The village of Easter Compton isn't just a place one might visit during, well, Easter - residents say that it is in fact more than just a village, offering the "best of two worlds".
With a small collection of shops at its heart, as well as village staples like a farm shop, Post Office and popular local pub, it may look like nothing more than a quaint little village on the outskirts of Bristol but, in fact, it's home to a busy main road and is neighboured by some of the quirkiest places around for a fun adventure.
Drawing in those on their travels along the motorway on some of the region's busiest routes, many get to see the village as they pass through, but it's really the residents that keep the village's heart beating all year round.
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Sandra Dawkins has lived in Easter Compton with her husband Chris for eight years. The couple originally bought some land from South Gloucestershire Council and built two houses in the village. While doing so they fell in love with the village and the friendliness of its locals and eventually bought a house and moved here permanently.
Sandra says: "I describe Easter Compton as being the best of two worlds. We are surrounded by farming fields but are exactly one mile from The Mall at Cribbs Causeway for all the necessary retail outlets.
"We have the three essentials for a village. A shop (The Dinky Store), a pub (The Fox) and a Post Office (albeit run from the village hall three mornings a week).
"The Dinky Store kept a lot of the villagers going throughout the pandemic and went above and beyond in making sure that the elderly and more vulnerable people in the village were looked after by taking orders and putting up food parcels. Hari who runs The Dinky Store is great and also supports the many fundraising events we do."
"John and Lucinda Lucker run The Fox pub and ran a nightly quiz via zoom during the pandemic and also do a wonderful Sunday lunch."
Sandra explains how the village hall is a key part of Easter Compton and there are many classes, for all ages and interests, which run there.
These include everything from a toddler group, to yoga, Precision Dance, Bodydance, Art Club, Puppy training, Tango, Sport Stretch, Table Tennis and even Pilates. The village also has a WI group which meet once a month and the village hall organise two huge events in the village - a carnival and fireworks.
Sandra says that both events attract a huge number of visitors, both locally and from further afield but sadly, these events haven’t been able to go ahead since lockdown.
Another key event in the Easter Compton calendar is The Safari Supper, which sees its return this year and entails more than 20 villagers dining on starters, mains and dessert courses in each others' houses before ending their culinary experience in The Fox pub for coffee and more socialising.
Like something from an American holiday movie, residents have been known to decorate the front of their houses over Christmas and the holiday period - and the locals love nothing more than collecting for charity.
'Run by the Community for the Community'
Along with a resident called Sarah Hunter, who has lived in the village for more than 20 years, Sandra set up Cafe Compton - a little community cafe which the pair run from the village hall on the second Saturday of each month as a way of helping villagers have the confidence to start meeting with friends and neighbours again as the country comes out of lockdown.
The cafe's tagline is "Run by the Community for the Community" and they have a small team of seven volunteers who are involved each month. A 'not for profit' cafe, the team has organised and either paid for or contributed towards events such as the Christmas Tree for 2020 and 2021, a brass band carol concert with a nativity stable and presents from Father Christmas, an Easter trail for 2021 which was written in poem form and saw villagers searching for white rabbits (this year's hunt is for golden eggs), a Good Friday hot cross bun coffee morning, donations to purchase halal meat for the refugees in the Almondsbury Interchange Hotel, donations to Bristol North West Foodbank and even a donation to help those in Ukraine.
"If the motorway is busy then everyone cuts through the village"
Sandra went on to say: "The road through Easter Compton is a B road, the B4055, but the amount of traffic that comes through the village is far more than you would expect of a B road. The Wave and Wild Place are both immediate neighbours and generate traffic through the village, but the biggest increase we have seen for traffic increase was when the tolls were removed from the Severn Bridge.
"If the motorway is busy then everyone cuts through the village and heads to the Aust road.
"Wild Place will be expanding as Bristol Zoo is closing its Clifton site. We have a good relationship with Wild Place and hopefully this will continue as their transition occurs. Hopefully there won’t be too many problems with getting out of the village via the new proposed roundabout.
"Washingpool Farm has a wonderful farm shop and Joanna’s café and does one of the best breakfasts around. Again, both are supportive of events that happen in the village."
Sandra also says that The Wave brings people through the village, but not to the village and adds that there are some locals who are now employed by The Wave, but they "don’t have any community involvement".
This year alone, the residents of Easter Compton will have plenty to look forward to - a Sparkling Afternoon Tea for the Queen's Jubilee Celebration, a Platinum Picnic in the Park and a Happy Harvest.
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