Opening hours at The Ranch during the school term (not holidays)
Tuesday – 3.30pm – 5.30pm
Wednesday – 3.30pm – 5.30pm
Thursday – 3.30pm – 5.30pm
Children under 8 are welcome if accompanied by a responsible adult 18+
Term time Youth Sessions: For ages 13+
Wednesday – 6pm – 8pm
Friday – 6pm – 8pm
Southmead Adventure Playground
About The Ranch
We’ve been looking after The Ranch since 2018 when we took on the lease to run it from Bristol City Council. We now manage the site on behalf of the Southmead Community. The Ranch is a treasure to families of Southmead and we are proud to base our work with children and young people here.
As well as running our after school free play and evening youth sessions, we also work with other organisations for young people; WECIL, Creative Youth Network and National Autistic Society all bring groups to the site.
What we do
We believe that providing safe spaces for children and young people to flourish is essential to a vibrant and energetic community. We manage The Ranch (Southmead Adventure Playground).
Our free, open access sessions for ages 8-18 are run by our Youth and Play team, supported by local Volunteers. Activities include sports, creative workshops, music, outdoor play, indoor play and hanging out.
Working with partners across the City we ensure the voices of young people and children are heard. We are proud to be part of the Playful Bristol network.
Linking you to what matters
Link Forward
Link Forward is Southmead Development Trust’s social prescribing service for children and young people. We work with young people aged 7 – 12 years who are facing any issues which are impacting on their wellbeing.
Lots of things might affect your wellbeing – for example you might be starting a new school, finding it hard to make friends or you might be struggling with anxiety or feeling low. We will work with you to think about what change you might like to see in your life. Would you like to go to a group or activity where you could meet new friends with similar interests? Do you want some specific support with your mental health? Do you want to find a club that will help you be more active?
Together we will come up with a plan that works for you.
We also work with parents and carers. Sometimes this might be to signpost you to parent support and sometimes it might be linking you to services that can help you with your own wellbeing.
How BBC DIY SOS transformed The Ranch
We couldn’t believe our luck when in October 2021 the DIY SOS team arrived, with an army of volunteers from near and far, to transform the Southmead Adventure Playground.
They spent 9 days and nights working hard, in all kinds of weather, to create new play and hang out spaces for the children, young people and families in our community.
Watch the photo montage below for a quick overview of what happened. The programme was broadcast at 8pm on BBC1 on Tuesday 24th May 2022.
If you were a volunteer on the project, HUGE thanks to you.
Youth & Play News
‘Sghouls’ Out for Halloween Half-term at The Ranch
Read more >
CLOSED: Lead Youth Worker
Read more >
SOS! You’ve seen the show we now need your support!
Read more >
Southmead Youth Centre: update on lease 2022
We agreed to return our lease for the Southmead Youth Centre building to the Council, due to their plans for their land. This happened formerly on October 3rd 2022. In return the Council have helped to pay for the renovation of The Ranch and also promised new community facilities within the new housing development at Glencoyne Square.
Therefore, our twice weekly evening youth club now happens at The Ranch which, since its renovation, has many fantastic new features for young people such as the Hub lounge, a new sports surface and amazing music studio. We have seen numbers of young people attending The Ranch grow and grow.
The BBC DIY SOS show was the beginning of another chapter in The Ranch’s long story, and a great lift to our plans to develop the site for all ages with top-class, fully accessible facilities for learning, play, adventure and sports.
We need to keep raising funds to keep Youth and Play services running and one of ways for us to earn income is to open The Ranch to hire for children’s birthday parties. If you would like to volunteer to help us host parties please do get in touch.
Click for info about party hire at The Ranch>Frequently Asked Youth & Play Questions
Can I rent The Ranch?
Yes, one of the ways we fund our charitable work is by hiring the spaces for parties and other events.
FIND OUT MORE >Can I hold my community group or services at The Ranch?
Yes! If you are involved in a community group in Southmead and would like to talk about using the spaces here or at the Greenway Centre, please get in touch to talk about your ideas – email info@southmead.org or call us on 0117 950 3335.
I’d like to volunteer, what do I need to do?
Looking after our sites and providing top quality sessions for our community of children and young people takes a whole team of wonderful staff and volunteers. If you would like to get involved in helping us there are a number of different things you can do.
Please get in touch with info@southmead.org to have an initial chat about what might be best for you.
Is The Ranch open at weekends?
Not for public play sessions. It can be hired privately for parties. Please click the link.
FIND OUT MORE >What are the current opening times? Please note times are different during the school term and holidays.
Our Partners
