We went to the friendly neighborhood of Bristol, with an ancient forest and holy well

Next to the feeder canal and on the road to Bath there is a quiet residential area which at first glance appears to be of little interest. If you enter St Anne’s from St George, you are greeted with a not-so-picturesque roundabout, next to a huge car park, a large Co-Op supermarket and a couple of cafes and fish and chip shops.

The area is mostly residential, but the streets seem to be buzzing with birds rather than people. But if you walk into Abbie’s Cafe on the hill above, the place is full of chatter, and Abbie Brailsford and her sister Chelsea, who own it, seem to know all the customers who come and go.

“I know everyone here, it’s a lovely area,” explained Abbie, who moved the cafe to the neighborhood in 2016. She said what she likes most about St Anne’s is the people and that despite its appearance quiet, there is always more going on.

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Lana Gale, who regularly visits the cafe, agrees that St Anne’s is a nice place to live and people generally have everything they need in the neighbourhood. “Everyone takes care of each other here,” explained the hairdresser.

Lana does a collection every Christmas and Easter for local women’s shelters, which the cafe sisters and other local businesses support. This summer the cafe is offering children’s meals for £1, and once a year children from local primary schools take over the space for a ‘play cafe’ group session.

“I find St Anne’s very friendly. The sisters at Abbie’s are always very warm and welcoming, it has a very nice atmosphere there. I like to walk my dog ​​at St Anne’s Wood and some locals like to go wild swimming in the nearby River Conham,” added Lana.

Like Lana, many of the locals in St Anne use the ancient woods to walk their dogs, but during the pandemic some of the locals have flocked there hoping to find ancient artifacts from the past. A woman visited it this week after seeing it listed on a Facebook group as a treasure-digging site.

Saint Anne herself is believed to have been the grandmother of Jesus, and the forest was once a famous place for pilgrims to travel to see a shrine of Anne and make a wish on the holy well that remains in the forest today. Although there have been several attempts to find the ruins of her shrine, no one has yet been able to find it.

Although not all locals are aware of the forest’s history and are spoiled for choice when it comes to green spaces. The forest remains relatively quiet these days. The paths are full of nettles and the well no longer seems to be seen by many as a sacred place.

The well in the woods is not the only part of St Anne’s that seems to have been forgotten. In this quiet community, there was also a train station. St Anne’s Park – closed over 50 years ago, but local campaigners, backed by Kerry McCarthy MP, have now raised £50,000 to restore the old station.

Given that they are located next to the huge Bristol Temple Quarter development and currently only have one occasional bus in the neighborhood (the number 36), the plans are welcomed by many local people who rely on public transport.