As Britain has voted Wastwater in the Lake District as its favourite view in the final episode of ‘Britain’s Favourite View’, the Sunday night series introduced by Trevor Macdonald , would this get the vote as - BRISTOL’S FAVOURITE VIEW ?
It is 6am on a beautiful misty summer’s morning, and I am sitting on a bench on the city side of the Clifton Suspension Bridge in my adopted city of Bristol. I am watching the mass ascend of hot-air-balloons creep over the tree tops of Ashton Court, the other side of the Avon Gorge. First come the standard spherical shaped balloons. As they hang in the perfect still morning air with the back drop of the trees, they look like multi-coloured Christmas tree baubles.
Bristol is the city synonymous with hot-air-balloons, with Cameron Balloons of Bedminster being the world’s largest manufacturer. Man’s first experience of flight was in a hot air balloon in 1783. In 1976 nearly 200 years later Cameron launched the first of the special-shaped advertising balloons. Among other records held by Cameron’s, it was a Cameron balloon the Breitling Orbiter 3 which was the first balloon to circumnavigate the world non-stop. It took 20 days in 1999.
Whilst on the subject of flight; on the 26th November 2003 the last ever Concorde flight flew over the Clifton Suspension Bridge before landing at Filton. A symbolic moment which Bristolian’s turned out to watch en masse lumps in throats, as the majestic bird returned to her birth place.
In front of me is the Avon Gorge Hotel with the beautiful terrace overlooking the Gorge. This was the hotel where Bristol’s famous son Cary Grant used to stay when visiting his birth place. Born Archibold Leach in Horfield he became an American citizen when his acting career took off, but always retained an affection for Bristol. The archetypal lounge-lizard, Ian Fleming modelled his character James Bond on him.
Some of the balloons which had initially climbed higher had caught a thermal which carried them in a Bedminster direction. The balloons which had stayed lower were carried in the opposite direction and were drifting over the Clifton Suspension Bridge. Brunel was voted the second greatest Briton, only being beaten by Churchill, by the BBC One programme ‘The Greatest Briton’.The foundation stone was laid in 1831, but due to financial and political problems the bridge was not finished until 5 years after his death in 1864. Built for horse drawn traffic, wealthy merchants who traded in the city could escape over the bridge to a more pleasant atmosphere in Leigh Woods when the day’s business was done.
The Gorge, carved out in the Ice Age, is not just a spectacular land-mark, but is also a designated Site of Special Scientific Interest. The Gorge is known for its rare wildlife which includes horseshoe bats and peregrine falcons. It is the home of two species of tree found nowhere else in the world, the Bristol Whitebeam and Wilmott’s Whitebeam. With three iron-age forts overlooking the Gorge, it is a fascinating area of a fascinating city.
What historic shipping has caught the tide to travel along the Gorge. Cabot’s toy-like ship the Matthew, sailing out on the voyage to (inadvertently) discover Newfoundland, and be the first European to land on the continent of North America. Slave ships bringing goods into Bristol from America, and sailing out again empty to pick up slaves in Africa to transport to America, completing the notorious ‘slave triangle’. Brunel’s SS Great Britain, a sad hulk being towed home in 1970, having been rescued from a life as a coal store off the Falkland Islands.
The early morning sun burnt off the mist, and people started coming out onto their Georgian balconies with their mugs of coffee; it was a perfect morning. With city next to nature, with history and human interest. This is surely a view with it all.
Sandra Hurst
September 30th 2007