Autumn for freelancers in Bristol & Bath
Right. It’s the start of October, the light has gone low and golden, and we bet that your laptop has been open since September 1st with no sign of closing.
We get it. When you’re a designer, a developer, a writer or anyone else who makes things for a living, it is very easy to look up at 4 pm and find the day has quietly left without you. But autumn round here is short, transient, and it is worth experiencing – those ephemeral colours will not wait for your next deadline.
So here is our list: pumpkins, nature, a few proper walks and some cider. Most of it is a short trip from our coworking spaces in Bristol and Bath, and all of it is better with other people. Which is sort of the whole point.
Here are six things to do to make the most of it this autumn…
Go and pick a pumpkin
A field, a wheelbarrow and a slightly competitive search for the perfect one. It is weirdly good for the soul. Two patches worth the trip:
Bath Pumpkin Patch at Newton Farm. Free entry, and you pay for what you pick. Tractor trailer rides for the little ones (and big ones, who doesn’t love a tractor ride?), plenty of photo spots, and a food truck for afterwards. Open weekends from Saturday 3 October and every day of half term. Book a free ticket here.
Farrington’s Farm, Farrington Gurney. Every pumpkin in the patch is grown on the farm itself, and there is a farm shop and a little village of independent businesses on site. Tickets here.
Wellies, not trainers. It is a field in October.
Meet an owl
The Bird of Prey Project sits in Newton St Loe, next door to Newton Farm Shop and Cafe, making a pumpkin-and-owl double very easy to plan. It is a small, award-winning centre with more than 20 species of hawks, owls and falcons, and the kind of small charity we definitely encourage you to support.
If you want to go properly hands-on, book a Hawk Walk or an Owl Encounter and fly the birds yourself. A perfect nature morning, and a good excuse to look at something that isn’t your laptop for a bit. Book here.
Hug some trees
Westonbirt Arboretum is roughly 40 minutes from Bristol, and in October it goes properly spectacular. The Japanese maples are the stars, but they’ve got just about every tree you can imagine there. Colour usually peaks from mid to late October, so book ahead here.
Need to get those creative juices flowing? Bring a notebook. Westonbirt is celebrating the season with the British Haiku Society this autumn, and it is a lovely place to write, sketch or photograph.
Walk somewhere with a view
If you only have a lunch break or one free afternoon, these are the walks we would send you on:
Bath Skyline. A National Trust circular walk that starts a short way from the city centre and climbs into meadows and ancient woodland. There is a six-mile version and a gentler three-mile loop. A natural one for anyone based at Trinity Church.
Leigh Woods. Cross the Clifton Suspension Bridge and you are in free-to-enter National Trust woodland. Head for Nightingale Valley for the views back over the Avon Gorge.
Ashton Court. A big Bristol estate with a deer park, city views and the 700-year-old Domesday Oak. Good for a long, unhurried lap.
Have a good old-fashioned cider
Somerset takes cider seriously, and autumn is when it makes the most sense. A few places we would happily be found in:
The Orchard Inn, Spike Island. Bristol’s original cider pub, dating back to 1834. Unpretentious in the best way.
The Apple, Welsh Back. A restored Dutch barge with a big cider list. Grab a spot on the quayside if the sun is out.
Bath Cider House, Bath. A taproom for craft cider and giant pizzas you can order to complement, yes please!
Treat yourself to a classic pumpkin spice latte
Everyone has a view on the pumpkin spice latte, and most views arrive attached to a very large chain. Ours is simple: find the independent version. Small cafés make theirs in their own way, and that is where it gets interesting.
Here are the ones our community keeps going back to:
Good Day Café, Bath. PSA – You might end up ordering more than just a Pumpkin Spice Latte here; their selection of cakes, brownies and cookies is to die for!
Cortado Café, Bath. If you’re lucky enough to bag a coveted outdoor seat overlooking Pulteney Bridge, you can treat yourself to a pumpkin spice latte, or our seasonal fave, their very own maple and cinnamon spiced latte.
All of the above would certainly make for a wholesome solo date, but isn’t everything just a little bit better with company? Left to our own devices, we will all stay exactly where we are until December.
So ask the person sitting at the desk beside you if they fancy a PSL. Plot a Saturday hiking trip in your Slack channel, or connect with other parents in the space for a pumpkin picking carpool. The best bits of autumn tend to happen when somebody says ‘shall we?’ and somebody else says ‘yes’.
That is what our coworking spaces are for. Somewhere to do good work, and a group of people who will happily talk you out of it for an afternoon.
Come and see what it’s like…
If you are a designer, developer, writer, photographer or anyone else with a lot of screen and not enough sky, come and see what a creative community feels like. Join Gather Round this October and your first month is on us.
Book a tour, and we’ll put the kettle on.
This post was written by Kristele at Trinity Church.
