A Remarkable Corner of Bristol

Further Info

This story was made on a four and a half day training workshop for library staff in Bristol. It was the first Bristol Stories workshop to use entirely Windows software.

It was led by Paul Matson, Sarwat Siddiqui and Paddy Uglow and was supported by Bristol’s Museums, Galleries & Archives.

Transcript

[traffic sounds] Half a mile South of the city centre is an island of rural calm in the hectic urban sea of Bristol. Windmill Hill City Farm was founded in the early 1970’s thanks to the determined efforts of a handful of activists and a local population hungry for a community space of their own. The result was that the vacant plot of land on Phillip St. in Bedminster became a community farm and not, as was originally planned, a giant parking area for lorries.

[farm sounds] I visit the Farm frequently, walking through the farmyard and into the gardens, the pace of life immediately slows and I feel I have escaped from the city for a while.

There is a relaxing atmosphere here and people seem to be at ease and smile at you, in contrast to the indifference of many in other parts of the city. A definite feeling of community can be sensed here.

The people, the animals, and the plants, are what make this place special, they combine to provide a unique environment which I find fascinating.

On a typical visit I might be chatting to volunteer “Ken the cowboy” about weeding the yard, next I might meet one of the farm team and get into a conversation about rearing piglets, next I could be surfing the internet in the Computer Centre.

I take my hat off to those founders and volunteers who fought to bring this diverse place into existence, we would all be worse off without this remarkable corner of Bristol, planet earth, the Solar system. [last words echo, “sci-fi” sounds]

Credits

Solar system image created by Nasa, used under copyright licence.

Traffic sounds created by freesound.iua.upf.edu, Giddykipper, used under copyright licence.

City Farm images created by Windmill City Farm Archive, permission obtained, used under copyright licence.

All media not otherwise credited created by the story author, or permission obtained, used under Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 licence.