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English CountiesNational Parks |
Walking in Somerset
Luxborough (Kingsbridge) - Luxborough is a large parish of scattered hamlets hidden away in the heart of the Brendon Hills south of Dunster. Kingsbridge is a small hamlet clustered around a bridge over the Washford River. It is set in a wide green valley. Steep wooded hillsides descend to lush pastures typical of the Brendons. Sunken lanes bordered with flowers ramble over the hills, linking the small settlements within this scattered parish. OS Maps: Explorer™ OL9 A Walk from Kingsbridge [SS
984377] Yeovil - South Somerset is mainly a peaceful farming region which has the same unspoilt rural atmosphere as Dorset. If you want a relaxing walking break in a landscape of fields, woods, orchards and meandering rivers you could do much worse than visit South Somerset. Yeovil is the largest town and provides a good base and shopping, although some of the smaller market towns are equally convenient for walking and perhaps quieter. Bruton, Castle Cary, Crewkerne, Langport, and Somerton are particularly attractive towns. The area has it's fair share of public footpaths and, armed with an OS map (Explorer 129), planning interesting routes in this agricultural area is relatively easy. In additions there are two excellent long distance trails passing through the region.
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Part
of the South West peninsular of England, Somerset is a predominantly
rural county and a major holiday destination. It's popularity is hardly
surprising considering the rich mixture of quiet pastoral landscapes,
wild moors, stunning limestone gorges and the spectacular northern coastline.
Five ranges of hills, the Mendips, the Quantocks, the Poldens, the Blackdowns,
and the Brendons, provide wonderful walking and spectacular views. South
Somerset is a rural idyll with gentle landscapes, sleepy villages and
colourful beauty in the fields, orchards and woods. The important and
hauntingly beautiful Somerset Levels provides a complete contrast to
the deep and dramatic Cheddar Gorge with its soaring limestone cliffs,
and yet these different landscapes are but a few miles apart.
The
west of the county is dominated by the magnificent Exmoor National Park,
a walker's paradise. Softer, benign and more compact than Dartmoor,
there is still a feeling of space and wilderness on the open moors.
The many enticing combes through which tumble sparkling streams add
to the walker's delight. Further east the Quantock Hills provide more
splendid walks on a more intimate scale. In the east of the county the
deep limestone gorges and caves of the Mendip Hills provide a stunningly
different landscape. Stone from Mendip quarries was used to build the
magnificent Wells cathedral and many other fine churches in Somerset.
The central and southern areas are a undulating pastoral landscape of
farmland, woods and quiet rivers. For such a small area the landscape
is remarkably varied. Dramatic wooded escarpments drop down to the broad
sweep of the Blackmore Vale and contrast vividly with the flat moorlands
of the rivers Yeo, Ile and Parrett that stretch towards the Somerset
Levels. The Vale of Taunton Deane south of the Quantocks gives a taste
of peaceful, pleasant walking.
To
the south of the Mendips lie the ecologically important Somerset Levels,
one of Europe's most important wetlands. This area, often referred to
as the Plain of Sedgemoor, is a low-lying landscape of willow edged
quiet streams which drain into the rivers Parrett and Brue, which, in
turn, flow into the Bristol Channel. The maze of drainage ditches, or
Rhines, criss-crossing the Levels do not make for easy walking, but
running through the centre of this region are the Polden Hills; although
these are never more than 300ft high they provide the means to walk
and explore this area and provide good views across the Levels to the
north and south.
The
The
