A harbour city with a mind of its own

Bristol grew up around its harbour, and the harbour is still where the city gathers. The old docks, closed to commercial shipping in the 1970s, are now lined with museums, galleries and converted warehouses; small yellow-and-blue ferries cross between the quays, and the restaurants of Wapping Wharf fill up on any dry evening. Brunel’s SS Great Britain lies in the dry dock where she was built.

Up the hill, Clifton is all Georgian terraces and crescents, ending abruptly at the edge of the Avon Gorge. The Clifton Suspension Bridge crosses it some 75 metres above the river, a piece of engineering that has become the city’s emblem. Back towards the centre, Park Street climbs past independent shops to the university tower, while Stokes Croft and Bedminster carry the murals that made Bristol’s street art famous.

The city likes to do things its own way: cider from the orchards of Somerset, independent traders in and around St Nicholas Market, and a music history that runs through Massive Attack and Portishead. When you want a change of scene, Bath, with its Roman baths and honey-coloured crescents, is a quarter of an hour by train from Temple Meads station.