A Famous Walk
Walk The Coleridge Way - In the Footsteps of a Romantic Poet
Samuel Taylor Coleridge 1772 -1834
Walk through the stunning Somerset countryside of the Quantock Hills, the Brendon Hills and Exmoor, a landscape that inspired Coleridge to produce some of his best known work.
Coleridge Cottage
1909-2009 A national Trust property, 35 Lime Street, Nether Stowey, Bridgwater, Somerset.
"The light shall stream to a far distance from the taper in my cottage window"
The Route Guide
Starting at Nether Stowey to Bicknoller - 9.2 Miles
Start with a steady climb from the start for the first 2.5 miles to Woodlands Hill. Downhill to Holford and then generally undulating to Bicknoller, with a few short sharp descents and climbs in and out of small combes. This section also follows a route signed as the Quantock Greenway.
- Start point: Coleridge Cottage, Lime St. Nether Stowey
- Toilets: Nether Stowey car park in Castle Street.
- Places to Eat & Drink: pubs, shops & tea rooms in Nether Stowey; pub & tea rooms/gardens in Holford (all just off route); pub and shop (just off route) in West Quantoxhead; pub (just off route) & shop at Bicknoller.
- Maps: You are advised to carry with you OS Explorer Maps
140 Quantock Hills & Bridgwater
OL9 Exmoor
- Waymarking: the route is waymarked with distinctive quill waymarks
ST 191 399 NETHER STOWEY
From the front door of Coleridge Cottage turn R and walk down Lime Street. Then Turn R into Castle Street by clock tower (A). Continue up Castle Street (B) and walk up hill. At brow of hill climb to top of Castle Mount (C) on R (take stile on R). Return over stile to road and continue to T junction at bottom of hill.
(A) The clock tower was erected in 1862 using the bell from the former market cross. Also site of Old Gaol.
(B) Toilets & information in library car park in Castle Street.
(C) Remains of 11th C Motte & Bailey Castle with fine views of Nether Stowey, Quantocks and across Bristol Channel. Castle destroyed in 15thC
From Nether Stowey on the Quantock Hills, where Coleridge lived for three years, walk:
- A quiet and unspoilt northern fringes of the Quantock Hills through the villages of Holford, West Quantoxhead and Bicknoller
- the little known Brendon Hills through the villages of Monksilver, Roadwater and Luxborough, across Lype Hill to Wheddon Cross
- This remote Exmoor moorland of Dunkery Hill to the woodland village of Horner
- to reach Porlock, the end of your route, on the spectacular South West Coast Path.
- more information on www.coleridgeway.co.uk
