Journal
Thornfalcon Guides: the Quantocks
- Guides
To the north of Thornfalcon lie the Quantock Hills, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). With wonderful walks and views, you will find rocky Jurassic coastline, exposed heathland summits, deep wooded coombes, undulating farmland and attractive villages.
There are lots of amazing walks in the Quantocks. Also known as Seven Sisters, Cothelstone Hill is one of our favourites for its wildlife, ponies and fascinating history. This is a 1.5 hour circular walk, wonderful for its uninterupted views.
For panoramas over heathland and the Quantocks, both Lydeard Hill and Staple Plain offer some of the best views in the Quantocks. Lydeard Hill is the gateway to the southern hilltops of the Quantocks, with various tracks to explore, leading to the open rugged uplands, or the route to Wills Neck - the highest point in the Quantock Hills.
On the northern coast line of the Quantocks lies Kilve Beach, halfway between Minehead and Bridgwater in the Quantocks, facing the Bristol Channel. Kilve Beach has beautiful rock formations sweeping the shoreline, impressive fossils dotted around, and plenty of rockpools in tranquil surroundings at low tide. Kilve is around 45 mind from Thornfalcon.
Nestled in the Quantock Hills, Coleridge Cottage was the home of Romantic poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge. While he lived here, Coleridge wrote some of his finest works, including 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner', 'Kubla Khan' and 'Frost at Midnight', and worked with William Wordsworth on their collection of poetry Lyrical Ballads.
The Coleridge Way covers 51 miles of stunning Somerset countryside, through the Quantock Hills, Brendon Hills and into Exmoor. This is the landscape that inspired Coleridge to produce his best known works.
Visitors can hike the whole Way (which takes around 6 days), or just walk smaller parts of it, through a variety of landscapes from moorland, woodland, farmland, wooded valleys and heathland to historic villages and views across to Wales.
Bishops Lydeard in the Quantocks is the starting point for the West Somerset Railway, which runs regular services on historic steam locomotives, across a twenty-mile scenic journey through the beautiful Quantock countryside and Exmoor in the distance, unspoilt villages and farms, the cliffs and coast of the Bristol Channel, Dunster’s imposing Castle, and Minehead’s seaside charm at the end of the line.
And the Quantocks also have numerous mountain bike trails for all abilities, across miles of wilderness with views across coastline, health, woodland and wild ponies.
