Rediscover Bristol's lost nature with Broad Meadow

Where now stands Bristol’s built-up shopping centre, Broadmead, a wildflower meadow and woodland used to thrive. With their beautiful project Broad Meadow, Bristol based artists Sylvia Rimat and Charli Clark are bringing back the nature that used to grow in Bristol’s busy shopping district.

Launching this June and growing over the next three years, Broad Meadow invites you to step back in time and imagine the natural landscape that once flourished in Broadmead.

Visitors are welcome to sit among vibrant wildflowers, breathe in the floral scents, and listen to a specially created audio piece that explores our deep-rooted connection with the plant world. (Please bring a pair of headphones to listen to the full sound experience.)

Accessed via smartphone, the audio journey evokes the lost landscapes of central Bristol—from the Neolithic woodland to the 11th-century wet meadow regularly flooded by the River Frome. Designed with biodiversity and history in mind, the installation features carefully selected wildflowers that mirror those that may have once grown in the area.

Image: Broad Meadow

After a successful opening as part of Mayfest last year, Bristol City Council and WECA have commissioned Broad Meadow to grow over the next 3 years over three sites:

• Broadmead West (outside The Arcade)
• Merchant Street South (near the corner of Philadelphia Street)
• Merchant Street North (near TK Maxx)

Come, take a moment, and reconnect with the nature that once thrived where concrete now stands.

Official Launch Events
Saturday 7 June 2025

2-5pm - Family Workshops - fun free arts and crafts activities at the wildflower installation, Broadmead West, BS1 3EA, outside the Arcade. (for ages 3-10)
Free event. No booking required, just turn up.

6-8pm - Official Launch with welcome and talk by at John Wesley’s New Room courtyard, enter from Broadmead West, next to Broad Meadow installation, BS1 3EA.
Free event. Booking required at headfirst

Join Broad Meadow Lead artists Charli Clark and Sylvia Rimat to celebrate the launch and listen to 'Habitat City: Celebrating Home', a talk by Regenerative Architect, Urban Designer and Educator Funda Kemal. Funda will be discussing the importance of protecting habitats for all species: both human and more than human, and the responsibility we have when developing the built environment to avoid putting both existing and newly created habitats at risk.