The Café & Bistro are situated on the lower ground level of the house in the vaulted basement and on summer days you can sit out on the terrace and glaze over to Wales. A simple coffee morning to socialize with other local geographers, come and enjoy the coffee, the view and the peace and quiet.
Kingsweston house was built between 1712 and 1719 was designed by Sir John Vanbrugh for Edward Southwell on the site of an earlier Tudor house, remodelled 1763 - 1768 by Robert Mylne and again between 1845 - 1850 by Thomas Hopper. The Kings Weston estate possesses one of the largest collections of buildings designed by Sir John Vanbrugh in the UK. Whilst the house and the majority of the estate buildings are still standing others have been demolished or been heavily altered. Bristol is the only UK city outside London to possess buildings designed by Vanbrugh.
The house passed through several generations of the Southwell family until the estate was sold in 1833 to Mr Philip John Miles for £210,000, and became the family seat. During the World War 1 the House was converted into a hospital though the house continued as a family home until 1935 when, on the death of Philip Napier Miles, it was auctioned and bought by Bristol Municipal Charities and leased to the education authority for use as a school. It later became the Bristol Technical College School of Architecture which later developed into Bath University School of Architecture.
In 1970 Bristol Corporation obtained a 50% grant from the Home Office and purchased the House for £305,000 to set up a Police Training Centre for Bristol Constaulary and was used as such until 1995. It was then abandoned for five years and between 2000 and 2012 was leased from Bristol City Council and partially restored as a Business and Conference Centre by local businessman John Hardy.
After April 2011 the lease on Kings Weston House was put on the market for £2 million. Following a short period of closure to the public the house was sold to a new leaseholder, local businessman Norman Routledge in December 2012. Since then the house has been extensively renovated and has opened again as a conference and wedding venue, as well as a communal residence.
It has been designated by Historic England as a grade 1 listed building. Other buildings in the grounds include a Loggia, Brewhouse and Echo which are all grade 1 listed in their own right.
Much of the landscaped parkland around Kings Weston House remains open and is accessible by the public. 220 acres around the house including Penpole Wood and the Home Park are in the ownership of Bristol City Council with a further 90 Acres including the Shirehampton Park portion of the estate is owned by the National Trust.