The ‘sleepy’ Bristol village with stunning views, surf pool and a new zoo

Apart from a tortoise on the loose, not much is happening in the sleepy village of Easter Compton on the sunny weekday morning I visit.

Only a five-minute drive from Cribbs Causeway and a similarly short hop from Junction 17 of the M5 motorway, this peaceful drive-through village feels hidden despite its close proximity to Bristol.

That could all change next summer when Bristol Zoo opens its new site where The Wild Place Project is at the moment.

After 186 years in the heart of Clifton, the zoo’s new rural home will be quite a departure for this Bristol institution and it is sure to bring more people to Easter Compton, whether it likes it or not.

Not that there’s much to do in Easter Compton. There’s only one shop - the Dinky Local Store - and one pub, The Fox. The village Post Office only opens three days a week.

On the day I visit, there’s only one postcard on the noticeboard of the Dinky Local Store and that’s a handwritten sign for a lost tortoise. That’s big news for this small but desirable village, where you’ll be lucky to buy a family house for less than £600,000.

Walk along the main road - appropriately called Main Road - and many of the houses bear names that reflect the village’s long-gone agricultural past.

There’s Forge Cottage, The Old Orchard and The Old Barn. One road lined with 1970s bungalows is called Home Farm Way.

Apart from The Fox pub, the only real village hub now is Easter Compton Village Hall - now simply called The Halls.

A red brick Victorian building with a gold clock flanked by a stone inscription reading ‘The fear of the lord is the beginning of wisdom’, this is also where the village defibrillator is.

A quick look at the noticeboard reveals a busy calendar for local residents. There’s Slimming World every Thursday evening and a community cafe on the second Saturday of the month where locals can enjoy homemade cakes, coffee and ‘a chat with neighbours and friends’.

The Halls also hosts regular yoga classes, toddler groups and two cardio dance fitness classes each week.

As well as the zoo on the edge of the village, there’s another attraction at the other end of Easter Compton.

Ancient Washingpool Farm is now home to an excellent farm shop and a cafe serving cooked breakfasts, cakes and lunchtime specials such as homemade faggots with chips and toad in the hole with mash and onion gravy.

It’s also where The Wave is based. Opened four years ago, this artificial wave pool is a popular inland surf destination for beginners and advanced surfers.

Beginner surf lessons start from £66 (or £55 for children under 16) but prices rise to £75 for the advanced ‘waikiki’ lessons. Not that many villagers use it, according to one local I speak to.

“It’s just middle class students from Bristol using it from what I can see - they obviously don’t mind paying £80 an hour,” said the woman, shaking her head.

But the zoo and surf lagoon aren’t the only attractions in Easter Compton. There is also a fantastic walk called the Spaniorum Skyway, which takes you up a low hill through beautiful wildflower meadows, past an ancient church and up to Spaniorum Hill with views of the River Severn.

You can also see the two Severn bridges and, in the near distance, the huge Amazon warehouse on the edge of Severn Beach.

The walk is well signposted from the Main Road with Forest of Avon Trust community forest path markers and signs for ‘Spaniorum Skyway - A forgotten landscape’.

All Saints Church is actually located in a tiny hamlet called Compton Greenfield and parts of it date from AD 1170. There are also Commonwealth war graves in the tree-lined churchyard.

Carry on through fields of buttercups, narrow paths and rusty iron swing gates and the air is heavy with the warm summer smell of nettles and the faint whiff of horse manure from the bridleways.

It’s unspoilt and timeless, a rare snapshot of how village life used to be and hard to believe you are so close to the city.

As I make my way back through the fields towards the village, I meet a local dog walker and I ask him what’s it’s like to live in Easter Compton.

The man, who didn’t want to give his name, has lived there for more than 30 years and he still enjoys it but thought many of the people who have moved there in recent years hadn’t really contributed to the village community.

“I think they like the idea of living ‘in the country’ but that’s about it,” he chuckled. “You won’t see much mud on the wheels of their 4x4s, put it that way!”