Useful links for visitors to Waterrow in Somerset and Ashbrook Ceramics
One of the best ways to appreciate the beauty of the west side of Somerset must be the marvellous West Somerset Railway – the longest standard gauge heritage railway in England. You can ride from just outside Taunton all the way to Minehead passing immaculately maintained stations, signal boxes, a castle and a harbour. The countryside is sumptuous and it is easy to see how it inspired some of this Country’s greatest poets.
It was while Coleridge was living at Nether Stowey that he and his friends Dorothy and William Wordsworth took frequent walks in the Quantock Hills and along the coast. These led them to examine the natural world and their place in it. The result formed the foundations of the Romantic movement in this country and no wonder.
Today you can follow in their footsteps by taking the Coleridge Way from the National Trust owned Coleridge Cottage to Lynmouth on the other side of the Somerset border.
Protected by law as the first Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty to be designated back in 1956, the Quantock Hills are famous for their heathland, oak woods and Jurassic Coast. Look out for thatched cottages, wild ponies, panoramic views and whortleberries. They lead onto Exmoor National Park, a unique landscape shaped by people and nature over thousands of years.