The Local's Guide: Windmill Hill

Local foodie & film buff Tim Popple gives us a tour of this cosy corner of South Bristol...

Windmill Hill. Source - Emily Ketteringham

I’ve lived in Bristol for nine years this March, and for the last four I’ve lived on Windmill Hill.

It's only half hour’s walk from the centre, but you'll be surprised how little temptation there is to venture into town when there's so much to do here! 

Windmill Hill City Farm

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the farm. A true homegrown venture, Windmill Hill City Farm is a community all of its own. A farm, a café, a play area, a nursery - a space for a community to grow and thrive as strongly as the animals there.

When my children were younger, we would spend hours going round the farm (all of us), playing in the playground (them) and drinking coffee in the café (me). They may have grown out of the play area now, but the experience of being so close to nature is still appreciated.

The farm's website says it best: “a place where people grow”.  

Victoria Park

Victoria Park is a massive green space with a mini play park and beautiful views over Totterdown and central Bristol.

It's almost always dotted with joggers, dog walkers and families; a slice of calm in a busy city.

The park also hosts many events throughout the year, chief among which is the annual Bonfire Night event. It's fireworks-free, so pet-friendly and a great night of food, friends, and fire. 

North by North Street

Living at the bottom end of Windmill Hill, we have the benefit of being just around the corner from North Street. 

A street of two halves (with the southern half being home to Tobacco Factory Theatres and Bristol Beer Factory), I spend more time at the home end.

Within that short distance there’s The Old Bookshop, The Spotted Cow, Corks of North Street and Oowee Diner. That’s a lot of really great beer and food per square metre. 

North Street. Source - Paul Furniss

And more…

Bristol is great. I mean in size. It’s large. And it’s growing faster than anywhere in the UK outside London. Yet it never feels like a big city the way London or Manchester or even Leeds do.

There’s something which stops it feeling faceless, and instead has a more intangible almost parochial feel to it. It’s a cluster of communal hubs, all gelled together by merit of being Bristol. Windmill Hill is part of that, one of those hubs, and it’s brilliant to be part of that. 

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About the author

Having grown up in the far north, Tim Popple migrated south for warmer weather nine years ago. When he's not eating or thinking about food, he's watching or thinking about films, writing, singing, taking his children on a tour of the city's burger restaurants, or sampling the city's growing fried chicken scene.