Ode to Bristol, an unsung harbour city

I sulked when my family moved to Bristol: first my mum, stepdad and sister; then my favourite cousin; then my brother and my ex-wife. Together! But that's another story.

It was unfair of me to mope, since I had already left them to live in Australia, but I felt as though I wouldn't have a home to go back to anymore. Now, I think of Bristol as my second home.

It seems incredible to me that gorgeous, historic Bristol Harbour is not better known internationally. It gives Bristol the most dramatic and lovely English city centre outside London. In and around the old city port where once were wharves and docks, now stand hundreds - that's right, hundreds - of restaurants and bars, as well as galleries, museums and a marina.

In June 2020, the harbour was seen on TV screens all over the world - although perhaps not to its best effect - when Black Lives Matter protesters de-plinthed a statue of slave trader Edward Colston, rolled it down a road and drowned it. From the excellent M Shed museum, visitors can follow a marker to look across at the exact spot where the statue was sunk. Until recently, the disgruntled and supine figure was on show at the museum, and it can still be seen on a free behind-the-scenes tour of the M Shed's storage facility, the L Shed.

The Colston statue was masked and marred with spray paint - and Bristol adores its graffiti. Huge murals dominate inner-city suburbs - most seem accomplished but obvious compared to the stylish, witty pieces by the much-loved (even by my mum) guerrilla stenciller Banksy.

Bristol, about 170 kilometres west of London, is Banksy's hometown and there are 11 known Banksy paintings on the outer walls of buildings. My favourites include Well Hung Lover, a naked man hanging by his fingertips from a trompe l'oeil bedroom windowsill on Frogmore Street; and The Mild, Mild West, in which a bomb-throwing teddy bear confronts police in riot gear, in fiercely fashionable Stokes Croft.

Bristol is also blessed with a rich heritage of indoor art, which can be seen at the authoritative Edwardian Baroque Bristol Museum & Art Gallery and the (slightly) more delicate but still opulent Royal West of England Academy. At the Arnolfini, a converted tea warehouse on the harbour, oddly dressed people pretend to understand contemporary art, while the baffled masses enjoy brownies from the cafe and drinks at the bar outside.

I'm not one to seek out "engineering marvels" but renowned 19th-century engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel's Clifton Suspension Bridge, built 100 metres above the thrilling gash of the Avon Gorge, straddles the borders of both Bristol and Somerset, and engineering and art. It is best seen from the Clifton Observatory on Clifton Down, or the White Lion bar at the Avon Gorge by Hotel du Vin.

Brunel's passenger steamship, the SS Great Britain, is the highlight of the Great Western Dockyard. When the ship was launched, it was the biggest and fastest maritime vessel in the world and was described as "the greatest experiment since Creation", although this may have been an early example of marketing overreach. It took just two months for the ship to make the journey to Melbourne. Between 1852 and 1875, it carried 15,000 migrants to Australia, from whom 300,000 modern Australians are reputedly descended.

North of the harbour around Bristol University and leafy Clifton Village is an embarrassment of Georgian architectural riches. The city centre boasts castle ruins and medieval town walls. Bristol Cathedral dates back to 1140. Even Bristol Temple Meads railway station - built on land once owned by the Knights Templar - has a heart-stopping Victorian Gothic facade.

What else could you ask from an English city? (Well, a decent Indian curry perhaps - but that, too, is another story.)

Bristol has four Michelin-starred restaurants, but I have only eaten at Bulrush in Cotham, which serves a degustation menu exclusively: and who could possibly resist "badger face lamb"? The Clifton Sausage in Clifton expertly specialises in - you guessed it - sausages. Most of the international food stalls at the city's fascinating St Nicholas Markets are pretty good.

I like to have dinner and drinks at sunset on the harbour. Watershed, an unassuming cultural centre with an art house cinema, has a nice second-storey cafe overlooking the water, but you could spend a year eating your way around the harbour.

Bristol has some lovely, historical pubs. The Christmas Steps, a cosy pub in a magical corner of the city centre, dates back to the 17th century, while the Westbury Park in Henleaze was the "Kebab and Calculator" pub in the classic TV comedy show The Young Ones, in 1982. The nearby Eastfield Pub is a great place to take the kids, with a sprawling beer garden, a fishpond and (when I last looked) rabbits in hutches. All three bars serve consistently good food.

A number of basic but good-value hotels are clustered around the university, and the city has the usual crop of Hiltons, Radissons and Marriotts, all of them overshadowed by the Brutalist landmark Premier Inn.

Recently, I enjoyed a stay 15 minutes from the city centre at the historic Best Western Henbury Lodge - a 17th-century cottage that became a two-storey Tudor house, then a Georgian mansion, and once played host to the 18th-century statesman (and slave-trade abolitionist) Edmund Burke.

However, Henbury Lodge is not particularly convenient for any traveller who doesn't plan to visit my mum - and she doesn't take callers.

Getting there: The train ride from Paddington Station in London to Bristol Temple Meads takes about an hour and 45 minutes. Make sure to get off at Temple Meads and not the soulless Bristol Parkway, which is north of the city.

Explore more: visitbristol.co.uk