My Place: Dave Roberts

Their colourful house forms part of countless photographs of the Harbourside’s famous panorama, and for Dave Roberts and his partner Ann, who live on Old School Lane in Cliftonwood, watching the harbour has become the norm. “It provides a constant moving panorama of boats, paddle boards, ferries and people in transit,” Dave says. “It feels like you can see half of Bristol at play on a sunny day.”

Their contemporary townhouse is part of a development of 24 colourful homes built in 2009, squeezed onto the hillside on the site of a former school and slotted between the tottering Victorian terraces. Dave was only the second person to move into the road, drawn by the views and the location, and Ann joined him in 2016.

“Ashton Court, the harbourside, Leigh Woods and Brandon Hill are all within 20 minutes’ walk, which means Dexter the dog gets a great choice of walks,” Dave says. In the other direction, as viewed from the spectacular floor-to-ceiling windows of the living room and the open plan kitchen/diner a floor below, the southern hills of Dundry, crowned by the silhouette of the tall church tower, seem close enough to touch.

The home is split over six levels, with a roof terrace right at the top

“It’s like being at the cinema,” Ann says of the view. “Birds fly past at eye level because you’re up so high, and when the Matthew goes past the top of the mast is below the window.

“When you look out from the roof, it’s like looking at a toy town, with tiny boats and tiny people moving up and down the waterfront. It’s almost like a miniature version of Bristol spread out below you. You can look over to Ashton Court and see the hot air balloons as they inflate from little red pancakes, swelling up and popping off like mushrooms going up.”

Floor-to-ceiling glazing in the kitchen/diner makes the most of the view and floods the house with light

To make the most of the views, the living rooms are at the top of the house, which is split over six levels. “It’s an upside-down house,” Dave says of the home’s unusual layout. “Going downstairs to bed takes getting used to.” The middle four levels are given over to living accommodation, while there are steps down to a patio at the very bottom and a timber-decked roof terrace with miniature trees in huge pots at the very top.

“The roof terrace offers an eagle’s eye view of the Harbour Festival plus everything from revelling wedding parties on ferries to dragon boat races and regular outings from the Pyronaut and the tourist boats,” Dave says. The view stretches from Bristol Cathedral and the SS Great Britain to the Tobacco Factory and the rolling greenery of Ashton Court. “The night views are amazing with all the sparkling lights on the water,” adds Ann.

The view stretching from Bristol Cathedral to the SS Great Britain

The walls of the couple’s home are filled with Dave’s framed photographs of the city, many of which have been taken from the house over the nine years he has lived there.

Dave’s love of photography is really a love of all things digital. Now retired from a career in IT, Dave built and installed a cutting-edge home automation system within the house, long before they were commonplace. “When I first moved in, I couldn’t operate most of the things in the house,” Ann says. “In fact, I still can’t!” Lights and kitchen appliances can be controlled through a smartphone, and in the living room a projector drops from the ceiling to create a home cinema.

After three years together, the couple have decided to sell up and move out of the city for a slower pace of life in the Brecon Beacons. “The real beauty of living here is the friendly and helpful local community, which I will miss enormously when we move,” Dave says of his neighbours, who have included author Helen Dunmore (she even immortalised Dexter the dog in her final novel, Birdcage Walk, which was set in Clifton). It’s a spectacular home that their new house in the country will have to work hard to live up to.

Photography by Dave Roberts