

• A Men ACWY vaccine was introduced into the routine vaccine schedule in August last year. Young people aged 17&18 and older university entrants (19 to 25) are eligible.

• From Spring 2016 the Men ACWY will replace Men C, which is currently offered to year 9 or 10 (depending on local arrangements). This school-based programme will also provide a catch-up to include pupils in year 11 (15&16 year olds).

Around half a million people in the UK have had meningitis – many more family members and friends will have felt its impact on their lives. It’s a devastating disease that destroys lives and futures overnight. To protect yourselves and your loved ones learn the signs and symptoms by downloading the app from www.Meningitisnow.org. or obtain one of the handy purse/wallet sized cards at Ryan’s Hockey Tournament on Sunday May 29th as detailed on page 60.

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NEW RULES FOR LANDLORDS John Todd of AMD Solicitors looks at Assured Shorthold Tenancies in the wake of the Deregulation Act 2015.

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ust when landlords thought their position could not be more restrictive or complex, the Deregulation Act has imposed further restrictions. Although the Deregulation Act came into force in April 2015, it only applies to new or replacement tenancies after 1 October 2015. The principal changes are:-

1. A new version of the Notice seeking Possession.

2. The Notice can no longer be served in the first four months of the tenancy.

3. The landlord must now, at the commencement of the tenancy, provide:a. A gas safety certificate and b. An energy performance certificate. c. Service of the Government’s “How to Rent” booklet, which is only available in electronic form online and so will need to be printed out, unless the tenant consents to it being sent to him/her by email.

4. The landlord also needs to be aware that retaliatory eviction is no longer an option. Up until now there have been occasions where a tenant has complained about the condition of the property to which the landlord’s response has been to serve a Notice Seeking Possession. It will be comforting for tenants to know that if they make a written complaint about the condition of the property the landlords will be unable to serve their (Section 21) Notice within six months after service on the landlord of one of three specified Local Authority notices, the most important of which is an improvement notice. Clearly this means that the Local Authority will have to support the tenant’s complaint, but if the Notice is served after the complaint, it will be invalid if the complaint is subsequently upheld by the Local Authority.

As stated above, the new provisions only apply to new or replacement tenancies after 1 October 2015 but landlords will need to take care when considering service of a Notice Seeking Possession of the property where the tenancy began before 1 October 2015 or after it. Landlords would be strongly advised to obtain specialist advice on their position before serving the required Notice. Equally, tenants who are served with a Notice would be strongly advised to seek specialist advice as to whether the Notice is valid or not.

Just one more cautionary note, which is that when seeking possession of a house in multiple occupation (HMO), there are additional conditions – following the Housing Act 2004 – and on which specialist advice should be sought.

AMD are pleased to advise in these situations and contact can be made with Chris Brown at our office at 2 Station Road, Shirehampton, Bristol BS11 9TT (tel. 0117 923 5562) or John Todd and Charlotte Williams at our office at 100 Henleaze Road, Bristol BS9 4JZ (tel. 0117 962 1205).

© AMD Solicitors

A local award winning law firm

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EVENTS | FOR KIDS

FAMILY FUN What’s on in Bristol for little ones to enjoy this month

Wild play sessions, various times and locations across the city throughout May

Top pick...

Thanks to new funding, Avon Wildlife Trust is now providing regular wild play sessions for free, for pre-schoolers in various green spaces across six communities in Bristol – as well as wild nature days for the whole family in school holidays. Parents can unleash their little explorers – those aged between two and four years old – into the urban wild to wonder at the wildlife to be found on their doorstep and get stuck into an array of activities including wild art; mini-beast hunts; storytelling and much more.

Sessions are taking place at Horfield Common, every other Wednesday from 11 May, 10-11.30am; Dame Emily Park on Dean Lane, every other Thursday from 12 May, 9.30am-11am; The Bommie, Northern Slopes, every other Thursday from 12 May, 1pm-2.30pm; Fishponds Park, every other Wednesday from 4 May, 9.30-11am; and Bennett's Patch and White's Paddock, every other Thursday morning from 5 May, 10am-11.30am. For further details, visit: avonwildlifetrust.org.uk/mywildchild

DON’T MISS...

2 May, Dragonbird Theatre Workshop, College Green

14 May, Bioblitz, The Wild Place Project

Step into a world full of interactive adventure, with giant nets, silky rivers, songs, dressing up and best friends Dragon and Bird. Find out how the elephant got its trunk, and see Dragonbird Theatre perform The Elephant’s Child by Rudyard Kipling before setting off in a hot air balloon, all the way to Africa! You will pack a big picnic, meet plenty of animals and find out what they like to eat for breakfast. These 45minute sessions are free for children aged 0-5.

11am & 2pm; bristolfoodconnections.com

Bioblitz is the first Festival of Nature event before the main programme begins in June, and is an opportunity to help find and identify as many different species of wildlife as possible in 24 hours. A ‘waterblitz’ is also being planned, which will invite people to examine water life and water quality in the River Avon. Visit: bnhc.org.uk

Horrible Histories comes to the Hippodrome from 25 May

14 May, Museums at Night: The Enchanted Gardens, Blaise Castle For one evening only, the gardens at Blaise come alive as visitors enter a mystical twilight world, where strange and wonderful creatures flit and hide. Pick up an activity map, break the hidden code and journey through The Diary Garden, The Rose Garden, the amphitheatre and the kitchen garden which will be transformed through performance, light, colour, water and activities. Venture inside the house and find an installation of light, sound and robotic animals, imagining how forests could be in the future if wild animals were re-introduced.

Visitors are invited to create magical dens, recycled roses, origami creatures and lanterns.

Take the whole family and a picnic, or eat at the new pop-up cafe in the house. As dusk falls, join the twilight parade and watch as magic transforms the grounds. bristolmuseums.org.uk

15 May, The Great Bristol Family Mile, Bristol Harbourside The Great Bristol 10k has introduced a brand new ‘family mile’ for enthusiastic runners aged 66 THE BRISTOL MAGAZINE

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Find different species of wildlife at The Wild Place – photo © Chris Dobbs

three and up, for its popular city centre running event – to help families enjoy getting active together. The course will be based around the main event village at the Harbourside. Entry price £7; greatrun.org/bristol10k

20 May, Sunset Specials, Bristol Zoo See the zoo in a different light as you wander around, visiting the residents, learning about them from animal talks and enjoying a tasty treat and a drink on the lawn while chilling out to live music. Visitors can also try adventure course Zooropia and have their faces painted.

6.30pm-10pm; bristolzoo.org.uk

25 – 28 May, Horrible Histories, Bristol Hippodrome Thousands of years after the Romans, Saxons and Vikings stormed the coast of Britain, and the Greeks competed in the first Olympic Games, you can relive those horribly exciting times with Birmingham Stage Company’s brand new shows using 3D Bogglevision effects. Can crazy Caratacus save the nation? Tickets £14.65-£19.65; birminghamstage.com ■

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Mum, voiceover artist and BBC Radio Bristol presenter, Faye Dicker, meets the Bristol businesses that make family life easier...

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s a mum of two young children, I find my sanity – in the midst of the madness – in being able to carve out some ‘me time’ at the end of busy day. When they are both finally down, the dishes are done and I’ve managed to tie up a few loose ends, I like nothing more than to sit down and relax. Or, as my good friend Michael would say; ‘re-arrange the lighting’. A few strategically placed lamps and candles, and suddenly there’s a bit of calm.

So when I was introduced to local chandlers Scarlet and Nell (facebook.com/scarletandnell) and their beautiful hand-poured candles, I had to find out more. Theirs are fragrant candles with a bit of a difference, with each individual scent designed to capture the personality of a county or city.

As a child growing up in Bristol, I think one of my resounding memories is of the pungent smell of the brewers’ yeast, as it filled the air around the centre. While I was quite convinced that Helen Arthur, the founder of Scarlet and Nell, wasn’t going to reproduce that as Bristol’s signature scent, I was intrigued to find out exactly what our city’s fragrance would be.

Bristol Bluebells is, in fact, the name of the candle, designed to capture and reflect the bluebell woods in the midst of our West Country city. And there is

something about the smell which instantly takes you back to a time and a place – you can really visualise the flower-filled woods as you light the wick.

Helen told me how she was recently contacted by a customer who wanted to let her know that he’d bought the Bristol Bluebells candle for his wife and her sister, as their mum had recently died and they had always enjoyed walking through the bluebells in Leigh Woods together. They were so overwhelmed with the candle, which instantly brought back so many happy memories, he said, that they almost couldn’t bear to light it!

So how do you decide the scent of a city, I wonder? It’s a question that Helen frequently gets asked and she often receives lots of comedy suggestions... Her starting point, she told me, is often a well-known landmark, so that whether you live in the city or are visiting, it would be somewhere you’re likely to go to. For Bristol, she wanted to reflect the Avon Gorge, but the distinctive flowers that grow around the area don’t have much of a fragrance. Whereas the bluebell woods, just above the gorge and around Leigh Woods, have a wonderfully light and delicate aroma.

It’s a well thought-out and carefully researched business, I think. As an avid candle buyer herself, Helen wanted hers to be a bit different. It was two years ago that she started out – beginning work with a UWE university graduate project team who helped her define her market, before the finished product made it to the shops. The quality of the product is beautiful. From the moment you open the box, to lighting the candle, it feels decadent, and each box having a little local connecton to link the fragrance to the city is a really lovely touch.

As a proud Bristolian, born and bred, it didn’t take much to convince me when it came to experiencing Bristol’s signature scent. Once the girls are asleep, the room doesn’t feel the same without one lit – ‘candle o’clock’ is time for me. freelancemum.co.uk n

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By Dr Andrew Daniel, Headmaster of Monmouth School

REVISING YOUR WAY As the author Napoleon Hill once said, “Effort only fully releases its reward after a person refuses to quit.”

With GCSE and A level examinations just around the corner, boys at Monmouth School have these inspirational words in mind, spurring them on to succeed.

Feeling pressure to attain excellent results is inevitable for our hard working pupils, but staff have done their utmost to ensure studying is as painless as possible.

Every boy learns differently, and so we have devised revision packs to help each of them plan a timetable and style to help them accomplish their full potential.

Written by our Director of Studies, Dr Tony Winter, these extensive guides have been uploaded to the Monmouth School website for parents and pupils to refer to whenever they like.

Over the years we have seen much evidence to support the theory that people adopt many different intelligences – our ability to understand the world around us is complex.

Dr Winter’s revision packs firstly encourage exam candidates to take an online test to determine how they learn best.

Once pupils realise what special intelligences they have, whether that be kinaesthetic, logical, musical, linguistic or visual, they can proceed with confidence, knowing every hour spent revising is of the highest quality.

For GCSE candidates, who are about to embark on their first set of futurechanging exams, making this discovery now could make all the difference to their lives, academically and beyond.

In the Easter holidays, we asked boys to aim for around five hours of revision a day.

It’s vital they make time for exercise and fun in between 45-minute bursts of work, but their main priority should be to remain disciplined and stick to what they plan to do.

Rewarding little treats should be on hand for every target or goal achieved throughout the study period.

The pack also includes Dr Winter’s top 10 brain boosters, and top 10 brain drainers to keep the pupils on track and motivated.

Last year, the A level cohort achieved Monmouth’s second highest percentage of A* grades with 22.3% of all exams being awarded the coveted A* grade.

At GCSE level, 30% of boys achieved 10 or more A* to A grades and there were 14 boys, in the class of 89, with eight or more A* grades. *The Schools have an established bus route covering the Thornbury area.

For more information, visit habs-monmouth.org, call 01600 710433 for Monmouth School or 01600 711104 for HMSG. 68 THE BRISTOL MAGAZINE

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EDUCATIONNEWS UPDATES FROM THE CITY’S SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES

GIRLS ALLOWED!

Girls will be able to join the sixth form from September 2017

CONGRATULATIONS

BRISTOL IN DEMAND

Dr Tim Greene has been appointed as the new head of Clifton College. Dr Greene, who has been acting head since January, joined the College in 2006 and has been a key driving force behind the school’s rising academic standards. “I am absolutely delighted to be taking up the role of head of college,” he said.

“Clifton has never been stronger. We have just had our best ever results last summer and our facilities for sport and our co-curricular provision are outstanding. It is a real privilege to lead this college into the next phase of its development.” For more information on the school, visit: cliftoncollege.com

Redland Green School is expanding to create 135 extra places as part of the Integrated Education Capital Strategy, which aims to answer demand in Bristol over the next few years. The new buildings will allow for 27 extra pupils a year for the next five years. “Demand is increasing, so it’s important we act now to stay ahead of the curve,” said Paul Jacobs at Bristol City Council. “We’re committed to improving learning opportunities and working with partners to create high quality environments which inspire pupils.” The council hopes to provide 10,000 additional places by 2017. For more information, visit: redlandgreen.bristol.sch.uk

QEH has announced that girls will be able to study for their A Levels at its sixth form from September 2017. “Our recent 425th anniversary has inevitably provoked a period of reflection as well as future planning,” said David Smart, chair of governors. “QEH is consistently achieving high standards across all areas of school life: outstanding examination results, supportive pastoral care and a wide range of co-curricular activities. We have more boys attending the school than ever before and we are now pleased to be able to offer these opportunities at sixth form level to girls in Bristol.

Headmaster Stephen Holliday added: “As a school, we place great importance on preparing our students for the wider world, both at university and beyond – in which they will be working alongside members of the opposite sex. A co-educational sixth form, at an age when students of both sexes have developed the maturity to work well together, will ensure that all our students leave here well prepared for life beyond QEH.” The 2017 co-educational sixth form is part of the long-term development plan for the school and will be supported by further investment into the sixth form facilities over the next 18 months. Current developments underway at the school include a new £3million science and art building due to open this summer, followed by the further expansion of music and technology facilities. A sixth form open evening will take place on 10 November – students interested in applying for September 2017 entry can email Carolyn Matthews (cmatthews@qehbristol.co.uk). For more information, visit: qehbristol.co.uk

Having fun at Clifton High Nursery School

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OUT | AND ABOUT

STEP TO IT! Andrew Swift picks out his highlghts from this month’s Bristol Walking Festival and encourages us all to get involved

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ow in its fourth year, the city’s walking festival is the largest urban celebration of walking in the UK. This year, it is bigger and more inclusive than ever, offering over 170 walks, involving all of Bristol’s neighbourhoods and aiming to involve not just those already aware of the joys – and benefits – of a good hike, but those who are yet to be persuaded.

And, if you are one of the latter, there is no better time to dip a suitably shod toe into the water. The health benefits of walking are, of course, well known, and ‘health walks’, led by experienced guides, feature prominently in the programme. If you are after something more strenuous, there are Nordic trekking sessions, while other walks are specially geared to those recovering from illness and injury, or those with longterm health problems. There’s something for everyone, from 15-mile hikes for seasoned ramblers to gentle strolls for complete beginners – as well as walks for those who think walking is not for them.

It’s not just your health that can benefit from walking.

According to Geoff Nicholson, author of The Lost Art of Walking; “There is something about the pace of walking and the pace of thinking that goes together... Once you get the blood flowing through the brain it does start working more creatively.” Walking not only sharpens the senses, but also helps in problem solving. “I'm far more likely to find a solution by going for a walk than sitting at my desk and ‘thinking’” – says Geoff.

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Famously, Paul Dirac, the Bristol-born Nobel-Prize winning physicist, also came up with one of his most groundbreaking discoveries while on a long walk.

While there is no guarantee that you will experience a similar ‘Eureka’ moment, over three-quarters of those festival-goers who took part in a survey last year said the best thing about it was learning new things. And while walking can be a solitary activity, the festival is very much a community event, so, as well as discovering new places and new ideas, you also get the chance to meet new people.

One of the aims of the festival is to showcase the city as a vibrant centre of culture, green space and innovation. Bristol is one of the best cities in the world to explore on foot. Along with great estates such as Oldbury and Ashton Courts, Stoke Park and Kingsweston, you have the choice of Leigh Woods, the Downs, Frome Valley Walkway, Purdown, Royate Hill and St Anne’s Woods, all on the doorstep, along with dozens of other parks and green spaces.

Not surprisingly, nature figures largely in the festival. Early birds can join the Avon Wildlife Trust for the dawn chorus in Portbury Woods, while later risers can head to Badock’s Wood to listen to and learn about birdsong. Badock’s Wood, one of Bristol’s most enchanting green spaces, is also the venue for the Bugs and Butterflies Walk. Other walks go in search of the wildlife to be found along the river banks at Crew’s Hole, Brislington and Hotwells.

Several take foraging as their theme, seeking out not only plants that are good to eat, but also those that can be used as natural dyes or for medicinal purposes. Foraging has added benefits as well, according to the organisers; “It changes our relationship with the world,” they say. “We learn to slow down, becoming intimately involved with our surroundings.”

Mindfulness features in other walks as well, with opportunities to learn de-stressing techniques while walking the Clifton Downs, or to meditate and practice Tai Chi while exploring the sylvan delights of the Blaise Castle estate.

Alternatively, you might be tempted by a stroll round Victoria Park, with stops along the way to sing seasonal songs in the open air – no previous experience necessary.

But perhaps a street art or sculpture trail is more your thing, or a guided walk in search of the city’s heritage? Among the

Image above: Seek out plants that are good to eat or have medicinal purposes Below: De-stress and rediscover the beauty in the city – images © Go Foraging

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OUT | AND ABOUT

This page: Find out more about Bristol’s heritage (photo © Clifton Suspension Bridge Trust); explore hidden gems like Abbots Pool or our great estates including Blaise Castle

historic sites focused on during the festival are a 19th-century boatyard, former tobacco factories, Whitchurch Airfield and a Roman road that once ran across the Downs to Sea Mills. Links between walking and storytelling are also celebrated. You’ll be able to find out about Bristol’s literary heritage, from Defoe to Angela Carter – and not forgetting Long John Silver. Meanwhile, for children, there is an Early Years Storywalk along the Malago Greenway – but not quite so recommended for children is the ‘atmospheric exploration of tragic tales, folk customs and funeral etiquette’ on a night time ramble through Arnos Vale Cemetery.

Alternatively, you could visit some of Bristol’s ruined churches in the company of ruins enthusiast, Dave Hamilton, or follow a multi-faith trail through east Bristol, meeting members of six different religions.

Another of the many highlights of the festival comes on Sunday 15 May, when the Portway is closed to traffic, and there is a chance to see the Avon Gorge as it was when renowned as a tourist attraction a century or more ago. A guided stroll will seek out plants found only in the Gorge, as well as the goats and peregrine falcons that have made it their home. A couple of weeks later, there’s another walk that will trace the line of a forgotten tramway linking the gorge to the downs.

This year also sees the launch of the Bristol Walking Alliance at the Watershed on 17 May, bringing residents, walking groups and policy makers together to discuss plans for making Bristol an even better place for walkers.

Most of the planned events are free, although, because numbers are limited, some do need to be booked in advance. However much walking you have done in the past, and whatever your interests, there has never been a better opportunity to improve your health and find out new things about the city. Grab a copy of the festival programme – available at the Tourist Information Centre or local libraries – and get involved!

Full details of all the events included as part of the festival can be found at bristolwalkingfestival.co.uk. n

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“I can’t believe it was so quick and easy...

I only wish I’d had done it sooner” Cosmedics Skin Clinics’ doctors and surgeons have treated literally thousands of patients for common skin lesions and blemishes over the years and wishing they’d done it sooner is a very typical reaction.

Advanced Treatments For Skin Blemishes: • Latest skin treatment techniques – face & body • Pain-free treatment – and minimal scarring methods • Mr Daniel Thio and Dr Sarah Thio - qualified and experienced team

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Cosmedics Skin Clinics, Litfield House Medical Centre, 1 Litfield Place, Clifton Down, Bristol, BS8 3LS Telephone: 020 7386 0464 • Email: info@cosmedics.co.uk • Website: www.cosmedics.co.uk

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ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE

GET IN TUNE WITH SPRING Living in harmony with nature is the basis of Traditional Chinese Medicine. TCM practitioner Paul Johnson, who lectures on the Acupuncture Course at CNM (College of Naturopathic Medicine), explains.

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hinese Medicine first flourished thousands of years ago in an agrarian society where people lived in close contact with nature. Daoist philosophers believed that man should live in harmony with the universe and sought to understand how nature moves. They created what is known as the Five Element System to explain what they could see.

The Five Elements (Fire, Earth, Metal, Water and Wood) are a set of descriptors used to explain how different parts of a system interrelate (be they organs, emotions, directions, or seasons, for example). An understanding of the Five Elements underpins diagnosis in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and can be used to explain how our internal environment reacts to the changing seasons. How can we use this ancient set of descriptors to support our health in the modern world? Let’s take the current season as an example.

We are now in Spring, which in the Five Elements belongs to Wood. After the inward stillness of Winter in the Water Element, the dynamic expansion of the Wood Element is now seen in the thousand of shoots, buds and leaves in plants that are exploding back into life. Now is the time of year when your own Wood Element also begins to expand. After the isolation of Winter you are starting to venture out more and more to experience the

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return of the sun. Spring is a great time to start new projects. Your own energy is starting to rise and you probably feel ready to take on new challenges.

In TCM terms the Wood Element is reflected in the functioning of the Liver. The Liver is described as being in control of the free flow of our Qi (Energy). The Wood Element is associated with the colour green. Consume foods that are rich in chlorophyll like broccoli, asparagus, parsley, kale, chard, spirulina and chlorella to accelerate Liver rejuvenation. Take care to avoid heavy or processed foods which can exacerbate sluggishness in the Liver. Increase your intake of lightly steamed vegetables.

Make sure you include a little of the pungent flavour in your diet, such as spring onions, garlic, ginger and fennel, as these can help to boost the immune system. A small amount of the sour flavour will help to stimulate the flow of your Liver Qi; put a slice of lemon in your drinking water and include some pickles in your diet.

Foods with a bitter flavour can help you deal with ‘excess heat and inflammation’ in the Liver (which could manifest as restless sleep, a bitter taste in the mouth, or outbursts of anger).

Lettuce, chicory, asparagus, quinoa, citrus peel and dandelion are all ideal for this. Eat foods that are in season, local, and organically produced if possible.

To bring the rest of your life into harmony with the season, take short breaks during the day and go for a walk outside. Walking helps prevent the Qi of the Liver becoming stagnant, a major problem in our sedentary, stress-filled modern lives.

The ancients recommended that we reconnect

with the vitality of nature, and their words still ring true today. Get out into a park or garden again and breathe in the fresh air.

Spring is time to brush the cobwebs away!

Paul Johnson

CNM is the UK’s leading training provider in a range of natural therapies.

Attend a FREE Open Evening

to find out about part time training with CNM Bristol for a career in Naturopathic Nutrition or Naturopathic Acupuncture.

11th May 7pm-9pm Don’t miss the following natural health events: Dr Jayne Donegan, on vaccination, Geoff Don 19th May Dr Marilyn Glenville, on rebalancing hormones, 23rd May Brian Clement, on foods to heal, 10th June Please book on line, at

www.naturopathy-uk.com 01342 410 505

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YOUNGER PEOPLE WITH DEMENTIA LIVING WELL – MIKE’S STORY

S

ay the word ‘dementia’ and many people picture a frail, elderly person in a care home. However, in the UK alone over 40,000 people under the age of 65 are living with dementia.

Mike was 57 when he was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia – one of the less common forms of dementia. He was encouraged to consider attending The Limes by his community psychiatric nurse, who believed the service would give him the right support to live well with his illness.

Mike said he was worried about being with other people as he had always been happy in his own company, but from his first visit when he met Joanne O’Neill (the manager of The Limes), a small group of clients and the rest of the staff team, he started to relax.

At last Mike felt that he was going to get back to some kind of normality. He said it was very important to him that he was asked what he wanted to do, and this not only restored his confidence within himself but also in other people. He commented that staff at The Limes knows each person as an individual and are also interested in the wellbeing of their family members and carers.

Mike has taken part in all sorts of activities; Tia Chi in the garden when the weather is good is a favourite. Mike really enjoys being outside, in particular working in The Limes allotment and therapeutic garden. Mike says The Limes Sports Day was a great success with everyone taking part in sports such as basketball and skittles.

With the support of The Limes, Mike has regained a positive sense of himself and feels a valued part of his community. He has taken part in interview panels to help select two new members of staff, and said he: “really enjoyed the experience and is really pleased to be involved”.

Mike and his wife Lin have also spoken to the University Hospital Bristol NHS Trust trustees during Alzheimer’s Society’s Dementia Awareness Week about their experience of The Limes.

The Limes offers its individually tailored service to people under the age of 70 with a diagnosis of dementia living within a 20 mile radius of Kingswood, Bristol.

Open from 8am to 6pm Monday to Friday, the service is designed to provide a home away from home, giving people a chance to socialise and pursue hobbies and interests. The trained staff can also offer personal care. n

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CITY | BEAUTY

Get set for SUMMER SISLEY SUPER SOIN SOLAIRE MILKY BODY MIST, SPF30, £83 With this cutting-edge combination of UVA and UVB filters, protect against the effects of photoaging – wrinkles, dark spots, dehydration, loss of elasticity. Shudder

With the longer days finally here and warmer weather in sight, it’s time to prime ourselves for the new season.

Emma Hollingworth, beauty manager at Harvey Nichols Bristol, picks out her top hero products to prep, protect and have us looking our best all summer long All products are available from Harvey Nichols Bristol or harveynichols.com via the collect in-store service

TOM FORD LIMITED EDITION BRONZING POWDER, £68 Silky and lightweight, with a blend of sunstone, amber and black tourmaline crystals combined with unique pigments – a simple sweep across the cheekbones flawlessly highlights the skin’s natural radiance or accents an existing tan

NEXXUS NUTRITIVE CAVIAR SERUM, £35 This serum delivers a potent formula to reconstruct any damaged protein structures in the hair. Infused with caviar complex, it offers a highly effective and luxurious next step for your hair care routine

OLE HENRIKSEN RUB N' BUFF SALT SCRUB, £31 Enjoy spa-strength exfoliation at home with this energising scrub utlising lemongrass, lavender and sea salt. Perfect to use prior to tanning, it leaves your skin ultra smooth and deliciously soft

ODEJO EAU DE TOILETTE, £55 This is the first fragrance from former GQ creative fashion director Jo Levin, who has collaborated with Jeff Lounds and fashion writer Tim Blanks.

Featuring lily, Tahitian rose, cucumber oil and blue sea kelp

SISLEY TAN EXTENDER, £97 Rehydrate and refresh your skin after days spent catching rays with Sisley’s formula, rich in active ingredients (Andiroba oil, Alpha-bisabolol) which calm hot skin

The ultimate multi-purpose beauty oil, this moisturises skin and offers a rich chocolate shimmer and natural-looking glow. Native to the South Pacific, the light monoï de Tahiti oil comprises pure coconut extract macerated with the bud of the tiare flower, which infuses the oil with nutrients as well as a delicate, natural fragrance

RODIAL GLAMSTICK LIPSTICK, £25

LAURA MERCIER BAKED EYE SHADOW, £21

A nourishing lip butter enriched with vitamin E and cocoa and with a light coconut flavour, the Glamstick has an irresistible sheen and is a quick way to add instant glamour

Smudge resistant, lightweight, really blendable and versatile – apply it dry for an even wash of colour or wet for a more vibrant effect

78 THE BRISTOL MAGAZINE

NARS TAHITI BODY GLOW, £44

THE KONJAC SPONGE COMPANY LUXURY SPONGE SET, £21 An ideal travel companion, this will pass straight through airport security in your hand luggage, while containing the tools you need to stay fresh while away from home, and keep your skin clear and revived with 100% pure konjac

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ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE

VARICOSE VEINS EXPLAINED Unsightly and uncomfortable varicose veins can diminish your confidence and get in the way of the life you love.

But Mr William Neary, Consultant Vascular Surgeon at Nuffield Health Bristol Hospital, The Chesterfield, says getting rid of them is not as scary as it once was.

T

he way we remove varicose veins has changed a lot in the last 5 to 10 years. In the past, invasive open surgery was the only way to eradicate the bulging, tortuous, and sometimes painful veins in your legs. These days we have the technology and the skills to treat varicose veins without the need for a major surgical procedure.

invasive techniques that allow people the freedom of a walk-in walk-out procedure with a swift recovery. As patients no longer need to have a general anaesthetic and therefore have their treatment in theatre, treatment is provided in the more comfortable environment of the outpatient department, making the process a lot less daunting for the patient.

The old way of dealing with varicose veins

The new way

Varicose veins occur near the surface of the skin but the problem often begins in the large feeder veins buried deep within the leg – usually the Great Saphenous vein. One way valves in the vein are designed to prevent the backflow of blood but when they become faulty - blood is allowed to reflux and pool in the lower leg, stretching and dilating smaller veins under the skin’s surface.

There are several new techniques, the most common of which is endothermal ablation. Rather than cutting and removing the offending vein. A very fine tube is inserted into the vein and heated from the inside using a laser fibre or a radiofrequency catheter. This causes the lining of the vein to shrink down and to block off, stopping the reflux of blood back down the vein. The dilated veins closer to the skin are then removed using very fine incisions - a technique called microphlebectomy.

The most effective way to treat the problem was to physically remove the large vein feeding the varicosities. The most common way to do this was to make two cuts - one in the groin and another lower down the thigh before tying off the vein in the groin and stripping it out of the thigh.

Patients usually required a general anaesthetic and their recovery could be slow and painful.

Moving on Today, Mr Neary performs over 95% of his procedures under local anaesthetic with minimally

varicose veins for years because of a fear surrounding the procedure. Access to these treatments means reclaiming your legs and your confidence could be easier and a lot less scary than you thought.

Nuffield Health Bristol Hospital, The Chesterfield are organising a free event for those worried about varicose veins on Saturday 14th May at 9:30am. Coffee and light refreshments will be provided. Mr Neary will be delivering a presentation about your options for treatment along with a Q&A session. Spaces are limited so please call 0117 405 8978 to reserve your place.

Mr Neary also offers 10 minute complimentary 1:1 advice sessions in his regular clinic on Saturday mornings at Nuffield Health Bristol Hospital, The Chesterfield. Please call 0117 405 8978 to book your place.

Foam sclerotherapy is another technique growing in popularity. Instead of using heat, a foam solution is injected into the vein, blocking the flow of blood.

The vein shrinks and disappears within several months.

Some people have put up with

Nuffield Health Bristol Hospital The Chesterfield, 3 Clifton Hill, Clifton, Bristol BS8 1BN

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Our brief was to

TRANSFORM a run-down flat in the HEART of the zoo into a BRIGHT,

CONTEMPORARY space

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CREATIVE | BRISTOL

INTERIOR MOTIVES As a Clifton Village stalwart celebrates 50 years of styling Bristol homes, we chat to the boys behind the business about the changing face of interior design

Opposite: Tropical scenes at the Bristol Zoo lodge – a project Bracey Interiors was commissioned to design last year

O

riginally established as a simple carpet showroom by local entrepreneur Michael J. Bracey back in the Sixties, Bracey Interiors – the Waterloo Street business we know and love today – soon began to evolve into one of Bristol’s first and largest interiors showrooms. Housing all sorts of fabrics and wallpapers, it brought major design houses – the likes of Warner, GP & J Baker, Colefax & Fowler and Creation Baumann – to the city.

And in more recent years, under the guidance of Michael’s son, Ben, and his wife Alison, the design arm of the business has taken on some of the city’s most challenging interior design projects, as the Bracey name has steadily become synonymous with quality interior design across the region.

Keen to hear the inside story behind this quinquagenarian company, we caught up with Michael and Ben – who are marking the milestone anniversary with a week of events celebrating the best of Bristol interiors and featuring some of the industry’s best brands, designers and experts including Sunday Times interiors editor Katrina Burroughs.

Happy birthday guys! So, we’re curious, what was the Bristol interior design scene like when you first opened?

Michael Bracey: When I opened back in ’66, there wasn’t much of an interior design scene at all! The phrase just wasn’t used here.

Interiors were seen as functional and there was little or no consideration of colour or design. Compared to today’s market there wasn’t anywhere near the amount of choice or diversity.

Having started out selling carpet remnants, it soon became apparent that there was an increasing demand for curtaining, so we moved to bigger premises on Alma Vale Road, and became one of the first interior design showrooms in Bristol. We were also the first business in Bristol to support Designers Guild and Osborne & Little when they launched.

How has the business developed?

Ben Bracey: The business has changed massively in my 35-year working life. When we first started, it was all about plain dupion fabrics and there was hardly any pattern or scaled design. Now interiors and how we live in them have become an important part of people’s lives, and spaces have moved from being purely functional, to places where people celebrate their surroundings.

The range and diversity of interiors products has grown immensely and there is now a wealth of local specialist makers and craftspeople as well as talented fabric designers in Bristol and across the South West.

You’ve seen all kinds of ideas defining the decades – which have you most loved – or hated?

MB: Back in the Eighties it was all about ‘frou frou’ – swags and tails, festoon and as much contrast, pleating and fringing as you could use. From a business perspective this was great as we sold lots of meterage! But I’ve probably most enjoyed seeing the return of ‘traditional’ designs – the old classics by Colefax & Fowler and GP & J Baker still look as good as ever.

BB: We can’t talk about trends without mentioning the classic avocado bathroom suite, which was all the rage in the late Seventies. It was not uncommon to complement this with a colourful ceiling and patterned floor tiles – making the bathroom a full-on experience to say the least... And let’s not forget the ‘peach decade’ that was the Eighties – when interiors were dominated by florals, fabric, and trimming, and peach tones were seen as a safe, neutral backdrop. I also wasn’t keen on the way pattern books used to combine samples of fabrics and wallpaper –

it was in the days when interiors were very ‘processed’ and people just bought from a single book. Nowadays, it’s all about mixing and matching different design house fabrics and wallpapers to create interesting and imaginative interiors. I love the complexity of fabric designs using embroidery and colour – we’ve moved a long way from woodchip wallpapers!

Where do you find inspiration?

BB: It’s everywhere. To be a successful designer, you have to be observant – visit exhibitions, absorb your surroundings, read publications. Every year we make an annual pilgrimage to Paris to see all the new European collections being launched – it’s a great place to see what’s new, be enthused, and stay ahead of the game.

The world of interiors is forever changing and it’s important not to be static and to be free in finding inspiration.

Favourite interior in Bristol?

BB: It would have to be Clifton Lido. Alison and I are both lovers of spaces that grow organically, and are not contrived, so Northern Standard in Bedminster, Meat Liquor in Stokes Croft and the Milk Thistle also deserve a mention – greatly imaginative, atmospheric spaces.

MB: That’s a tough one! We’ve been fortunate to have worked on some amazing projects over the years. Being such an iconic Bristol landmark, Bristol Zoo has probably been one of my favourites.

We’ve worked with them on many projects, and Ben was able to work with them again on the design of the new lodge last year. It’s a fantastic space.

BB: Yes, the lodge was a great project to be part of. Working to a tight budget, our brief was to transform a run down, twobedroom flat in the heart of the zoo into a bright, contemporary space that would allow visitors to stay overnight for the first time.

While our design was inspired by the zoo’s animals and environment, we wanted to do something that wouldn’t feel too contrived, and that would appeal to all ages. The result was an African safari-inspired space, with its theme woven into every design element, from rustic textures and natural materials through to luxurious, eclectic animal prints. We were supported by some amazing designers including Harlequin, who supplied the stunning ‘tropical plants’ sofa fabric, Mr Perswall, who designed some amazing wallpaper in the Tiger Bedroom, and Designers Guild, who supplied some wonderful fabrics.

Most memorable projects or milestones?

BB: Being asked to design the master bedroom at the House & Garden Show in Olympia was a great honour and confirmation that, within the industry, we are known for good interior design.

Over the years we have brought many recognised names to talk at our events – Kevin McCloud, Anthony Little, and now Katrina Burroughs – which is a great privilege for us.

Tell us more about your anniversary events BB: We’ve got a whole week of them planned between 9 and 15 May, to celebrate our journey. We’ll be hosting talks featuring some of the most recognised companies and figures in the industry including Little Greene Paints and Colefax & Fowler.

What do you think has been the secret to your success?

MB: Being the first to bring all the major design houses to Bristol allowed us to gain a great reputation in the region.

BB: Experience, loyalty and commitment are all vital to our business success – and humour has been important too! We are very fortunate to have a great team of designers, seamstresses and THEBRISTOLMAG.CO.UK

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CREATIVE | BRISTOL fitters, and without their talents we wouldn’t have the reputation we have. We are also lucky to have a very loyal workforce – many of whom have been with us for decades – and long may that continue.

What looks do you predict for the coming year?

BB: It’s all about using colour and creating ‘layered’ interiors which will stand the test of time. Simplicity is key. It’s better to rely on one or two amazing products to create the interest and ambience, rather than confusing the interior with too many products.

The new collections from Designers Guild – who are renowned for their bright, eclectic palettes – are returning to the floral designs which they became famous for in the 1970s, and another key trend is the re-emergence of ragged and dragged wallpapers that were so popular over 20 years ago. Design houses are celebrating new weaving and design techniques, as well as encouraging and supporting traditional printing techniques. Bakers, for example, have produced a handmade collection based on old Indian printing skills. There are also many small design houses emerging now, which is exciting (bluebellgray, House of Hackney etc). I think the biggest advancement in terms of interior design in the 21st century is that there are no ‘rules.’ If you look at Colefax & Fowler and GP & J Baker (founded over a century ago and with their roots in traditional classic design), they are now embracing modern printing and weaving techniques, colour, and cutting-edge contemporary designs, which are just as exciting and appealing.

What are your hopes for Bracey’s next 50 years in Bristol?

MB: I hope the Bracey name continues in the world of interiors, and there will be a centenary celebration.

BB: I’m very proud that my parents, brother and sister have and still do work in interiors, and it would be great to see this legacy continue through to the next generation. My two daughters also both work in allied industries – one is a chartered surveyor and the other is an architect – so watch this space!

For more information about Bracey Interiors and The Design Workshop, or the 50th anniversary events, visit braceyinteriors.co.uk or call 0117 973 4664.

A classic Clifton drawing room design featuring Zoffany wallpaper, Gainsborough silk curtaining, Mulberry chair and Kevin McCloud lighting

Ben Bracey outside the shop on Alma Vale Road in the early 1970s

Bracey’s remembers 50 years of interior design 1960: The birth of Bristol’s DIY boom as styling and decorating homes becomes a national hobby.

1966: The Interior Decorators and Designers Association is established. Michael Bracey joins the world of interior design by opening his first business on Alma Vale Road. Bracey Interiors evolves to become one of the first design showrooms in Bristol.

1970: Tricia Guild founds Designers Guild.

1975: Love it or hate it, the avocado bathroom suite becomes a must-have interior feature.

1980s: Warm, pale hues are bang on-trend and peach dominates many Bristol homes.

1982: GP & J Baker receive Royal Warrant in recognition of the supply of fabrics and wallcoverings to the royal household.

1985: Michael Bracey Interiors takes the bold step of opening a comprehensive showroom in The Mall in Clifton Village.

Covering five floors, the business showcases some of the best home design services Bristol has to offer, as well as a raft of accessories and furniture.

1986: The ‘yuppie pad’ look is in, dominated by high-tech styles.

Grey is the shade of the moment, offset by chrome and black detail and accessories.

1995: After the excesses of the Eighties, the minimalist, more natural look is in. Painted effects – sponging, ragging, rubbing, dragging and stencilling – also experience a surge in popularity.

1995: Bracey Interiors relocates to the heart of Clifton Village, at Waterloo Street, where it still lives today.

1996: The launch of BBC DIY home improvement show Changing Rooms re-fuels national obsession with interior design.

2000: Bristol’s property market soars and neutrals are in vogue.

2003: Ben Bracey takes over the reins at Bracey Interiors.

2010: Personality and individuality are back in; colour and creativity are encouraged in the home.

2016: Bracey Interiors celebrates half a century of interior design Photo © James A Hudson

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in Bristol!

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Photo © James A Hudson

A 2013 family room project in a period property in Clifton, using fabric from bluebellgray

WIN

£200 TO SPEND AT BRACEY INTERIORS

To celebrate the anniversary, Bracey’s are offering readers the chance to win £200 in vouchers to spend with them, plus a free design consultation with Ben and The Design Workshop. To enter, email competitions@thebristolmagazine.co.uk – using ‘Bracey Competition’ as the subject header – with your name, address and contact details by 31 May 2016.

A complete bathroom design and installation project

(The winner will be drawn at random and notified by 30 June 2016. Entrants must be over 18 years and only one entry is allowed per person. The prize cannot be exchanged for cash)

Photo © James A Hudson

plus a free interior design consultation with The Design Workshop

This lovely property in North Somerset was re-decorated and refurnished in the late 1990s

Photo © James A Hudson

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SHOPPING | HOME

The

WANT list

DECORATIONS, £3.99 These simple spherical honeycomb decorations will add a colourful touch to any summer celebration.

New Look, The Mall at Cribbs; newlook.com

GREAT BRITISH GARDEN PARTY JAM JAR GLASSES, £16 FOR FOUR Fill with plenty of fruity punch, and enjoy...

Next, The Mall at Cribbs; next.co.uk

Planning a May Bank Holiday beano?

You’ll need a bit of chintz, heaps of colour and plenty of fun extras to make it one heck of a shindig

BEN DE LISI LANTERN, £28 Almost too bang on-trend, this.

Debenhams; debenhams.com HIGHGATE ROSE CAKE STAND, £36 How about a little afternoon tea with this three-tier porcelain stand?

Cath Kidston, The Mall at Cribbs; cathkidston.com

FRUIT BASKET, £29 9 E, £6.9 N TIL lish coasters...

A C C y st O MOR se ours as uber- se.com esen ally u We actu omesense; hom H

You’ll want plenty of fruit to hand for the cocktails – stack in this wire basket in our fave hero material, copper.

Monpote; monpote.co.uk

PLATE, £3.99 Have your guests eat off fab crockery featuring succulents!

Homesense; homesense.com

WIRE LANTERN, £18 We love the contemporary shape of this coral lantern, perfect for a roof garden or balcony project. Pop in a pillar candle and relax on balmy evenings. Oliver Bonas, Cabot Circus; oliverbonas.com

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CAPRI CHAIR, £199 Work in a bit of wicker with this chair, also available in blue or fawn. M&S at The Mall; marksandspencer.com

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GARDENING GARDENING

ORGANIC BOTANICS Margaux Speirs heads out into Somerset to Yeo Valley’s organic garden to check out its gorgeous examples of planned wild planting and more

Y

eo Valley is a successful dairy business based in Blagdon, about 10 miles south of Bristol – with its HQ on one side of the main road through the village and its dairy farm and manufacturing facilities just beyond the village. Farmer Tim’s wife, Sarah Mead, was a dancer before she married him and, by her own admission, knew very little about gardening when she started out on her project 25 years ago.

Then she did an RHS course, began planting their 6.5 acre garden on the lake shore beside their farm house, and now employs a landscape architect and small team of professional gardeners who have helped to create an exquisite and unusual garden of ornamental and edible plants.

The farm and garden are certified organic so they work without pesticides, using natural methods for pest and weed control and making their own compost and fertilisers, which adds another dimension of interest and challenge. Since 2010 the garden has been open to the public and this year, visiting starts on 5 May – open days are Thursdays and Fridays between 11am and 5pm, with entry £5. Even apart from the joy of visiting such a lovely place, there is lots to learn there in terms of garden layout, plant stocking, care and maintenance. The gardeners are really proud of the gardens and very willing to share their knowledge of organic gardening. Visitors are also enticed in by the Garden Café which serves coffee and cakes and lunches, often using seasonal ingredients grown in the garden.

The biggest treat in store for visitors to the garden this month is the meadow planted with blue camassia quamash. These lovely bulbs are easy to grow, tolerating full sun or part shade and over time forming clumps as they multiply outwards so that each year 86 THE BRISTOL MAGAZINE

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the meadow gets more and more beautiful. If you are lucky enough to have a large garden with an area of grass which can be left unmown until the end of July, this is one of the ideas to take home from Yeo Valley Organic Garden. Infrequently mown grass is obviously less laborious to maintain and paths of short cut grass can be mown through it for access and enjoyment. Yeo Valley has allowed native meadow buttercups to grow there too and has planted fritillaries which enjoy cool, damp conditions: the overall effect of planned wild planting is stunning.

Beyond the meadow is an avenue of mature crab apple trees in full blossom (malus hupehensis). Take a look at the hedge between these trees: it’s a mature hornbeam hedge (carpinus betulus) which was cut and laid in the traditional manner only this spring by local master hedge layer, Colin Clutterbuck. The way he has woven hazel binders along the top of the hedge makes it a real work of art. Most of the hedges in the garden are beech, chosen because beech has darker brown leaves over winter than hornbeam but the latter comes into leaf earlier than beech and tolerates wet or poor soils and exposed sites better. If you are planning some hedge planting this year, the garden also provides an interesting lesson in what to plant and where.

The other feature to look out for is the ‘pleached’ rows of malus × robusta 'Red Sentinel' near the glasshouse. They were planted there to give height, otherwise the roof of the glasshouse would have dominated that part of the garden. In an urban garden, the technique is really worth considering if there is an unsightly outlook to disguise but not much space to give over to planting. Had these trees been purchased ready pleached, they would have cost over £400 each but instead they were bought in as maiden standards for £12.50 each and the gardeners started to

Image above: Perennial M1 camassia and buttercups; tea crab avenue in background

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train them on bamboo canes in 2010. A few seasons on and having been trimmed a couple of times a year, they have already knitted together to form a really pleasing high level band of blossom and vitality. The fruit of this variety stays on all winter, providing colour as well as food for the birds.

Outside the glasshouse, the large terracotta pots have been planted with tulips for late spring colour and coming through them for later in the year are climbers ipomoea lobata (or Spanish Flag) and cobaea scandens (Cup and Saucer Vine). Both are quickgrowing annual climbers, with interesting flowers which will carry on blooming for three to four months, and are among the best climbers you can grow: incredibly useful if you have a trellis in the sun which needs fairly instant cover. At Yeo Valley they were grown from seed earlier in the year but it may not be too late to buy them now as established seedlings. Also, if, like me, you enjoy seeing locally made products and crafts, you will appreciate that the glasshouse was made by the Winford-based Incredibly Sensible Greenhouse Company, and the steel frames for the climbers by local garden metal sculptor Willa Ashworth.

A couple of the areas in the garden really come into their own later in the summer – and what a good excuse to come back to see them! There is the Bronze Garden, surrounding a formal pool which is lovely in June when the roses are out; herbaceous planting in gravel beyond the birch wood; as well as an area of shoulder-high grasses to swish through in late summer. Before heading for the café be sure to have a look at the ‘edimental’ vegetable beds, where edible flowers are grown alongside salad and vegetable crops. A couple of them are always out of production but are planted with ‘green manure’ – i.e. short-term crops which are allowed to grow up before being dug back into the soil to enrich it with their nitrogen.

And look out for the ‘slug pubs’ too... (Complete with roof and doors and beer to tempt them in – Butcombe of course!) n Margaux Speirs is a pre-registered member of the Society of Garden Designers and runs her business, Margaux Speirs Garden Design, from her home in Bristol. For further information, tel: 07903 779910 visit: margauxspeirsgardendesign.co.uk

PLANT OF THE MONTH: Every garden should have a viburnum but with more than 150 species to choose from, the difficulty is narrowing down the choice. For every garden location, whether wet, dry, sunny or shady, there is a viburnum that is just right. My vote goes to the medium sized deciduous specimen V. plicatum var. tomentosum ‘Mariesii’ whose creamy white, scented flowers are arranged horizontally along the branches: it is the most beautiful headturner in May. Ours has been pruned into a low-growing form, but left alone it would have grown to several metres in height and spread. Even when the flowers have finished it is a lovely shrub with dark green prominently veined leaves. Also rather gorgeous in May and June is the viburnum opulus ‘Roseum’ (the ‘snowball tree’) which is more upright and which develops translucent red berries in autumn. Both of them are easy to grow and not fussy about the conditions as long as they don’t dry out.

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MAY 2016

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THE BRISTOL MAGAZINE 87

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BRISTOL PROPERTY

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herborne Farm is an unlisted house with a wealth of history. It sits in a private and peaceful position with breathtaking views over the ten acres that surround it, yet is within easy reach of both Bristol and Bath. The property has been thoroughly and sympathetically improved and has become a charming and practical family home.

The house is brimming with character and according to English Heritage the exposed beams date from the mid-14th century and are thought to be offcuts from the church. The recently installed Smallbone kitchen and breakfast room, featuring a large central island and electric Aga, forms he focal point of the ground floor. Also on the ground floor are a dining room, drawing room, family room, boot room, utility and home office. On the first floor are five very well proportioned bedrooms and a large loft space accessed from bedroom five, offering lots of future potential. Below the main house is the historically interesting former button factory, believed to be the oldest factory in the Mendip hills. This building has now become a fantastic party barn. There is also the possibility (subject to consent) to convert additional outbuildings. Sporting and leisure activities are well catered for with a swimming pool and beautiful pool house, tennis court and four good sized stables. Sherborne Farm offers seclusion and space on a human scale and is a wonderful place for an active growing family.

Viewing is by appointment with Knight Frank of Clifton.

Knight Frank, Regent House, 27A Regent Street, Clifton, Bristol. Tel: 0117 317 1999

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SHERBORNE FARM LITTON, SOMERSET • Tranquil location with spectacular views • 5 Bedrooms, 3 Bathrooms • Party barn • Swimming pool, pool house & tennis court • Stables & outbuildings • Home office

Price £2.25 million

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BRISTOL PROPERTY

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THE BRISTOL MAGAZINE 89

Fine & Country May.qxp_Layout 1 18/04/2016 12:37 Page 1

NEW INSTRUCTION

Wedmore | Somerset

Guide Price ÂŁ950,000

A superb Grade II Listed detached home, situated in the sought after village of Wedmore and presenting buyers with a fabulous lifestyle opportunity both inside and out. Arranged over two floors, with a substantial loft space above, the house provides extensive family accommodation. The flexibility of the home is such that it will be of great interest to multi-generational buyers - a possibility made greater by the creation of Blandings - a charming two bedroom cottage within the grounds, complete with its own garage and garden. In all circa 6717 sq ft. EPC: Exempt

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NEW INSTRUCTION

Leigh Woods | Bristol

Guide Price ÂŁ1,695,000

An exceptional detached modern house just 0.5 miles from Clifton village, with superb south facing views, gated off-street parking and two garages.

Drawing room with balcony, study, family kitchen. Cinema room, gym (with shower), utility & separate laundry room. Master bedroom suite. Three further double bedrooms and two bath / shower rooms (1 en-suite). Bedroom five / home office. Circa 100' south facing garden. Parking and 2 garages. In all circa 3400 sq ft. EPC Rating: D

Bristol & Clifton’s premier Commercial Property Agents Keep up-to-date with our latest news and market comments at our website: www.burstoncook.co.uk

• Fantastic space

MARINER HOUSE, PRINCE STREET, BRISTOL CITY CENTRE • Refurbished loft style offices – • Open plan – c 1,200 sq ft – 2,400 sq ft • Close to Queen Square and The Waterfront • New lease – Only

£14.50 per sq ft

BROADMEAD A3 UNIT TO LET

BROADMEAD SHOP TO LET

• Large A3 restaurant unit

• Large shop 1,236 sq ft

PENTHOUSE OFFICE SUITE • City centre location • High quality studio style refurbishment • 3,762 sq ft + 2 cars

• Busy retail pitch

• 1,320 sq ft • Established pitch

• Shop & office use

• £27,500 pax – No premium

• New lease

STUDIO ‘TRENDY’ OFFICES CLIFTON

CLIFTON OFFICES • Flexible sizes from 460 to 1,550 sq ft

• Modern open plan studio offices of 1,650 sq ft

• Close to the BBC

• 4 on site car spaces

• On site parking

• New lease

• Flexible leases

SHOP TO LET 70 PARK STREET

FREEHOLD FOR SALE, HENLEAZE, BRISTOL

• Large retail unit of 1,924 sq ft

• Prominent A5 unit plus 5 bed maisonette

• *EXCELLENT TRADING POSITION*

• Great investment • Price on application

• New lease FOR SALE

ST BARTHOLOMEWS – BS1

• A complete Georgian town house close to Park Street

• A selection of 3 ground floor open plan office units to rent • 500 sq ft to 1,000 sq ft • New leases • Rent only – £12.95 per sq ft

• Tranquil residential location • PP for house or offices • Price £500,000

Julian Cook FRICS

Burston Cook May.indd 1

Jayne Rixon MRICS

Charlie Kershaw MRICS

(0117) 934 9977

Finola Ingham MRICS

Tom Coyte BA Hons

• Sales / Lettings • Acquisitions • Valuations • Landlord & tenant • Auction Sales

• Rent reviews • Property Management • Investment Sales / Purchase • Development & Planning • Dilapidations Advice

22/04/2016 10:11

PURCHASE YOUR OWN STUNNING HQ OFFICE… Located in the heart of the city centre with a generous private car park.

The Meeting House offers a rare opportunity to acquire a unique office building ideal for a modern office occupier requiring open plan studio style space.

This substantial property was formerly a Unitarian Chapel built in circa 1788-1791, however, was more recently converted into impressive office accommodation. Although at a first glance, the property has the appearance of a period building, internally the ground floor is predominantly open plan in nature and has a ‘studio style’ feel. There is additional office accommodation, break out areas and meeting spaces located on a mezzanine area with extends around the perimeter of the building on three sides. There is also an adjoining annex which could be self-contained if necessary.

In total, the building provides approximately 6,301 sq ft of usable space.

In addition to the office space, there is a private car park to the front of the property, providing ample and secure car parking.

Finola Ingham, Associate Director of Burston Cook comments “This is a unique opportunity to purchase a substantial HQ office, rich with history, character and many charming features, yet providing practical and modern open plan space.

Apart from attracting more traditional office occupiers, the building could also suit design / creative companies seeking a quirky working environment away from more traditional office space.

Finola also comments that “We are aware that the very style and nature of the property may well suit other uses (subject to planning) and therefore other occupiers would be considered. For example, we would encourage restaurant occupiers looking for unique opportunities to view the building with us”.

The freehold of the building is available to purchase with vacant possession.

For further information please contact Finola Ingham or Julian Cook at Burston Cook on 0117 9349977.

(0117) 934 9977 www.burstoncook.co.uk Burston Cook May.indd 2

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PROPERTY | NEW BUILDS

BOOM TOWN Our ever-evolving cityscape has welcomed a fair few nice, new developments in recent times – and there’s more to come...

I

n a city constantly being told it’s one of the very best places to live in the country – and sold to all and sundry that way – it’s unsurprising that there’s a pressing need for more housing. Lucky for us – both the happily settled, who’ll have these new developments built into our daily skyline, and the house-seeking, who will be living in them – the many and various options springing up all over the place seem to be of an incredibly high standard...

THE IRON FOUNDRY Giving the local property market a serious injection of industrial chic is The Iron Foundry, made up of 16 distinctive new apartments with a hugely desirable address adjacent to The General, and neighbours including the Michelin-starred eatery Casamia – jealous much? Launched just last month, the one, two and three-bedroom waterside properties built by City & Country, are located within a steel and glass structure designed to reflect the industrial past of the buildings that once stood next to the General Hospital. Also included are two duplex penthouse apartments with open-plan living space within a glazed atrium, and views over the Bathurst Basin and across the city’s skyline. The majority of properties feature large private balconies or terraces, a palette of stylish monochromatic shades, premium spec – naturally – and private lift access from an underground car park. “We have already seen the outstanding sales success of The General,” said Vicky Dudbridge, associate director at Savills Bristol. “And The Iron Foundry will offer an entirely different proposition to those historic homes.

Architecturally unique, they offer a standard of contemporary living not seen before. We expect interest to come from professionals working locally and along the M4 corridor; downsizers looking for a convenient, city-centre property; and buy-to-let investors who can take advantage of the rapidly growing profile of the area.” Apartments will be available for sale off-plan; guide price £350,000-£1,250,000.

– cityandcountry.co.uk

BANKSIDE The rise and rise of Southville in the local housing stakes is something existing BS3 residents are well aware of. While they obviously don’t want everyone to find out just how great a place it is – as popular with young professionals as it is with families due to its eclectic mix of lively cafes, restaurants, bars, food markets, street fairs and parks – they are willing to share the love. Juniper Homes’ Bankside development, launching on 7 May on Coronation Road, is offering more folk the chance to enjoy life there; with 41 apartments laying claim to river views, terraces, balconies and gardens. Some look out across The Cut, while those to the rear enjoy a more secluded environment. In Phase One you’ll find one, two and three-bedroomed homes all with a top-drawer specification and thoughtful finishing touches. Design-led interiors feature Masterclass Kitchens with Amtico Spacia flooring, Duropal worktops and matching upstands; integrated appliances including Bosch multi-function ovens; beautiful bathrooms with sanitary ware by Villeroy and Boch and contemporary Porcelanosa ceramic tiling. Parking is allocated to specific units, and there is also plentiful secure bike parking. The spring launch is expected to attract lots of attention, with so much already on the doorstep; the centre easily reached via a short stroll across Vauxhall Bridge; and Temple Meads equally accessible on foot or from Bedminster’s own train station. Prices for Phase One start at £180,000 – contact Ocean Estate Agents or Savills for more.

– banksidebs3.co.uk 94 THE BRISTOL MAGAZINE

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HULLER & CHEESE Another waterfront address to consider is Huller House – the sympathetic conversion of a Grade-II building with masses of architectural heritage into 10 distinctive two-bedroom warehouse apartments. The original windows have been meticulously recreated and doors have been converted to create Juliette balconies with glazed French doors, while inside, the design centres around a warm colour palette to enhance exposed brick walls and original cast iron columns, sleek designer kitchens, new oak flooring and luxury wool carpets.

The Cheese Factory, meanwhile, is the conversion of the former Cheese Warehouse into 34 elegant, cosmopolitan one and twobedroom apartments – again with gorgeously tasteful modern and open-plan interiors overlooking Bristol's Floating Harbour and showcasing oversized windows and concrete columns. We contracted a major case of interiors envy when we took a gander. If you’re looking for another-level luxury, there’s also a collection of six spacious penthouse apartments... Just saying.

Prices start from £295,000.

– hullerandcheesebristol.com

NUMBER ONE BRISTOL A former office building now transformed into 148 apartments spanning two wings, Number One – from developer PG Group – has not only a super-convenient city centre location but other plus points including a gym, private rooftop ‘sky garden’ and concierge service. In terms of design, the apartments have a contemporary feel and show real attention to detail; everything from triple-glazed windows to Porselanosa Kitchens, engineered wood flooring and Duravit bathrooms. Sales have already been agreed off-plan on 30% of the development, but prices for a one-bedroom apartment start at £202,000.

– numberonebristol.co.uk

HARRIS LOFTS Head to the industrial-era warehouse on Narrow Quay and you’ll find The Harris Lofts, a sympathetically executed conversion of a historic wharf-side building with 13 creatively conceived loft-style apartments. The building has a prime location overlooking the bustling thoroughfare of Pero’s Bridge and while its exterior has been modernised, the apartments are a fitting tribute to the history of the place; maintaining the balance between modern living and wonderful old architecture.

The development, which has been designed with energy efficiency in mind, is being sold by Bristol estate agents Alexander May, and offers a great opportunity to own a piece of the city’s history. Selling points include its boutique hotel feel, high spec throughout, Farrow & Ball palette and luxurious touches including beautifully engineered solid wood flooring.

– alexandermay.co.uk

ELECTRICITY HOUSE Originally designed by acclaimed architect Sir Giles Gilbert Scott in the 1930s, the iconic Electricity House was restored to its former glory in 2014 by Crest Nicholson. It now has a fabulous offering of 85 luxury one, two and three-bedroom apartments as well as a collection of duplex apartments and penthouses and a concierge service. With the help of a stellar design team, Crest Nicholson has fused Electricity House’s art deco inheritance with the living requirements of 2016.

Externally, the building remains almost unchanged; its grand front door and traditional windows simply lovingly restored along with the frontage. On the inside, a marble terrazzo floor, created by master craftsmen, runs to the first floor atrium, while

Opposite page, clockwise from top: The Foundry will sit adjacent to the honey-hued stone of The General; inside Harris Lofts; how about a pad in Paintworks?; or perhaps Number One Bristol would be your first choice...

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PROPERTY | NEW BUILDS

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PROPERTY | NEW BUILDS

Huller & Cheese has an enviable waterfront address and serious style credentials too

at the heart of the building is an innovative storage tube providing extra space for residents, and in keeping with the unique design of the building.

– crestnicholson.com/electricityhouse

PAINTWORKS Situated in Arnos Vale, already an enclave for the local artistic community, Paintworks provides an eclectic mix of one and two bedroom apartments, two, three and four bedroom houses and a number of live/work units.

The new homes, available as part of Crest Nicholson’s spring launch and just minutes from a number of the city’s art galleries, will be designed in the popular modern warehouse style, providing a contemporary urban feel to match the local bohemian vibe. The development will launch with a show apartment, meticulously designed in a loft apartment style and giving

potential residents the opportunity to experience the lifestyle on offer at this unique housing project. It will even host a one-of-a-kind artwork, created exclusively for Paintworks by local artists Stephen Quick and Astrid Foreman. “Paintworks is such a unique development and we know there are lots of people who want to live in this very trendy, design-focused part of Bristol,” said Laura Osborne at Paintworks. “Not only is it perfect for those looking for a home in an eclectic, bohemian neighbourhood but it’s also ideally located for access to Temple Meads and the centre. The area offers so many creative ways to spend your time, whether you enjoy browsing art galleries, taking a stroll down by the river or through beautiful Arnos Vale cemetery or popping in to one of the independent delicatessens nearby.” We couldn’t agree more. And despite their coveted location, homes here may cost a little less than you think, with the government’s Help to Buy scheme. Prices for a one-bedroom apartment start at £220,000.

– crestnicholson.com/paintworks n 96 THE BRISTOL MAGAZINE

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Home is where the art is: Crest Nicholson unveils Paintworks B ristol’s creative quarter is set to welcome a new generation of residents with the launch of Crest Nicholson’s Paintworks.

Situated in Arnos Vale, Paintworks is within close distance of Bristol Temple Meads station and provides an eclectic mix of one and two bedroom apartments, two, three and four bedroom houses and a number of live/work units.

The new homes, just minutes from a number of the city’s art galleries, have been designed in the hugely popular modern warehouse style, providing a contemporary urban feel, in keeping with the local bohemian vibe.

Recently launched at Paintworks is a three-bedroom live/work show home. Designed to maximise space, it boasts an open plan living/dining area, a stunning master en-suite bedroom and sprawling workshop on the lower ground floor and is perfect for those who work from home!

Paintworks boasts an envious location, it is at the heart of the creative quarter and the buzzing city centre is close by. With the government’s Help to Buy scheme, you could own a home of your own at this unique development for less than you think.

Prices for a one bedroom apartment start with Help to Buy at £176,000.

The hotly anticipated Paintworks development is a soughtafter place to live and work and new homes are expected to sellout fast. Come on down to our brand new on-site show home and marketing suite this spring to view the unique selection of homes that are now available to purchase off-plan. For more information visit www.crestnicholson.com/paintworks.

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PROPERTY | FOCUS

The Monastery, £749,950 House hunters in search of a bit of wowfactor should definitely find this property at 8 Barrow Court in Barrow Gurney worth investigating. It’s a gorgeous conversion of a wing in a substantial country house that has been sensitively converted into 18 homes, and was once home to the Gibbs family – well known Bristol land owners who owned the nearby Tyntesfield Estate. Enjoying a rural yet accessible location five miles from Bristol and just over four miles from the airport – and complete with fabulously verdant communal gardens, lovely, leafy tree-lined driveway, tennis court and parking – The Monastery has also been refurbished by the current owner, who is an interior designer by trade and has ensured a superb level of accommodation over the three floors. A unique rural retreat and definitely a real lifestyle opportunity, we think.

This month we explore a few local property possibilities available for under £800,000 – and we don’t reckon they’ll be around for long...

For more information, please contact Fine & Country, 147 Whiteladies Road, Clifton, BS48 3RP; 0117 973 3081; fineandcountry.co.uk

41 Pooles Wharf Court, £750,000 For those keen to be where all the action is, slap-bang in the centre of the city, while also enjoying peaceful waterside living, Pooles Wharf Court is certainly an option to consider. This Nineties development lies next to the floating harbour, and number 41 is part of an elegant row of townhouses with enviable views, well-stocked communal gardens and a gated entrance. Modern, south-west facing and with four good-sized bedrooms, this lovely abode, offering accommodation arranged over three floors, features an en-suite shower room and family bathroom, plus open-plan kitchen/dining/living room and – major bonus – off-street parking for two cars as well as a single garage.

For more information on this property, contact Richard Harding Estate Agents, 124 Whiteladies Road, Clifton, BS8 2RP; 0117 946 6690; richardharding.co.uk

12 Caledonia Place, £750,000 Sitting within arguably one of the most sought-after streets in Clifton Village is this substantial Georgian Grade-II maisonette. It’s in need of a little love and refurbishment but there’s a lot to work with, including an array of unspoilt features such as sash windows with shutters, detailed cornicing and fireplaces, together with a south-westerly facing courtyard-style garden. There are some great plus points to be found on the first floor too; where a fabulous drawing room runs the length of the building and has both front and rear balconies; absolutely ideal for alfresco entertaining in the warmer months.

For more information on this property, contact: Hamptons International, 80 Queens Road, Clifton, BS8 1QU 0117 322 6492; hamptons.co.uk

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Clifton t: 0117 923 8238 (sales) t: 0117 946 6588 (lettings) clifton@cjhole.co.uk

www.cjhole.com We’re looking at an upbeat property market in Bristol this May. Lenders have been lending, buyers have been buying and landlords have been letting. For what feels like the first time in a couple of years, conditions seem almost perfect for a level playing field. Supply and demand have almost equaled out, with greater choice now stabilising prices. Traditionally of course this is one of the busiest property months of the year, and despite pundit claims of an impact from the impending European referendum, here on the streets of North Bristol we certainly don’t seem to be feeling it. With the incredible growth we have seen in the last two years,

there appears to be enough momentum to ensure a solid Bristol property market for the time being. Stylish new builds, student accommodation, ‘metrobus’ preparations – the work in the city centre steams ahead transforming ‘old commercial’ to ‘young residential’. And leafy Clifton, Redland, Cotham, Sneyd Park? They remain as leafy and as desirable as ever, as Bristol really cements its position as one of the best places to live in the UK.

Howard Davis M.N.A.E.A Managing Director - CJ Hole Clifton

STOKE BISHOP A superior detached, 1930’s family house located in an idyllic cul-de-sac position. The versatile interior has seen a great deal of improvements throughout and has retained much of its original charm and character. The accommodation presents two reception rooms, entrance hall, cloakroom, extended kitchen/diner, utility room, four bedrooms (one with en suite shower room) and family bathroom. There are extensive gardens to the rear of the house, a mature garden, paved driveway and garage to the front. EPC D

£899,000

CLIFTON A beautifully presented townhouse with easy access to Clifton Village and the Harbourside, located on a no through road. This lovely period property combines period charm with modern fittings including a stylish kitchen, two receptions rooms have been linked together to offer a spacious living/dining space, three bedrooms and main bathroom. There is a courtyard garden to the rear of the property and it is in the residents parking zone. EPC D

£540,000

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CITY | BUSINESS

THE | COLUMNIST

THINKING PROPERTY ROBIN ENGLEY, ASSOCIATE AT KNIGHT FRANK ESTATE AGENTS BRISTOL

MAINTAINING FOR VALUE The Spring market has well and truly got underway this month with town and country sales continuing an incredibly positive run. A busy April concludes with numerous sales exchanging and completing before the Stamp Duty increase on second homes, which I’m sure had our local solicitors inundated with work.

It is the apartment market which attracts the most second homes and investors, which by volume accounts for a large amount of what Knight Frank sells from our Clifton office. Sales within our apartment market range from £300,000 purpose built modern apartments to impressive penthouses at above a £1 million.

SELLING YOUR PROPERTY? Choose an estate agency that will promote your best interests If you are currently thinking of selling your property, then consider using one of The Bristol Magazine’s featured estate agencies to give you the best possible promotional coverage.

Our estate agents advertise with us as part of a bigger selection of print and online marketing which means your property is presented to the highest standard and will reach the greatest audience.

A

recurring theme, and an issue which can hugely discourage and discount buyers, is how apartment blocks and converted houses are maintained.

Bruce Clothier, Associate Director at South West based property management agency BNS, says it’s vitally important to maintain a building’s exterior and communal areas in order to preserve the value of a property.

“It is extremely important for leaseholders to understand that the upkeep and presentation of communal areas of their building plays a significant role in enticing or discouraging potential purchasers, as well as leaving visitors with lasting impressions of the property as a whole.

Leaseholders often become pre-occupied with maintaining their individual apartments, which of course is important, but this upkeep becomes redundant when a visitor or potential purchaser has to walk through an unkempt and unmaintained communal entrance Leaseholders typically have a responsibility, in accordance with their lease, to maintain the fabric of the building as well as communal internal and external areas. Leaseholders who uphold this responsibility and ensure efficient, regular and cost effective maintenance of their property can increase its value and stand out above the rest.

The annual communal service charge is key in ensuring the property is regularly maintained to high standards throughout the year, so leaseholders have to be realistic with their budgeting for this. The service charge allows for reserves to be built and regular maintenance such as internal decorations, communal area upgrades and communal carpet replacement to be undertaken.

At BNS we have experience in managing an extensive and diverse portfolio of properties throughout the South West and we know it is vital that subcontractors and maintenance providers are sourced based on value for the services they provide rather than purely on a cost basis.

Spending a little extra time or money to hire a more efficient local contractor or managing agent will enhance the appearance and integrity of your building, retain its value and set it apart from the competition.”

Knight Frank has a range of superb apartments in both Oakfield Court and the prestigious Burwalls development in Leigh Woods still available and would be happy to discuss these with any potential purchasers. As ever, many of these sites are sold to those buyers actively on our books who have registered their interest in the past and it’s vital, in a market which is very competitive, that you are registered with the agent that deals with the type of property that you are looking for. n If you are contemplating a move this year and would like some advice on the value of your home please contact Robin Engley or James Toogood for a free no obligation market appraisal.

Robin Engley, Knight Frank, Regent House, 27a Regent Street, Clifton Bristol. BS8 4HR Tel: 0117 317 1999

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Henleaze

Henleaze

Westbury Park

A well-presented natural four bedroom family home with three receptions; front with bay and wood burner and sitting room to rear with contemporary fireplace and patio doors to a 23.5m southerly facing private garden and third reception/dining room which leads to kitchen. Two garden sheds and brick paved parking to driveway.

EPC E.

A three double bedroom family home with three reception rooms, kitchen, utility room and downstairs WC. Further benefits include a 70ft southerly facing rear garden, modern garage and ample parking. Positioned adjacent to Henleaze Infant and Junior Schools and the shops and amenities of Henleaze high street.

EPC D.

A substantial semi detached family home with ground floor lateral extension providing three receptions; front with bay and contemporary fireplace, rear sitting room opening to kitchen/diner with French doors to private garden, additional reception/ office, three bedrooms and spacious family bathroom. Ample private parking. Marketed with no onward chain. EPC TBC.

Price Guide £665,000

Price Guide £575,000

Price Guide £550,000

Blaise

Westbury-on-Trym

Westbury-on-Trym

Five double bedrooms, four bathrooms, three receptions, kitchen-breakfast room and two downstairs cloakrooms/WC; a landscaped, fully enclosed, south-westerly facing garden, with dual access, measuring approximately 28m, large patio area and secure gated parking for several vehicles. This 16th century property maintains its original period features yet has a contemporary edge.

Well cared for 1930’s semi-detached family home with a level, south westerly facing garden, two receptions, separate kitchen, four bedrooms and modern family bathroom.

Off street parking and single garage. In close proximity to the shops and amenities of Stoke Lane and Westbury-on-Trym village.

Marketed with no onward chain.

EPC E.

A delightful period cottage offering two double bedrooms, spacious lounge, fully equipped kitchen and contemporary shower room. There is a pretty courtyard garden with stone outbuilding to rear. Located within the oldest part of Westbury-onTrym village convenient to local shops and amenities as well as public transport links.

No onward chain. EPC D.

Price Guide £1,000,000

£575,000

CJ Hole May.indd 1

£289,000

18/04/2016 15:48

Clifton £450,000

Upper Belgrave Road – Two bedroom flat

Clifton Office 0117 946 6007

A stunning top floor apartment with access to the roof which has 360 degree amazing views to the front over the Durdham Downs and to rear across the City of Bristol. All rooms are finished to a high standard. No onward chain. EPC - E

Westbury on Trym £350,000

Exuding period charm and character, with modern and contemporary twists this quaint period cottage will generate substantial interest.

There are 2 reception rooms, one being open plan to the fitted kitchen. The bathroom is located on the first floor as well as the two spacious bedrooms. EPC - TBC

n ew io N uct r st

In

Westbury-on-Trym Office 0117 962 1973

Church Road – Two bedroom house

oceanhome.co.uk

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Clifton Wood £385,000

Clifton Wood Court – Two bedroom flat A beautifully presented Two bedroom Upper Maisonette with Open Plan living area and Roof terrace with a nice sunny aspect along with Stunning views. Single garage and parking. Pleasant communal gardens. Tenure – Leasehold. Energy rating - TBC

Hallen £350,000

Pew Corner – Three bedrooms Quite simply this property exudes character, charm and history which the current owners have cleverly and expertly complimented and contrasted with contemporary finishes and touches, restoring this property has been a labour of love with no expense spared.

EPC - TBC

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Beyond your expectations www.hamptons.co.uk

NEW INSTRUCTION

Clifton

Guide Price £1,750,000

A handsome and spacious 5 bedroom detached family house with front and rear gardens and a tandem garage. EPC: F

SALE AGREED

Leigh Woods

Guide Price £750,000

A fantastic Grade II Listed refurbishment opportunity with 2/3 bedrooms, garden and 2 balconies in sought after position.

SALE AGREED

Guide Price £750,000

SIMILAR REQUIRED 3 bed detached former stable with feature turret has been restored to provide a superb family home. EPC: C

SALE AGREED

City Centre

Clifton Village

Long Ashton

Guide Price £525,000

Guide Price £749,500

SOLD SUBJECT TO CONRACT SIMILAR REQUIRED A 5 bedroom detached family house in the heart of this village. EPC: D

Clifton

Guide Price £1,350,000

SALE AGREED

SALE AGREED

SOLD WITHIN 24 HOURS SIMILAR URGENTLY REQUIRED Ground floor 3 bed home with views across the water. EPC: C

Burrington

A stunning and recently renovated 5 bedroom period gem nestled in the sought after village of Burrington.

EPC: F

St Andrews

Guide Price £575,000

SIMILAR REQUIRED for disappointed buyers, a 3 bedroom family house with many period features.

EPC: D

SALE AGREED

Guide Price £350,000

SIMILAR REQUIRED Grade II listed 2 bedroom apartment with courtyard garden.

Redland

Guide Price £365,000

SIMILAR REQUIRED FOR DISAPPOINTED VIEWERS Hall floor flat with 2 bed, 2 baths and parking. EPC:D

NEW INSTRUCTION

City Centre

Guide Price £310,000

IDEAL INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITY. Situated in the heart of the city this 2 bedroom apartment with parking conveys a sense of urban style and finesse. EPC: C

City Centre

Guide Price £475,000

This contemporary 3 bedroom duplex penthouse apartment offers unparalleled views of the city and beyond. EPC: C

Clifton Village

Guide Price: £435,000

An exclusive Grade II listed property situated within its own private, gated development with secure allocated parking.

Hamptons Bristol

Sales. 0117 322 6362 | bristol@hamptons-int.com

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Elberton, South Gloucestershire Elberton Old Manor occupies a tranquil and spectacular position. It is predominantly surrounded by open farmland which can be enjoyed from many angles. It has been meticulously restored by the current owners who were keen to retain and enhance the plethora of original period detailing. They have modernised and improved the flow and usability of the house to create as many generous rooms and open spaces as possible.

Guide Price OIEO £2,000,000 • • • • •

5 Reception Rooms Superbly equipped family kitchen 7 further bedrooms Outbuildings including period barn Approximately 1.7 acres

Hamptons Bristol

Sales. 0117 322 6362 | bristol@hamptons-int.com

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Richard Harding Chartered Surveyors • Estate Agents • Auctioneers • Valuers

CLIFTON guide £995,000

A spectacular conversion of this grade II listed period hall offering 4 bedrooms (2 with en suite), 2 off street parking spaces. Boasting an incredible 35ft x 21ft kitchen/dining/living space with bi-folding doors leading out onto a low maintenance L shaped courtyard garden; set discreetly behind electronic gates yet within just 200 metres level walk of Clifton Village, this small select development is also nearby the green open spaces of Durdham Downs, Clifton Suspension Bridge and all central areas.

An elegant and impressive large 4 bedroom (was 5 bedroom), 3 bathroom, 3 reception room Victorian period family town house (circa 2900 sq ft) with a charming southerly aspect rear town garden, double garage and generous civilised flexible accommodation over four floors including fine principal rooms with high ceilings and period features. In a prime location between Whiteladies & Pembroke Road, handy for Clifton College, Clifton Village & the Downs. EPC: D

A generously proportioned (circa 2,700 sq.ft) 5 bedroom, Victorian period town house PLUS adaptable and flexible lower floor currently arranged as a self-contained 2 bedroom flat. In need of some renovation and improvement but with exciting potential. Set in a very popular and convenient street positioned between Whiteladies Road and Pembroke Road. EPC: E

CLIFTON guide £795,000

A most civilised and engaging 4 double bedroom mid-Georgian (circa 1770) grade II listed period. A very stylish and tastefully presented 4/5 bedroom Victorian period town house with a sunny 40ft x 15ft garden. Charming accommodation over 3 storeys currently laid out with an upstairs drawing room which could easily be the master bedroom if required, 3 further bedrooms and a small bedroom 5/nursery. On the ground floor there is a sitting room and a stunning kitchen/dining room backing on to a generous town garden. EPC: D

CLIFTON guide £595,000

CLIFTON guide £660,000

A rather grand and very stylish, hall floor garden flat with a private entrance, impressive drawing room with double doors opening into a kitchen/dining room, off street parking space and a charming private rear garden.

Bright and airy accommodation with high ceilings and large sash windows. 2 bedrooms including an opulent master. Offers easy access to Clifton Triangle, Park Street, Bristol University, medical districts, BBC and the bottom of Whiteladies Road. EPC: D

Professional, Reliable, Successful

CLIFTON guide £1,200,000

CLIFTON guide £765,000

A beautifully presented and spacious 3/4 bedroom period home with generous and flexible accommodation arranged over three floors and a pretty 36ft x 16ft landscaped rear garden; great location close to the Downs and nearby Whiteladies Road and St Johns Primary School, also convenient for access to Clifton village and the city centre. No onward chain making a prompt and convenient move possible. A charming and larger than expected Victorian house in a lovely Clifton location. EPC: D

0117 946 6690 www.richardharding.co.uk 124 Whiteladies Road, Clifton, Bristol BS8 2RP

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Richard Harding Chartered Surveyors • Estate Agents • Auctioneers • Valuers

An immaculately presented and large 6 bedroom (2 with en-suite), 3 reception room semi-detached Victorian house with a stylish interior designed for modern family living, further benefiting from off street parking, a fabulous 21ft x 12ft kitchen/dining space and a level rear garden. Coveted location off the beaten track and yet so convenient: within 0.25 miles of Whiteladies Road, easy for the Downs/city centre/University/main Hospitals.

A spectacular refurbished period home in a desirable location. EPC: F

REDLAND guide £1,150,000

An attractive 5 bedroom, 3 reception early Victorian period semi-detached house dating from circa 1860 – set in a favoured and convenient location in the heart of Redland. Renovated to provide bright, well proportioned accommodation with an abundance of character & period features. Has a wonderful feel, full of light, with high ceilings & large sash windows. Very well thought out & sympathetically renovated, offers spacious family accommodation and a westerly facing rear lawned rear garden. Cotham North Residents Parking Scheme. EPC: C

A characterful and bright 5 bedroom Edwardian family home situated in an enviable cul-de-sac located within just 250 metres of Westbury Park School and Durdham Downs and 900 metres of Redland Green School.

Further benefitting from two joined reception rooms, a wonderful 18’10” x 11’10” sociable kitchen/breakfast room and a level south-westerly facing rear garden. Wonderful location – situated on a sought after pretty road within close proximity of Durdham Downs and the local shops of North View/Waitrose. EPC: D

WESTBURY PARK guide £725,000

A spacious and immaculately presented 5 bedroom (1 with en-suite) semi-detached Edwardian family home situated on a popular and peaceful tree lined road in the heart of Westbury Park, within just 100 metres of Westbury Park School and within 800 metres of Redland Green School. Further benefitting from a fabulous 27ft x 11ft family kitchen with folding doors leading out onto a south-westerly facing rear garden. EPC: tbc

STOKE BISHOP guide £689,950

Offered with no chain - A very spacious 2 double bedroom apartment within a stone’s throw of Whiteladies Road. Set in an exceptionally convenient location within 50 yards of Whiteladies Road - a particularly large (circa 1170 sq ft), bright and airy 2 double bedroom (master en-suite) early Victorian period top floor apartment with generous sitting room and separate kitchen/dining room both with a sunny southerly aspect. Set in a side road away from passing traffic yet within touching distance of Whiteladies Road.

Positioned ‘off the beaten track’ – away from passing traffic and at the end of a private driveway shared with just one other house. Accommodation comprises large kitchen/dining room, a quite stunning vaulted living room with doors opening onto the garden, a further reception room, utility room and downstairs wc. First Floor – 4 bedrooms – the master is rather special, bath/shower room. Tropical south-west facing garden and large garage.

Professional, Reliable, Successful

REDLAND guide £995,000

WESTBURY PARK guide £845,000

CLIFTON guide £415,000

0117 946 6690 www.richardharding.co.uk 124 Whiteladies Road, Clifton, Bristol BS8 2RP

Frenchay - Guide Price ÂŁ875,000 Fox Hollow is a sleek and sophisticated family home boasting over 3000 sq./ft. of accommodation. It has been proudly built to the highest specification using traditional materials by bespoke builders Yeo & Andrews. Spacious hallway with Oak floors and a cloakroom to one side. A staircase with contemporary glass balustrade rises to the upper floor. Two reception rooms are positioned to either side of the hall and provide the formal living space. Exceptional open plan family/kitchen/living area providing around 750 sq./ft. of space is undoubtedly the centrepiece of the house. It boasts a high tech kitchen with top end Siemens appliances Adjacent to the kitchen is a well-appointed utility room. The upper floor radiates off a spacious galleried landing area creating a sense of space and light. Five double bedrooms, the master bedroom and 2nd bedroom are complimented by generous en-suite shower rooms using high quality fittings and sanitary ware. The family bathroom is similarly equipped and equally spacious. Level lawned rear garden, drive for four cars and double garage.

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Sneyd Park - Guide Price £1,500,000

Stoke Bishop - Guide Price £715,000

A distinguished 5 double bedroom 1930’s ‘Stride’ detached family house situated in one of North-West Bristol’s most desirable suburbs. Set in a large secluded plot with delightful gardens. -EPC - E

A classic style 1930’s 4 bedroom semi-detached house being over 1700 sq. ft, with a good size rear garden, situated in a desirable side road within the admissions area for Elmlea Infant School and The Bristol Free School. EPC - F

Stoke Bishop - Guide Price £699,500

Stoke Bishop - Guide Price £699,500

We are delighted to offer this very attractive 1920’s 5 bedroom semi-detached family home which is presented in good condition throughout. There is a circa. 80’ level lawned rear garden, has ample parking to the front and there is an integral garage. EPC - E

This is an exceptional 1920’s 4 bedroom semi-detached family house situated on a corner plot offering large gardens & a 4 car garage. The property has been considerably extended on the ground floor in recent years creating wonderful versatile living. -EPC - E

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Westbury-on-Trym - Guide Price £515,000

Westbury-on-Trym - Guide Price £499,500

This is a charming 1930’s semi-detached family house situated in a lovely quite road in Westbury-on-Trym. It offers 4 bedrooms, 2 reception rooms, a good size rear garden laid mainly to lawn, a detached garage and plenty of off-street parking. EPC - E

A stunning Georgian cottage which has been painstakingly restored, extended and refurbished with great attention to detail offering 3 bedrooms, 2 reception rooms and a large enclosed lawned rear garden. EPC - E

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