A Week In Somerset – Part 1

Back in April we had a week off work together and had decided to head down and visit a part of England we hadn’t explored much before, Somerset. Both of us had visited as children, mostly enroute to Devon and Cornwall, but neither of us had really spent any time exploring the county, other than the city of Bath, during adulthood. However, because it made complete sense, our route from Cambridgeshire to Somerset would take us via West Sussex to visit friends.

Arriving late Friday night, we spent the Saturday taking a walk in the bluebell woods to the north of Arundel before heading to the edge of town to watch the Arundel Blubell Tractor Run which was taking place in support of the charity Young Lives vs Cancer. More than 100 tractors and farm vehicles took part, which was certainly a spectacle to watch (and hear with the horns!) and in the end more than £8,000 was raised for charity. A steep walk up into Arundel itself allowed for pizzas and a couple of pints at the Fauna Brewery & Taproom with views of the beautiful Catholic Cathedral which had the Vatican City flag at half mast in respect for the recently deceased Pope Francis.

The second day of our holiday started as the first did with a walk in the beautiful Sussex countryside, this time with the climb up to the Grade II listed Halnaker Windmill and accompanying trig point & WW2 observation post. An iconic Sussex landmark, Halnaker Windmill is located at the top of Halnaker Hill and is well worth a visit for both a close up look and to admire the great views out over the West Sussex coast and the southern edge of the South Downs. From Warehead Farm at the bottom of the hill, its a walk of just under a mile along stone paths and through a tunnel of trees to the windmill.

Having enjoyed our early morning walk to the windmill, it was time to begin making our way west towards Somerset. Deciding to make the most of the journey, we had planned to stop in Salisbury for a couple of hours to explore the city and have some lunch, ticking off the latter first at the local branch of Boston Tea Party. This chain of sustainability focused restaurants is mainly based in the south west of England and is a firm favourite when we visit friends in that corner of the country, so was an obvious choice for lunch when we saw Salisbury had a branch. With southern England experiencing some very nice weather for April, we enjoyed an alfresco lunch whilst watching Salisbury’s comings and goings, before finishing up to head to the Cathedral.

Made infamous in recent history for being the ‘reason’ accused Russian spies visited Salisbury around the time of the Novichok poisoning assassination attempt in the city, Salisbury Cathedral and its “famous 123-meter spire” cost £13 to enter, although this does also include access to one of the original historic copies of the Magna Carta. Constructed throughout the 13^th century and finished in the early 1300s, Salisbury Cathedral replaced an earlier iteration at Old Sarum, a couple of miles away from the present-day city. Not only is the Cathedral famous for having the tallest spire in England, it also has one of the oldest working clocks in the world, so is well worth a visit, even if you don’t pay to look around the inside. It’s also worth noting that the Cathedral Refectory is accessible without a ticket to the Cathedral itself and serves excellent cake!

The remainder of day 2 was making our way from Salisbury to our accommodation for the week in Compton Martin (south of Bristol) and settling in, so we didn’t really see much else other than some gorgeous Somerset countryside. However, day 3 of our holiday, and our first full day in Somerset, saw us heading to the seaside, however not directly. Running from Bishops Lydeard near Taunton to the coast at Minehead, the West Somerset Railway (WSR) is the longest independent heritage railway in the UK and is more than 20 miles end to end. A journey along the full length of the line takes around an hour and 20 minutes, and for our run to Minehead we were hauled by GWR 2807.

Saved from the scrapyard in 1981, ‘2807’ was returned to steam in 2010 and now holds a handful of records due to its age of 120 years old. For the run down along the edge of the Quantock Hills, ‘2807’ performed flawlessly and we thoroughly enjoyed our journey to Minehead. After enjoying a couple of hours sat on the beach, eating fish & chips and ice cream, we headed back to the railway to catch the ‘other’ train, intending to jump off at Watchet and explore the seaside village. Unfortunately owing to a collection of issues including loco problems, the fireman getting injured and a lineside fire, we ended up leaving Minehead about an hour late and ended up staying on the train all the way through to Bishops Lydeard.

So the afternoon of day 3 didn’t go quite to plan, however the WSR was a great line to travel over, with stunning scenery, although it would have been nice to be able to explore a bit more. As for the remainder of our holiday, you’ll have to check out part 2 of the blog which will be coming next week, so if you’ve not already subscribed, please do so to get notified when its live.