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49The Travel & Leisure Magazine

From King Arthur to Guy the Gorilla, Alex Johnson gets on

his hobby horse for a canter around the delights of Somerset.

A poetic

on your doorstep

Keith Gough

Andrew EasonKeith Gough

Chuck Andolino

My childhood memo-

ries of Somerset

largely involve Ian

Botham and Viv

Richards belting the

ball around the out-

field (or indeed over it). Then in my thir-

ties I became interested in making my own

cider and Somerset offered me plenty of

sampling opportunities. But now I have a

young family Ive finally got to know the

county for a wider range of attractions,

from its gorgeous coastline to its fantasticcarnivals. And if you were in any doubt

that the traditional English seaside holiday

is in danger, then this is the place to come

to keep you optimistic.

If you are considering heading to the

beach, probably the best known spot is

Weston-super-Mare with its long, long

stretches of sandy beaches as well as Grove

Park, home to Jills Garden, a celebration

of the life of television presenter Jill Dando

who grew up here; Minehead offers similar

attractions plus an attractive new prome-nade and is one of several convenient gate-

ways into Exmoor (see below); and

Burnham-on-Sea which is also home toI Main picture: Glastonbury Tor I Above left: Wells Cathedral I Top right: Carnival time I Above right: Cheddar Gorge

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The50 Travel & Leisure Magazine

the popular Haven Holiday Park

(www.havenholidays.com) which offers

special activity programmes for children as

well as plenty of live entertainment in the

evenings. And at Clevedon you can hop on

board a pleasure steamer from the Grade I

listed pier for a little cruise.

The coastline certainly has plenty to

offer. Kilve Beach is a Site of Special

Scientific Interest and one of the spots

where you can see the impressive lines of

rocks bumping against each other, full offossils (and there are some great rock pools

here too). The coast is obviously also a great

place for birdwatching opportunities if you

are a twitcher, especially Bridgwater Bay.

Greener OptionsFor something a little greener, head upwards

and inland. There are plenty of lovely walks

in Somerset which has over 9,000 rights of

way adding up to 3,750 miles of rambling

possibilities, a mixture of signposted and

part sign-posted walks, including:

G South West Coast Path - this runs forhundreds of miles from Minehead right

on the edge of Exmoor National Park to

Poole Harbour in Dorset. The web site at

www.southwestcoastpath.com is a

fantastic resource with lots of informa-

tion about the scenery, wildlife and histo-

ry of the area

G The Parrett Trail (www.riverparrett-

trail.org.uk), slightly longer than the

Coleridge Way but which can similarly be

walked in sections, runs from Dorset into

the south of Somerset: artists have created

small feature clues along the track refer-ring to the landscape, its animals and its

history which is great for children to spot

G The Liberty Trail links Ham Hill to Lyme

Regis and celebrates the story of the half

dozen dissenters who joined the

Monmouth Rebellion in 1685

G Taunton to Bridgwater Canal towpath

which you can dip in and out of, especial-

ly good for picnics

G The Macmillan Way, a series of shorter

walks (two to six miles long) in and

around the Quantock villages.

G The Coleridge Way (www.coleridgeway.co.uk), a lovely 36-mile route

through the countryside where the

romantic poet Coleridge lived and

worked taking in heathland, moorland,

heavily wooded valleys and pleasant vil-

lages including the infamous Porlock

Porlock is permanently linked now to

Coleridge as being the village from where

the man came to disturb Coleridges brain-

storming during the writing of Kubla Khan

('In Xanadu did Kubla Khan/A stately pleas-

ure-dome decree). Its actually one of themany lovely villages which is worth a wan-

der in Somerset and a previous winner of the

countys Best Large Village competition.

There are plenty of nice short walks starting

from Porlock weir as well as a fabulous

restaurant, Andrews on the Weir

(www.andrewsontheweir.co.uk) whichoverlooks Porlock Bay.

Not all of Coleridges work was interrupted.

He wrote the famous Rime of the Ancient

Mariner after a trip to nearby Watchet which

has lovely old narrow streets and is one of the

stops on the West Somerset Railway

(www.west-somerset-railway.co.uk), a

country branch line of the old Great Western

Railway along which run various historic steam

locomotives. There are 10 stops in villages and

towns in the area and a range of themed trips as

well as the timetabled departures.It tends to be the wide open spaces that

grab the attention in Somerset, such as

Exmoor. Its true that this is a lovely quiet

Although not widely known now,

Somerset is the place where pretty

much all of the countrys willow comes

from, used in everything from pick your

own baskets to coffins and even an

enormous open air structure: artist

Serena de la Hey

(www.serenadelahey.com)

constructed a 13m Willow Mansculpture in 2000, rebuilt after an arson

attack and which still stands in a field

near the M5 motorway near Bridgwater.

The main willow fields are in the area

known as the Somerset Levels, great

places for spotting wildlife and which

are drained by a clever system of small

canals known as rhynes.

You can find out more about willow

and even join a willow sculpture

workshop at the Willows and Wetlands

Visitor Centre, home of willowspecialists P. H. Coate & Son

(www.englishwillowbaskets.co.uk)

or if youre really keen stay at the B&B

converted withy barn The Willow

House

(www.thelinenpressvintagebarn.co.

uk) at Stoke St Gregory.

Teris

TopTips

Thankful villagesDuring the carnage of World War I,

there were amazingly a few villages in

England and Wales who lost no menfolk

during the fighting all those who went

to war also returned.

There were seven in Somerset:Aisholt;

Chantry; Chelwood; Rodney Stoke;Stocklinch;Tellisford; and Woolley.

K

eithGough

I West Somerset Railway

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place to roam around from its heather-cov-

ered moorlands to the seaside cliffs and as a

National Park its carefully monitored and

protected which is good news for the thriving

flora and fauna, such as the Exmoor pony,

which make their home there. But there aresmaller jewels in the crown too such as

Hestercombe Gardens (www.hester

combe.com), a 50-acre Grade I listed garden

which includes a Georgian landscape garden

and formal gardens designed by Sir Edwin

Lutyens and planted by Gertrude Jeykll. Rare

Lesser Horseshoe bats nest here too and you

can see them via a remote camera link.

Of course there are plenty of manmade

attractions too such as the fabulous ruined

castle at Nunney and the smallest city in

England, Wells, with its spectacular cathe-

dral built between the 12th and 14th cen-

turies on the site of a seventh century

church. The fabulous west front is full of

hundreds of statues and carvings and inside

is one of the oldest working mechanical

clocks, dating back to the 14th century.

It tends to be the

wide open spaces

that grab the atten-

tion in Somerset...Somerset is also the home to many tradi-

tions and customs, such as the bizarre

Hobby Horse which parades thoughMineheads streets every May (www.mine

head-online.co.uk/hobbyhorse.htm) and

the various autumnal Somerset Carnivals

which involve huge illuminated processions

organised by individual Carnival Clubs as

well as plenty of fireworks. 2008 dates are

still to be confirmed but last years began

around 7pm and finished a couple of hours

later at most locations, starting from the last

week in September and ending in the middle

of November.

Glorious GlastonburyFinally, there are the numerous legends sur-

rounding certain places in Somerset.

Glastonbury Tor is rumoured to conceal a

hidden entrance to the underworld while the

last remains of King Arthur are said to have

been discovered here by monks (the great

man is supposed to have lived at Cadbury

Castle, the location of the legendary

Camelot, and whatever the truth of the mat-

ter, its certainly an impressive prehistoric

camp). The story also runs that Joseph of

Arimathea planted a holy thorn tree here.All of which is great, but when you add

the cider and the cricket on top, its really

somewhere special.

The Travel & Leisure Magazine52

CheeseyOf course you can buy cheddar cheese

everywhere from Andalucia to

Zanzibar nowadays, but Somerset is

the home of the real deal and to be

precise the three farms of

Montgomerys at North Cadbury,

Keens in Wincanton, and Westcombe

Dairy close to Shepton Mallet.These

are the last three farms in the county

preparing the traditional recipe on-

farm.

The name comes from the village of

Cheddar and dates back at least to the

16th century. Cheddar cheese became

very popular in the late 18th century

and farmers formed cheddar clubs toincrease production to meet demand.

A traditional cheddar varies in weight

up to 25kg. Naturally its a popular

accompaniment to local ciders.

You can buy these traditional

cheeses from The Cheese Shed

(www.thecheeseshed.com) or

direct from Keens, still a family

business (www.keenscheddar.co.uk

- where you can find out more about

cheddar).

IanCattemull

YOUR Somerset Facts

TL

Somerset is easy to reach by car or coach and there are also regular

daily train services to mainline stations at Taunton,Yeovil Junction

and Castle Cary. More details from National Rail Enquiries (08457

484950). If you prefer to fly, there are airports at Bristol and Exeter.

If youre thinking of taking your dog to the beach, check on local

restrictions. For example, at Weston-super-Mare between Royal

Sands and the Grand Pier theres a dog free zone from May to the

end of September, whereas dogs are allowed free roam all year long

at Berrow and Brean beaches.

Food and drink play a large part of the Somerset experience and the

Levels Best project aims to provide a guarantee of high quality

(www.levelsbest.co.uk): anything with a Levels Best label means

it has been produced by people who practice conservation land

management, are supporters of animal welfare, rear native breeds

of livestock and whenever possible plant and use traditional vari-

eties of plants and seeds within the 260 square miles of the

Somerset Levels and Moors area.

Two very useful sites are www.visitsomerset.co.uk run by the

regional tourist board which has a good listings guide to all types of

accommodation in the county, and www.hiddensomerset.co.uk ,

a not for profit co-operative initiative run by local residents.

I Somerset countryside