A Boot Up The Quantock Hills

Quantocks means ‘the headland of the waters.’ The headland in this case is a ridge of hills running for twelve miles between Taunton and the Severn Estuary. Although never more than four miles wide and sandwiched between the Somerset Levels and the Vale ofTaunton Deane, they rise to over twelve hundred feet (the highest point being Wills Neck) and afford sweeping views over much of Somerset.

The hills offer great variety for the walker: with ancient trackways over a gently-rolling summit of heath running down to deep shady combes and picture postcard villages of rich red stone. Coleridge andWordsworth both made the area briefly their home. Wordsworth envied the way Coleridge’s mind had become ‘habituated to the vast’ and both enjoyed almost daily walks in all weathers to see the endless views and vast skyscapes. All this in what has been described as a ‘pocket-edition’ range of hills, much suited to this pocket-sized hardback book.

In it writer and photographer Brian Pearce describes ten circular walks. All are ‘leisure walks’ – ideal for families and groups of friends, moderate in both length and difficulty and with opportunities to stop for refreshments, take in the views and, like the poets, be inspired by the scenery. On each page photographs entice the visitor to explore and then hold on to the book as a souvenir of a gem of the English countryside.