The Quantock Hills: Broomsquire Country
Someone told me all books - and authors for that matter - must have videos on the internet if they are to keep their heads above commercial water, so I instantly repaired to the Quantock Hills to shoot a modest offering designed to put moving images of my novel on the great digital information system.
Whether it will be of any benefit to my yarn, The Last Broomsquire, I do not know, but I hugely enjoyed walking around with my camera shooting an experimental video which you can see on Youtube.
But what we’re interested in here is the walk, which anyone can do as long as they don’t mind negotiating a section that would put most house roofs to shame.
But don’t let the steepness put you off - this hike is easily accessible, it starts less than a mile from the main Taunton to Minehead road close to the attractive village of Bicknoller.
What we’re doing is heading for the end of Trendle Lane – directly east of this the hill suddenly starts to go vertical, and it is to this ascent that we are heading.
Directly underneath the main ridge of Quantock here, three detached cottages introduce the walker to the steep but tiny twin valleys of Long and Short Coombes – we will be climbing the latter and I warn you it is an unremitting slog all the way to the top.
But worth every clambering, breathless, heart-pounding, moment of it nevertheless – and I say that as someone who carried a heavy camera and tripod to the top.
The views of the West Somerset vale and Exmoor beyond get more and more dramatic every inch of the way. To your left you might spot the ramparts of Trendle Ring – a two acre Iron Age earthwork that dominates the entire hillside.
People argue long and loud over who built these massive emplacements and why – it seems reasonable to suppose that they had some sort of defensive purpose, but you cannot imagine folk living inside the walls full-time, no matter how impressive and effective they were. Residing within the ramparts at Trendle Ring would have been uncomfortable to say the least, given the site’s extreme steepness, and – as is so often the case in such places - there is no source of freshwater.
We can only assume that the people who built an earthwork strong enough to last the best part of 3000 years must have wanted it for occasional emergency use. And given its strength and permanence, they must have required it badly when the occasion arose. There was no law or local police force back then to make marauders think twice.
Our path continues directly around the spur to our right at the top – this divides Short from Long Coombe - and on up to Thorcombe Barrow. We’re now closed to the central ridge of the Quantocks and so can now enjoy views that extend beyond the vale of West Somerset to the Bristol Channel and beyond.
The contours beneath us are bordered by an impressive ancient hedge of beech trees, and this we follow until the bank terminates above Paradise Combe. I love these high Quantock beech hedges. They mark the frontier between the endeavours of man and the elevated wilderness.
The wild wind never ceases to make its haunting music among the bent and silver limbs and animals often shelter among the gnarled roots. When we were there a lone hind sat by the bank and eyed us with suspicion.
We continued our walk south east along the contours beyond the beeches to the small steep coombe which has no name but which descends towards Halsway Manor, which nowadays is the national centre for the folk arts.
We don’t actually go as far as the house but turn right along a path which runs along the lower contours – but it’s worth knowing something about the beautiful old manor…
In her Quantock Country, Berta Lawrence writes that the house: "Breathes the serenity that is characteristic of a beautiful old age. Its grey Tudor face looks unmarred by the passage of time, yet this house has suffered constant change and rebuilding."
Local legend has it the place once belonged to Cardinal Beaufort, but Ms Lawrence asks: "Did the haughty and princely Cardinal really own a house here, and sally forth with his gorgeous entourage to hunt the deer in Quantock forests? The tradition is strong, definite evidence very scanty."
As I say, we’ve already turned right to walk away from the manor and are now heading back towards our start point along the lower contours of the hill. The path takes us along the moorland, above the fields, back to the lower part of Paradise Coombe.
Above Paradise Farm we enter woodland and continue along our path which, for a few metres, climbs a shoulder of hill, then takes us north-west again along yet another beech hedge.
It eventually tucks back into the lower sections of Long Coombe, so that all we have to do is follow the steep valley back down to the cottages at the foot of the hill.
This is a glorious walk – especially on a fine autumn or winter afternoon when the entire way is bathed in sunlight. Indeed, I know of few places in the West Country that enjoy such afternoon light – this south-west facing flank of Quantock Country is a wonderful place to behold in such conditions, partly because the red sandstone from which the hills are created reflects warm and impossibly golden in places where the bare rock shows.
In such moments I can’t think of anywhere I’d rather be.
Top of the Quantock Hills and the heart of Broomsquire Country
