Spike Island is a leading contemporary art and design space on the docks in Bristol and hosts a…read moremicrocosm of artistic activity. They show frequent exhibitions, hold residencies and offer opportunities in research into contemporary art. The building is huge, an old warehouse (you could almost draw similarities between here and the Tate). Spike Island is also home to the Aardman Animations team, creators of Creature Comforts and Wallace and Gromit.

A large warehouse space which has many functions for artists of Bristol…read more Publicly there is a gallery on the ground floor which has regular exhibitions and a large space for scheduled arty activities with children. There is also a nice little cafe - open on Mondays when the galleries are closed - with some seats outside when it is nice weather (although there is a lot of traffic on the road outside spoiling the harbour-side view). If you become a member of the studios then you can use their good printmaking facilities (Spike Print Studio) and rent studio space. The community here is friendly and supportive. If you just dabble in art then I can recommend their workshops - find details on this website instead of the main one http://www.spikeprintstudio.org They have lino and etching classes for beginners or to brush up rusty skills. They are up to date with some fantastic processes. Classes may run over a weekend or one day a week for a season.

I attend the Orchard Studios for a silversmithing class and have done so for approximately a year…read morenow. The tutor is extremely helpful and I really enjoy the course. They also hold woodworking classes, enamelling, stained glass and various other courses and do lots of work with people with learning difficulties. Would definately recommend this studio as the least expensive in comparison to Bristol University etc.

Now, I'm going to say 'hand woodworking tools' to you and I'm guessing 90 per cent of you are going…read moreto click elsew.... hey! Well hi there 10 per cent of you, I can see you have perked up a little. If you know of this shop then you will be having a far-away dreamy look in your eyes right about now and if you didn't then you're checking your watch and wondering where to park nearby. Yes, a whole shop of hand tools: gauges, mallets, chisels... including lots of vintage tools for very cheap prices as well as brand new ones. The staff (I feel I should use the word 'proprietor' here) are very very helpful and alway gleeful verging on surprised that other people like to chip bits of wood from a large block of wood. There's a lot of us about, be proud.

Bristol Design is a fantastic shop. It has everything you could ever need for your DIY redesign of…read moreyour kitchen to hanging up a picture. In my case it was the latter that needed doing and I had no idea how to go about it. The staff in here were extremely helpful and were easily able to point me in the right direction as far as picture hooks go. Now that I know what I need, I would probably go to Wilkinson's as it's a lot cheaper but for something a bit more complicated then it's definitely worth a trip here.