Couples Retreat
Character and community are what drew Caoimhe Green and Tanisha Barrett to this two-bedroom maisonette in Totterdown. Here, the couple tell us why Fitzroy Street has been a much-loved home.
With a colourful pink front on a street of Victorian terraced houses, Fitzroy Street looks like your typical Totterdown home. But on the inside, this maisonette offers something a little more special. “There's a lot of original features inside the house, like the stained-glass doors and windows,” says Caoimhe, who works as a team manager of mental health practitioners. “Original skirting, architraves, and coving surround the doors and windows, and the house is cladded in original Bath stone which previous owners restored,” she adds. “I'm an interiors enthusiast, so these features really drew me.”
Caoimhe moved into the property just over a year ago with her partner Tanisha, a lecturer in mental health nursing. But despite living there for only a short while, the couple have made significant improvements to the property. “As it’s a maisonette, we put a lot of soundproofing between us and the neighbours,” Caoimhe explains. “It meant I had to toss-up between losing the original flooring or having it soundproofed but we opted for engineered oak wood, so it still has a similar feel."
"There's a lot of original features inside the house, like the stained-glass doors and windows, I'm an interiors enthusiast, so these features really drew me.”
They have also updated the kitchen – adding new tiles and replacing some of the cabinets and worktops – as well as giving the rest of the house a fresh lick of paint. But it’s not just the house they’ve been settling into, as Tanisha explains. “There are lots of green spaces nearby, like Arnos Vale cemetery, Arnos Park, Perretts Park. We have an 11-month-old cocker spaniel named Nala, so we go on lots of walks around the area,” she says. “It’s meant that in the short time we've been here, we've connected with a lot of people in Totterdown, beyond our immediate neighbours,” adds Caoimhe. “We've bumped into lots of local people walking around the parks. I think it's a really special little community where most people are just really friendly. It feels really safe, and quiet too,"
Proximity to the local shops and eateries has proved beneficial, too. Their favourites include Eat Your Greens, “for their version of a full English breakfast”, A Capella “for the best pizza”, and Fox & West for “the most amazing bread and pastries”, recommends Tanisha.
“It’s a really hard decision to leave the area, but we’re looking to put down longer-term roots and find a bigger garden,” says Caoimhe. “That being said, we will really miss our balcony and views out of the kitchen window. We have uninterrupted views across the whole of Bristol, and there’s nothing quite like watching the sun set over Bristol’s skyline.”
