September in Somerset

SUMMARY

Dates:Sunday Sept 4th to Thursday Sept 8th – 4 nights/3.5 days walking

Guide:Chrissie Amey our local guide

Walking Grade:2 Goats – average fitness, steady pace, rolling hills..

Base:Huntstile Organic Farm,Goathurst ,Nr Bridgewater,Somerset.

Travel: We suggest travelling by train to Taunton to arrive 3pmish. We will arrange a group transfer to take you to Huntstiles.

Price:£885 inclusive:

• Ensuite accommodation. All rooms are different in their own individual quirky style
• All meals with local, organic produce at it’s heart.
• Experienced local guiding

Not included:

• Travel to Huntstiles
• Drinks

This is a tried and tested WalkingWomen Classic in the heart of the Quantock Hills and the oldest English Area of Natural Beauty.Our base is the very special Huntstile Organic Farm in a gorgeous peaceful setting with extremely comfortable rooms. Perfect for that great nights sleep after a day on the hills. Food is fantastic and all organic,fresh and healthy. This is just the place to relax, eat well and enjoy a WW classic.

DETAILS

Our guide will lead you on a variety of walks to explore the area.The Quantock Hills are a landscape of heathland,ancient woodland,pretty villages and undulating farmland. It is a small wilderness of tranquility that also offers panoramic views towards Wales and Exmoor where you can glimpse the strange Jurassic coastline. It is an area rich in a poetic past inspired by Coleridge and Wordsworth.

If you want tranquillity , space to think and create or simply time away with women then do join this short early autumn break before the winter sets in.

ITINERARY

Day 1 – Arrival by 5pm for a welcome with Chrissie your local guide. For those arriving earlier there is time to settle in or look around the local area.

Day 2.  8 miles. 70m of ascent and descent

The first day will start from Huntstile farm and take us up to Fyne Court at Broomfield. All that remains of the estate after the house burnt down in the 19C are the grounds and stable block, now managed by the National Trust, where there is café. This walk is an introduction to the rural Quantock area with its small farms and tranquil woodlands.

Day 3. 8.5 miles. 400m of ascent and descent

The second day starts on the Quantock ridge with open heathland of heather and gorse. The walk goes down through ancient woods to the village of Crowcombe. The return route goes over the highest point of the Quantocks at 384m and along Wills Neck where there are far reaching views out towards Exmoor and across the channel to Wales.

Day 4. 8 miles. 300m ascent and descent

The last full day will explore the far west end of the Quantocks starting above Nether Stowey, where Coleridge and Wordsworth both lived while they wrote the Lyrical Ballads. Walking through ancient sessile oak woods up to the iron age Dowsborough fort, our path then follows beautiful combes, much loved by Dorothy Wordsworth, down to the beach at Kilve, on the Bristol channel, an extraordinary example of Jurassic coastline where fossils can be easily be found, and a cream tea awaits us.

Day 5. 3 miles, level walk

The holiday ends with a leisurely half day walk around Cothelstone Hill where Exmoor ponies graze.

Departure