Bristol's coloured houses

I attended the quarterly meeting of the South West Association of Preservation Trusts at the Ashton Court Estate on the south-western edge of Bristol city. It was a gathering where the latest news about each of the Trusts was shared and we heard the mostly good news stories about renovations to Grade 2 listed buildings.  I really enjoy these meetings and get very inspired.  

At today's meeting, my friend Camilla acted as the chair in the absence of the normal coordinator, and by the end of the meeting she was elected as the chair for the next three years!  She will be very good at it.  Usually a speaker is invited with particular skills which are pertinent to the various truss' projects.  

Today two young architects, who are in practice just up our Frome valley near Stroud, came to describe various heritage projects they have been commissioned to deliver.  But they also brought some extraordinary equipment they are experimenting with. I have added a second image below to the 'Extra photos', showing one of the trustees wearing a 3D headset that can enable its wearer to explore inside the designs for a building.  Everyone there was amazed at how impressive and potentially useful it could be, especially when trying hard to explain to funders about the potential new uses for old buildings.  I had a long chat with Tomas, who is the technical innovator of this in their design partnership, and we will meet again to discuss a possible new project which will be very interesting.

Before the meeting we had a guided tour around the Ashton Court mansion, some of which is medieval, set in a 500 acre estate of deer parks and rolling hills close to the city. Following the meeting we then visited the current building works being carried out on one of the five Lodge Houses found at the various entrances to the estate. A £1 million investment is transforming the main lodge which has been unoccupied for 60 years.

Just before leaving the park I took this photo of the wonderful coloured houses sited just above the floating Harbour area of the Bristol Docks.  I hadn't seen them from this angle before but have blipped them before when walking around the docks. I liked the way the sun just caught them through a gap in the clouds.