We visit the 'best place to live' in Bristol and Somerset and this is what locals had to say

Located a stone’s throw from the centre of Bath, the beautiful and thriving Widcombe offers a vast variety of independent shops and a welcoming community which recently earned the area a spot in Muddy Stilettos' top ten places to live in Bristol and Somerset.

Widcombe is also home to Prior Park Garden Centre, Bath Skyline Walk (which offers stunning views of the city) and Two Tunnels Greenway, offering beautiful, soothing walks surrounded by nature.

Bath bus and train stations are also only a short walk away from Widcombe's High Street, making it a convenient area to live in. Widcombe also hosts flower shows and a Christmas Market and has its own magazine.

But what do locals have to say about the area?

Hannah, who runs Larkhall Butchers said Widcombe was a really nice place to visit with great independent shops and cafes as well as clubs and things that you can get involved in.

Similarly, Tamsin, who has lived in Widcombe for seven years said there was "a real sense of community. A lot of stuff happens in the Widcombe Social Centre as well. They have some really good gigs. So yeah, it's a good place to be."

Originally, Tamsin didn't want to move to Bath, she shared, but she has since fallen in love with the area, how "you can get out into beautiful countryside really quickly" and the proximity of the train station.

Lynn has lived in the area for eight years. She praised the public transport and said "The railway station is literally five minutes and the bus station. I can't complain about public transport at all. I don't need a car."

Lynn felt living in the area was simply marvellous. "You just walk across the bridge and you're in the middle of Bath. It's like a big village, it really is. Lovely walks, the river, the canal, everything you'd want."

Gabe told us it was "a pretty nice little community. I don't work far from here, so that works out pretty nicely. The pub's good, it works for me."

Ellie and Izzy praised the variety of different shops in the area and the beautiful architecture. They added they didn't think there were issues and shared: "I feel safe as a woman on the street at night. I feel very safe, I think, out of anywhere I've been."

The only issue highlighted by a few of the locals was the traffic in the area, especially during the morning, but it does not get built up for very long.

Lucy, the owner of Luca & Fig in Widcombe Parade, an independent shop for gifts, home and clothing that opened in 2020, also shared that the area wasn't well signposted, which meant that some visitors to Bath would completely miss Widcombe.

She said: "Working in Widcombe is great, there's a nice core group of people that live around here that will support the local shops and like to support the local shops. And you get people coming in from further out of this side of Bath that want to avoid going into the centre.

"There are quite a lot of Airbnb, guest houses around here. So you get some of the visitors to Bath coming in here, but not nearly as much, unfortunately, as in the city centre. So that would be one thing I would say was a downside to Widcombe, is that you are just outside the city centre and it's not very well signposted.

"If you don't know it's here, you just completely miss it. So it would be nice to get more signage or more exposure in the centre of Bath telling people to come over the river and find Widcombe. So that's one thing I would say we could do with more footfall along the high street."