Running inland from the sea at West Quantoxhead to the very outskirts of Taunton, are the Quantock Hills, another Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty but another very different landscape. Heather and bracken-clad hilltops give a foretaste of Exmoor away to the west. Breezy open moorland provides the fine walking country much appreciated by all since Coleridge and Wordsworth lived nearby. The views are almost endless, as the ground falls away on all sides, stretching on a fine day to almost 40 miles. There’s abundant wildlife all around you, including a large herd of red deer.
The Quantocks lie on a particularly hard form of sandstone, much valued for its surface dressing on roads. Happily, quarrying has now been halted and nature is starting to reclaim the great bowl of Triscombe Quarry near Crowcombe.
Other beautiful features of Somerset worth visiting include: Glastonbury, Dunster, Exmoor, the Blackdown Hills and the Brendon Hills, the Lorna Doone Secret Valley, Forde Abbey, the Mendip Hills, Porlock and Porlock Weir, the Somerset Levels and Wells. |
