For years, Barrow Gurney was known as somewhere people simply drove through rather than stopped in.
The village has an unwelcome reputation as a shortcut to Bristol Airport despite the implementation of traffic calming measures to thwart this. Its narrow roads connect the A370 and the A38, meaning there have been issues with congestion and air traffic noise in the village over the years.
But the village deserves more than being diminished to a route on a map. Fans of The Wurzels might even remember the nod to the village in the song 'Drink Up Thy Zider', in reference to Barrow Hospital, a psychiatric hospital that opened in the 1930s. It was closed in 2008 and turned into accommodation.
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As well as being just four miles from Bristol, the village has ties to the city through the forgone tobacco trade. One of several mills was converted to snuff manufacture by a tobacconist from Bristol, Peter Lilly, around 1800 to become part of the W.D. & H.O. Wills tobacco manufacturing company.
It aptly neighbours Barrow Gurney Reservoirs also known as Barrow Tanks, three artificial reservoirs that supply drinking water for parts of Bristol. They also provide habitats for Rainbow and Brown Trout which make it a suitable flyfishing spot with the right permit.
In recent years the village's historic tap along Barrow Street was restored for public use funded by the Stancombe Quarry Community Fund, and led by parish council vice chairman Andy Robbins. The tap had previously not seen much use due to the volume of traffic and lack of footpath through the centre of the village to access it.
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The tap, which stands in the centre of the village, was first installed when the water main was built along the street midway through the 19th century. Although the precise origins of the tap are not known, it is understood it was associated with the development of Bristol's water supply.
Initially, the supply was from The Bristol Water Works Company from the Cold Bath Spring on the hill behind the village but this was then substituted by the construction of Barrow Tanks. The tanks were fed from the Mendip Hills via the Line of Works, a highly intricate system of gravity-fed tunnels and aqueducts.
Public footpaths near the tanks were recently restored with kissing gates installed to make the area easier to access. One of the rambling routes trails the Prince's Motto pub, a beloved institution by both locals and visitors - and one of two of the village's locals.
Barrow Gurney is also the home to Bristol Fungarium, a grower of native medicinal mushrooms - Bristol residents may have spotted them at the Whiteladies Road markets and the Tobacco Factory Sunday Market. Their science-led farming allows them to grow conscientiously and sustainably without harming the local ecosystems, which are then dried to make medical formulas.
With just a few hundred residents, it's clear the community is what outstrips the village's association with traffic problems and its famous hospital.
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