Activities and attractions

Whether you are an avid walker or cyclist, are training for the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, interested in exploring the region’s towns and villages, or prefer to visit the area’s tourist attractions, the Campbell Room can provide comfortable and very affordable accommodation for your group.

In addition to providing opportunities for a range of outdoor pursuits, other activities and attractions within reach include visits to museums, country houses and gardens, taking a trip along the edge of the Quantocks by steam train, exploring Somerset’s Jurassic Coast, bird watching, or exploring the mythology of Glastonbury on the nearby Somerset Levels.

To help you plan your visit this page outlines some of the popular activities and attractions that others have enjoyed, together with links to further information. If you are considering bringing a school or university group, we also have a separate page with ideas for more academic educational visits.
 

Walking & cycling

The Quantock Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty covers 39 square miles (100 square km) and has an extensive network of public footpaths and bridleways that can easily be reached from the centre, together totalling around 150 miles (240 km). There are also many additional undesignated routes that can be taken in the forest and on the open moorland, making the area ideal for walking and mountain biking. The highest point of the hills, Wills Neck, is 384 m (1,261 feet) above sea level.

For a short walk, the picturesque Ramscombe picnic area is a gentle 1.4 mile walk from the centre up the valley, and the nearby Ramscombe Walk follows an easy circular route. In contrast, the Quantock Greenway is split into 2 challenging circular day walks of about 20 miles each, both of them accessible on foot from the Campbell Room. Hikers interested in longer distances have the option of walking the 36 mile Coleridge Way long distance footpath, which starts just over a mile from the centre at Nether Stowey, or using the Campbell Room as a stopping point on the Macmillan Way West or the Samaritans Way South West long distance footpaths, which both pass through the Quantocks within range of the Campbell Room. Somewhat further away, a day walk along part of the 50 mile River Parrett Trail through the Somerset Levels provides contrasting scenery.

For cyclists the centre is within reach of National Cycle Routes 3 (Bristol to Land’s End) and 33 (Bristol to Seaton), which cross each other near Bridgwater.

The Quantocks are suitable for Duke of Edinburgh’s Award expeditions up to Gold standard and the Campbell Room can make a very useful training base for both backpacking and mountain bike expeditions.
 

Local adventure

Beyond walking and cycling, the Quantocks offer great opportunities for orienteering, wide games, sisal trails, bivouacing, tracking, pioneering and team-building games. The nearby Ramscombe picnic area can be a good focus for such activities.  A little over 4 miles away from the Campbell Room, the Cannington Outdoor Activity Centre, part of Bridgwater College, provides a further range of team-building challenges including low rope and high rope courses that incorporate slides and climbing walls.

Thanks to the network of bridleways across the Quantocks, horse riding is a popular local activity and Manor Farm near Broomfield offers escorted riding across the area for all skill levels. Bridgwater College also has an equestrian centre at Cannington which is open to the public.
 

Swimming, boating and fishing

For swimmers, Butlins Splash Waterworld in Minehead offers a great selection of flumes, slides, wave machines and other attractions. For more traditional swimming head to Taunton Swimming Pool, which also has a sauna and steam room. Alternatively the indoor pool at Quantock Lodge, near the Campbell Room, can often be used by prior arrangement.

In addition to the option of hiking or cycling along the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal (see below), it is also possible to cruise the canal by boat. If this seems too leisurely, the Middlemoor Waterpark offers water skiing, wakeboarding and jet skiing on a large purpose built lake, as well as gokarting.

Anglers have good access to some excellent coarse, game and sea fishing. On the Quantocks themselves, the picturesque 32 acre Hawkridge reservoir provides facilities for trout fishing during the open season. To the east, towards Bridgwater and on the Somerset Levels, the Bridgwater Angling Association control a number of ponds, rivers and a section of the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal, where species include bream, carp, roach, rudd, perch, pike, tench and eels. To the west, the Taunton Angling Association provides a similar range of locations and species.

Sea fishing is possible at a number of places along the coast, or by hiring a boat from Minehead and Watchet, where it is possible to fish for bass, flounder and conger.
 

Natural history

In 1955 the Quantock Hills became the UK’s first Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty – and they remain unspoilt today. The northern tops of the hills are open moorland, covered in heather and gorse and grazed by sheep. The combes, with their small stony streams, are a mixture of farmland and ancient oak woodland, together with more recent plantations of coniferous trees in the care of the Forestry Commission. Much of the area is classified as a Biological Site of Special Scientific Interest.

Quantock ponies – related to their cousins on nearby Exmoor – roam over the hills, as do red and roe deer. Many other species, including badgers, foxes, squirrels and dragonflies can also be found, along with wood ants that make large nests from fallen pine needles. Buzzards, skylarks, jays and all three species of woodpecker are often seen or heard overhead, while keen birdwatchers can also spot a number of less common birds such as the wood warbler, redstart and whinchat.

Towards the south of the Quantocks, the Fyne Court Nature Reserve and Visitor Centre, owned by the National Trust, offers further opportunities for exploration.

While the beach at Kilve is unsuitable for swimming, it is a good destination for exploring the life of the rock pools or to go fossil hunting; the shore between Blue Anchor and Lilstock is Somerset’s ‘Jurassic Coast’.

In addition to the Quantock Hills, the Somerset Levels are also nearby. The area was once marshland with scattered islands – now hills – and has a rich history and mythology linked to King Alfred the Great, the Monmouth Rebellion, Glastonbury, Christian pilgrimage, King Arthur and New Age ley lines.

The Levels also offer some 250 square miles (650 square km) of rare wetland habitat including some 32 Sites of Special Scientific Interest and several National Nature Reserves. Among these, the Shapwick Heath National Nature Reserve near Glastonbury provides perhaps the country’s best example of wetland flora and fauna. It is also home to otters and, in autumn, hundreds of thousands of starlings flock to the area to roost. The Bridgwater Bay National Nature Reserve, which connects with the Huntspill River National Nature Reserve, is a popular venue for bird watchers, where around 190 species of bird have been recorded. The RSPB also has reserves in the area, at Greylake between Bridgwater and Somerton, West Sedgemoor between Taunton and Langport. and Ham Wall near Glastonbury.
 

Buildings and gardens

The former home of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Coleridge Cottage is situated within easy walking distance at Nether Stowey and is now open to the public. His friend William Wordsworth lived in what was Alfoxton House – now the Alfoxton Park Hotel – in Holford. At the southern end of the Quantocks, Hestercombe Gardens, whose designers included Gertrude Jekyll and Sir Edwin Lutyens, is recognised as one of the country’s most successful garden restoration projects.

Further away, Gertrude Jekyll’s influence can be seen at Barrington Court, near Illminster, where access to the house, gardens and arboretum is possible. Montacute House features a gallery of Elizabethan artwork on loan from the National Portrait Gallery, as well as access the house, park and gardens.

Towards Minehead, Dunster Castle is dramatically located with a commanding view over the Bristol Channel, fine interiors, subtropical gardens and is home to the National Collection of Strawberry Trees. Below the castle, the medieval village of Dunster, once a centre for the local wool trade, remains an interesting place to explore, and can be visited via the West Somerset Railway.

Other interesting properties include Muchelney Abbey, Cleeve Abbey, and the restored Temple of Harmony at Halswell Park near Goathurst, based on Rome’s Temple of Fortuna Virilis. Glastonbury Tor is also a popular destination, offering fine views across the Somerset Levels on a clear day.
 

Tourist attractions

In addition to the destinations and scenic attractions mentioned elsewhere, there are a number of popular tourist destinations within the area.

The scenic West Somerset Railway, Britain’s longest Heritage Railway, runs for 23 miles (37 km) along the edge of the Quantocks from Bishops Lydeard to the traditional seaside resort of Minehead. In addition to the town and beach, the facilities of the Butlins holiday centre, including a climbing wall, go-carts and their extensive water park, are open to day visitors. It is possible for keen walkers to cross the Quantocks to one of the railway stations, in order to travel to Minehead.

At Washford, the Tropiquaria Animal and Adventure Park has a range of exotic animals, an aquarium and kids’ play areas. For an alternative selection of animals, ranging from African Hunting Dogs to Zebras, the Cricket St Thomas Wildlife Park is within reach for a day trip. Near Highbridge, Secret World Wildlife Rescue open their centre to the public on several weekends during the spring and summer.

On the Mendip Hills, Cheddar is the location of Britain’s biggest gorge – Cheddar Gorge – and the illuminated Cheddar caves, and also provides an opportunity to buy genuine Cheddar cheese, as well as to see it made. Alternatively the Wookey Hole caves near the cathedral city of Wells also feature a Dinosaur Valley and other attractions. Wells, the cathedral itself, the medieval Bishop’s Palace and gardens and Vicars' Close (Europe’s oldest residential street) are all well worth seeing.

If you are planning to visit during the first half of November, the annual Bridgwater Guy Fawkes Carnival – the largest illuminated carnival in the World – is essential viewing. Similar carnivals featuring many of the same carnival clubs are held in North Petherton and Glastonbury on consecutive Saturdays, and in other towns in the area during the week. They each feature a 2 to 3 hour procession of around 100 colourful ‘carts’ – many of them fitted with thousands of lights and powerful sound systems – and attract tens of thousands of visitors without feeling packed.

On a smaller scale, the Maunsel Canal Centre, located at the mid point of the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal, is a good place to relax at the cafe, watch the lock in operation, or to go for a stroll along the canal. It’s also at the centre of the model of the solar system that has been built to scale along the canal towpath between the two towns – the Somerset Space Walk. Even if you don’t wish to walk or cycle the full 14 mile length, Maunsel is ideal for a stroll to some of the inner planets! Alternatively you can leave your transport at either Taunton or Bridgwater, walk the canal, then catch the train or bus back to the start.

For more countryside, Exmoor is within reach. The twin towns of Lynton and Lynmouth, linked by a water-powered cliff railway, are popular destinations, as is the spectacular Valley of Rocks nearby.
 

Museums & visitor centres

Near Taunton, Sheppy's Cider have a rural life museum covering farming, blacksmithing, thatching and coopering, as well as cider making. Also near Taunton the Willows and Wetlands Visitor Centre tells the story of willow growing and basket making, industries that were once widespread across the wetlands of the Somerset Levels.

The Somerset Rural Life Museum at Glastonbury illustrates once-common farming practices on the Levels including willow growing, peat digging and cider making. Nearby, the Peat Moors Centre has several reconstructed Iron Age roundhouses based on those discovered at the Glastonbury Lake Village, as well a collection of archaeological finds. It also recounts the history of peat digging which led to many of the discoveries.

In Bridgwater the Somerset Brick and Tile Museum tells the history of this former local industry, while the Admiral Blake Museum focuses in particular on Bridgwater’s economic and maritime history, the Battle of Sedgemoor and the life of the famous Admiral.

Set in a Grade II listed former watermill, the Bakelite Museum in Williton houses the UK’s largest collection of products made from bakelite, the world's first completely synthetic plastic, still being used more than a century after its invention.

The Museum of Somerset in Taunton, expected to reopen in 2010, will focus on the history of  Somerset from prehistoric times to the present day.
 

Shopping

For everyday shopping, Bridgwater provides the normal range of shops and supermarkets expected of a market town. The local town of Nether Stowey has a range of smaller shops and pubs.

Popular shopping destinations include the county town of Taunton and Clarks Village factory outlet shopping centre at Street. Thanks to its long association with legend and mythology, Glastonbury has an unusually large range of shops serving those interested in alternative culture, selling items such as crystals, jewellery, essential oils and new age books.

For more unusual gifts, try the Somerset Levels Basket and Craft Centre at Burrowbridge near Bridgwater, the Somerset Guild of Craftsmen in Somerton, or the Willows and Wetlands Visitor Centre, Stoke St Gregory, or the Quantock Pottery at Wellington.
 

Further information and resources

For further information please contact us or try these resources:

• Quantock Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (including the Quantock Rangers)

• Heart of Somerset Tourism (Taunton Borough Council tourist information)

• Visit Somerset (official Somerset Tourism Partnership website)

• Somerset Wildlife Trust

• Somerset Ornithological Society

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