© 2009 Lonely Planet 74 Bristol, Bath & SOMERSET & SOMERSET BRISTOL, BATH & S o m e r s e t There’s a kaleidoscopic feel to the southwest’s uppermost corner. Part rural escape, part coastal retreat, part historical textbook, it presents multiple faces to the visitor: one minute you’re travelling through a pastoral hotchpotch of cornfields, copses and willow-shaded bridleways, and the next you’re steaming over a humpbacked hill, plumbing the depths of a limestone cavern, or tracing the curve of a windblown coastline. The accents may be laced with a burr that’s thicker than butter, but don’t be fooled into thinking this is a backward corner of Britain; the stately cities of Bristol and Bath have been setting trends, breaking rules and educating the rest of England for centuries. It’s a county of collision, where wild hill meets tourist town, Georgian crescent meets cobbled street and thatched cottage meets city skyline. Bristol – a gateway to the region – and Bath are essential stops, but Somerset’s also the traditional home of cider, Cheddar cheese and Britain’s tiniest city. In the east are the Mendips and Quantocks, choice walking country and a source of poetic inspiration for Messrs Coleridge and Wordsworth, while the centre of the county conceals the frying-pan flats of the Somerset Levels, a watery wetland and twitcher’s paradise. Smack bang in the middle looms the emerald hump of Glastonbury – King Arthur’s legendary resting place, the realm of a faerie king and the home of everyone’s favourite musical mudfest. Out to the west, straddling the border with Devon, is Exmoor, Britain’s oldest national park, where red deer stalk the hilltops, wooded coombes tumble seawards and trailheads crisscross the cliffs. Savour the sights, sip some scrumpy or get all spiritual – Somerset’s a treat for the senses. HIGHLIGHTS Bristol Head for the bright lights of the southwest’s big city, Bristol ( p76) Bath Sink some scrumpy at a traditional cider brewery ( p114 ) Glastonbury Scan the scenery from the top of Exmoor Tor Glastonbury Tor ( p106) Somerset Levels Do as the Romans did and have a bath in Somerset Bath ( p93 ) Cider Explore the quiet lanes and nature reserves on the Somerset Levels ( p111) Head out on a wildlife-spotting safari around Exmoor ( p113) POPULATION: 878,710 EARLIEST SCRUMPY RATIO OF SHEEP TO PEOPLE PRODUCTION: 1230 ON EXMOOR: 50:1 lonelyplanet.com 0 20 kms SOMERSET 0 10 miles Llantrisant 3°W Severn Chipping Acton Turvill Southern 2°W 4°W NEWPORT Beach Sodbury Cotswolds Wootton St Mellons Bassett Avonmouth Bridgend St Fagan's Portishead T Porthcawl CARDIFF h Castle Combe rk e Marshfield o C C Chippenham Bristol o o t &SOMERSET ••Somerset BRISTOL, BATH T s VALE w Corsham Cowbridge M5 Calne Avebury OF Mouth Clevedon Tyntesfield o GLAMORGAN of the ld Corsham Court Penarth Avon W Bowood Severn a House Beckhampton Bristol Cardiff Airport Keynsham y The Llantwit Major Flax Bourton Cotswolds Channel A4 Lacock Barry Abbey Rhoose Bath Bradford- Congresbury on-Avon Rowde Weston- Devizes Super-Mare Churchill Trowbridge Semington A38 A36 Axbridge Radstock Midsomer Norton The Norton St Philip Cheddar Mendips Babington Rudge WILTSHIRE A Westbury x Wookey Lynton Somerset & North C Bridgwater Burnham- e Babington oast Hole Frome Lynmouth Path Bay on-Sea Wedmore House A39 Porlock Wells Warminster Oare A39 Horner Minehead Exmoor Watchet A38 Shrewton Wootton Shepton Mallet Longleat National Courtenay Dunster Challasombe Park Washford Nether Dunkery Beacon Stowey Simonsbath Cleeve Abbey Williton Holford Glastonbury Stourhead Exford Wheddon Cross Bridgwater Crowcombe Street Bratton Winsford Brendon M5 Withypool B North Fleming Brayford a Hills r Exton Petherton il l SOMERSET Castle Cary Tra e Brompton Mere Tarka Regis Bishops Lydeard Burrow A303 A399 Hawkridge Athelney Mump Somerton Haynes Motor Museum Wincanton Old West Anstey Taunton Wardour y Dulverton Wiveliscombe Willows & Gillingham Castle a Wetland Somerset Ilchester Cadbury Shaftesbury South Molton W Levels Castle 51°N s Centre Muchelney r Fleet 51°N o West Burrow o Bampton Wellington Air Arm M Sheppy’s Hatch Hill Cider o Cothay Cider Farm w Sherborne Stalbridge T Manor Barrington Montacute Yeovil Sturminster Exe Staple Blackdown Court House Newtown Knightshayes Fitzpaine Farnham Wellington Hills South Barwick Chulmleigh Witheridge Court Illminster Monument Petherton West Cocer Chettle East Moors A361 Tiverton Crewkerne Chinnock East Cocer S to DORSET u r Chard Kingston Yarcombe Blandford Forum Lacy Cullompton Evershot Corscombe Cerne M5 Abbas Ferndown Crediton Beaminster Wimborne Honiton A35 Axminster Athelhampton Minster House 75 DEVON Bere Regis 3°W Puddletown 2°W & SOMERSET SOMERSET & BRISTOL, BATH BATH BRISTOL,.