Why I Sometimes Love Staying Home in Somerset

There are times when events conspire to make you stay at home. This column has being doing a great deal of gallivanting about recently, and this week seemed like a good time to be staying put. Why? Well, Monday began with rain and, in Somerset at least, travelling on the day seemed a bad idea thanks to all the Glastonbury Festival traffic exiting the county and mixing with the early July holiday hordes coming the other way. Added to that, some of us like watching the Euros football on TV, even if supporting England is a rather difficult and unnerving pastime.

Luxborough

If you were to rely on the national media for information about holidaying in the West Country, you might be forgiven for thinking the region consisted only of Devon and Cornwall. But London-based journalists who wax lyrical over the delights of the far west - and the folk who follow their recommendations - are missing a trick. The whole region is, as we locals all know, amazingly rich in wonderful places to visit, things to see and excellent items to eat and drink. 

This week I am content to stay at home - and I’ve been thinking about my native county of Somerset, with its exquisite eminences, marvellous valleys and vales, and perfect plateaus matched by lovely lowlands. A place truly ripe for exploration. 

Exmoor from the hills above Dunster

Take my own native Exmoor… If I had a tenner for every time I’ve seen an article in a national newspaper or magazine claiming Exmoor is in Devon, I’d be a rich man. Two thirds of the national park is actually located in Somerset which, in my humble opinion, helps to make this county one of the most diverse in Britain. Which other shire can boast the high heather moors of a national park and one of the lowest flattest wettest areas in the UK, alongside miles of an empty coastline that sits adjacent to verdant vales and extensive upland plateaus?  

Exmoor alone is hugely diverse, which makes it such a delight to explore. The national park is famed for its purple heather moors, but it also has awesome river valleys, thick with ancient forests, and the most vertiginous and lonely coastline in England. 

Lilstock Beach, rarely visited

Elsewhere in the county there’s the tourist-void of the polders that make up the Somerset Levels. Slightly to the south there’s the rural table-land of the Blackdown Hills. And the county is split in two by the windswept panoramic ridge of the Quantocks - a range of hills so lovely the Romantic Poets, Coleridge and Wordsworth, went to live there. The fossil-filled shoreline of the Quantocks is a littoral that attracts about one in a thousand visitors compared to its more famous Jurassic neighbour on the English Channel coast.

Holford Coombe

If variety is the spice of life, then Somerset offers a diverse menu. Unlike other areas - where a 20 minute drive won’t change much in what you see - a quick tour through the Land of the Summer Meadows reveals the widest variety of landscapes. You could be standing on the sea-wall looking over the bird-filled flats of Bridgwater Bay one moment - and walking up a steep forested coombe on the flanks of the Quantocks spotting wild red deer just 15 minutes later. 

Red deer on the Quantocks

You could be among the crowds admiring Wells Cathedral at 10 am, and be wandering alone (save for a million birds and butterflies) along an empty drove on the Somerset Levels by 10.30. After lunch you could be gazing at the idyllic Avill Valley (where All Things Bright and Beautiful was written) from Dunster Castle, then be walking through the seaside throng on Minehead prom’ just 10 minutes after that. 

Dunster Castle with Dunkery behind - from Blue Anchor Beach

And now we are in my own beloved homeland of West Somerset, often regarded as the county’s forgotten corner. Of course, Minehead, with its giant Butlins holiday camp is well known, but how many have heard of the beautiful Brendon Hills? This eastern limb of Exmoor is, arguably, the best-kept secret in the entire region. A place of 1400 foot high ridges and deep ravines, patchwork fields and large forests, criss-crossed by a myriad of impossibly narrow lanes connecting quaint villages with excellent country pubs such as the Rest and Be Thankful at Wheddon Cross, the Royal Oak at Luxborough, or Roadwater’s Valiant Soldier.  

The only way I’m ever going to leave these hills on a permanent basis is in a wooden box.  

Three of West Somerset’s Best Walks

The Blue Anchor - Dunster Circular - 4 miles, easy going

Blue Anchor was invented as a Victorian bathing resort after the West Somerset Railway had made its way along the coast to Minehead. The starting point of this walk is to be found near the station at the western end of the seafront. 

Walking Dnster to Blue Anchor coast path

Across the railway, a public footpath will take you across the meadows to the village of Carhampton. Cramp’n as it's known locally, is an historic place - people were living here way before the local saint, Carantoc, came to spread the word of God 1000 years ago.

The sense of history continues as we take the first street on the left past the Butcher's Arms. All you have to do is walk up High Street to turn right at the top and begin the gentle ascent which continues due west straight out of the village to Dunster Deer Park. Eventually the tarmac lane gives way to rough track and where it turns sharp left you'll see a gate straight ahead that leads into the ancient demesne of Dunster Castle. This is a particularly beautiful section offering excellent views of the famous castle

Dunster Castle

We dip into the valley to cross the River Avill at Dunster’s much photographed Gallox Bridge. This brings you to Dunster's southerly edge and you must head north through its mediaeval streets until you meet the Minehead road once again.

Gallox Bridge

There’s a pedestrian underpass that allows you to cross safely to the area known as The Marsh where it's simply a matter of making your way to Dunster Beach.

Half a mile later you are back at the seaside where you turn right to stroll along the high tide mark back to Blue Anchor.

The author enjoying this walk with the lurchers

The Tarr Steps Circular, Exmoor - 1.9 miles – gentle going, can be muddy in places.

Unless you have a disabled sticker, you must leave your vehicle at the car park half a mile above the famous clapper bridge, which makes the overall distance of this walk three miles.

Tarr Steps on Exmoor

Basically, the walk takes you up one side of the River Barle to a newly refurbished bridge, and back down the other. Which may not sound all that exciting but this is, quite simply, one of the most beautiful stretches of any river to be found in the West Country. 

Simply turn right at the old clapper bridge and follow the signs to Withypool. The path will take you across a large greensward (which is always thickly populated by picnickers in summer) and into the woods. 

Riverside path near Tarr Steps

These, by the way, are internationally renowned for the rare lichens that grow on the boughs of the many wonderful old trees. Just under a mile upstream, the path meets another open area and, shortly after this – just after the big deep pool situated at a sharp bend in the river – you’ll come to a bridge. Cross this, turn left, and you can walk back down the west bank of the river enjoying views that are surprisingly different from the ones you enjoyed on the other side.

One bonus of this little hike is that there’s an excellent inn just a few feet above the clapper bridge. In winter it’s a dark, cosy, place of wood fires – in summer you can sit out in the gardens, admiring the riverine views. 

Winter walkers above Tarr Steps

Bicknoller-Weacombe Circular - the Quantock Hills - 3.5 miles, steep in places

This is one of the best short walks in the region. The basic hike, set in the north Quantocks, starts at Bicknoller and runs along the fringe of the moor to Weacombe, then turns up that valley to Bicknoller Post before returning down Bicknoller Coombe. At Bicknoller you might be best advised to park down in the car park down by the village hall because there’s not much room in the lane that leads up to the coombe.

Woods above Bicknoller

Walked up to the entrance of the valley and, before entering its hallowed confines, turn left and take the footpath that fringes the hills as it heads for Weacombe. This is a particularly pleasing part of the jaunt as it affords sublime views of the Vale of West Somerset.

Weacombe announces itself with the dramatic abruptness that is typical in hills carved out of soft red sandstone. The tiny stream has had a relatively easy job of it over the years, and now the coombe is deep and steep.

We turn right into it and proceed up the stream-side to enter the bosom of the hills. Up and up Weacombe goes, to eventually fork at its upper end. We take the right hand path and climb to Bicknoller Post. There is, indeed, am old post there to announce the fact…

Looking out across West Somerset

It marks the watershed junction between Weacombe to the west of the ridge and the Holford complex of coombes to the east. Curiously, the head of Bicknoller Coombe is another mile to the south. But here we are on the main ridge of the Quantock Hills - which boasts some of the best 360-degree panoramas you will find anywhere. 

We walk along it for a while, keeping right when it comes to the assortment tracks which would take us further along the ridge. What we’re looking for is the next big groove that falls away from the hills to our right – for this is secret Bicknoller Coombe. All we have to do is walk down it to find the place where we started – or, better still, to continue on down into Bicknoller where there is an excellent pub.

Walking up Weacombe