{"id":2159,"date":"2020-12-19T01:27:30","date_gmt":"2020-12-19T00:27:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/?p=2159"},"modified":"2020-12-16T08:52:16","modified_gmt":"2020-12-16T07:52:16","slug":"holford-and-the-quantocks-somerset","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/?p=2159","title":{"rendered":"Holford and the Quantocks, Somerset"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\">function popwalk(walk) {var url = \"\/Walks\/amap.php?f=\"+walk; varwalkwindow=window.open(url,\"walkwin\",\"height=740,width=1230,resizable=yes,scrollbars=yes\"); if (window.focus) {walkwindow.focus()}}<\/script><br \/> First published in: The Times <a href=\"javascript:popwalk('Holford.jpg');\" rel=\"nozoom\" title=\"Click here to view a map for this walk in a new window\">Click here to view a map for this walk in a new window<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50605900481_2b20511667_z.jpg\" title= \"50605900481 wind-blasted thorn trees, heathery hills and sea views - the Quantocks\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50605900481_2b20511667_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50605158288_64ddd91630_z.jpg\" title= \"50605158288 valley road to Alfoxton\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50605158288_64ddd91630_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50605158003_8759d2c4cf_z.jpg\" title= \"50605158003 Talbot rampant on the wall of Holford dog pound\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50605158003_8759d2c4cf_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50606022947_6726a4fa84_z.jpg\" title= \"50606022947 seaward view from Alfoxton drive\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50606022947_6726a4fa84_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50605157788_98aec15dc5_z.jpg\" title= \"50605157788 looking seaward from the Quantock Greenway\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50605157788_98aec15dc5_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50605900296_524d0a2880_z.jpg\" title= \"50605900296 seaward view while climbing to meet the Great Road\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50605900296_524d0a2880_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50606022232_8d0d004ecd_z.jpg\" title= \"50606022232 junction with the Great Road on Quantock\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50606022232_8d0d004ecd_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50605156983_2e68138130_z.jpg\" title= \"50605156983 looking from the Great Road across heathery combes towards the sea\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50605156983_2e68138130_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50605158843_3fd5604a1e_z.jpg\" title= \"50605158843 braided crossways on the Great Road, looking to Hinkley Point\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50605158843_3fd5604a1e_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50605158483_2d14e6ea43_z.jpg\" title= \"50605158483 junction of tracks on the Great Road\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50605158483_2d14e6ea43_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a><br \/>\nFacebook Link: <script src=\"http:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\"><\/script><fb:like href=\"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/wordpress\/?p=2159\" layout=\"button_count\" show_faces=\"true\" width=\"200\" colorscheme=\"dark\"><\/fb:like><br \/>\n<a href=\"javascript:pwindow=window.open('\/Walks\/prn.php?f=2159','pwin','height=700,width=1000,resizable=yes,scrollbars=yes');\" title=\"Click for printable version\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/Walks\/print.gif\" align=\"right\"><\/a><br \/>\nOne dark night long ago the huntsman at Alfoxton Manor was eaten by his own hounds, so says the tale. He got up from his bed to quell a dogfight in the kennels, and they didn\u2019t recognise him in his nightshirt.<\/p>\n<p>Setting off from Holford on a glorious winter day of blue sky above the Quantock Hills, we stopped to admire the old dog pound beside the path to Alfoxton. What a pity those hungry hounds hadn\u2019t been safely penned up behind its stout stone walls. <\/p>\n<p>William and Dorothy Wordsworth came to roost at Alfoxton (then \u2018Alfoxden\u2019) in the summer of 1797. Nearby lived their new best friend, Samuel Taylor Coleridge.<br \/>\nWe passed the manor house, solid and white among beautiful beech and oak woods. Coleridge and the Wordsworths walked daily over the hills and through the deep wooded combes of Quantock, \u2018three people, but one soul\u2019, as Coleridge put it. Rumours spread that the three strangers were spies for Napoleon, and the Wordsworths had to leave their Eden in the Quantocks, never to return.<\/p>\n<p>Along the drive missel thrushes with spotted throats were busy raiding the cherry trees whose scarlet fruits dangled at the end of long stalks. The birds darted from tree to tree with their characteristic muscular wing thrusts and direct, purposeful flight.<\/p>\n<p>Red deer hinds went trotting springily across the paddocks among the horses. The Quantock Greenway path wound at the foot of the hills, with breathtaking views opening northwards over the Bristol Channel, its tides stained a milky mulberry hue by the mud of many estuaries. As we gained height we made out the upturned hull shape of Steep Holm island, the white lighthouse on neighbouring Flat Holm, the long spine of Mendip running inland, the far coast of Wales in a blur of distance \u2013 and on the shore below, the giant\u2019s geometry set of Hinkley Point C nuclear power station, still laboriously a-building.<\/p>\n<p>Up on the top the wind blew cold. We followed wide grassy bridleways where hill ponies with ground-sweeping tails cropped the verges. A fantastically exhilarating ramble, east along the ancient green trackway evocatively titled The Great Road, then slanting steeply down to join the homeward path in the depths of Hodder\u2019s Combe with its skein of rustling brooks and springs.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Upon smooth Quantock\u2019s airy ridge we roved<br \/>\nUnchecked, or loitered \u2019mid her sylvan coombs*.\u2019<br \/>\n*Wordsworth\u2019s spelling.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s how Wordsworth remembered those happy Quantock days in \u2018The Prelude\u2019, and it neatly summed up our day, too.<br \/>\nHow hard is it? 6 miles; moderate, some short climbs; moorland and valley tracks, some muddy; streams to ford<br \/>\nStart: Holford Bowling Green car park, Holford, Bridgwater TA5 1SA (OS ref ST 154410)<br \/>\nGetting there: At Holford (A39, Bridgwater-Minehead) follow lane by Plough Inn (brown sign \u2018Combe House Hotel\u2019) to car park.<\/p>\n<p>Walk: Left along valley road. Follow \u2018Quantock Greenway\u2019\/QG (green arrows), and \u2018Coleridge Way\u2019\/CW (quill symbol) for 2 miles. Cross Smith\u2019s Combe stream (132422, signposted); continue on QG, CW. Pass conifer plantation; in 150m, sharp left (129423, fingerpost, blue arrow\/BA) up bridleway. In 450m at top of slope, left at track crossing (127420). Follow broad green bridleway south for 1 mile, keeping ahead over all track crossings, to Great Road trackway (132407, fire beaters). Left; in \u2154 mile, descend across widespread track crossing (141410); in 150m, fork right beside trees (BA, \u2018No Vehicles\u2019). In 300m cross track (145408); descend into Hodder\u2019s Combe. Ford streams (144403); left along far bank for \u00be mile to car park.<br \/>\nLunch: Plough Inn, Holford (01278-741652, <a href=\"http:\/\/holfordvillage.com\">holfordvillage.com<\/a>)<br \/>\nAccommodation: Combe House Hotel, Holford TA5 1RZ (01278-741382, <a href=\"http:\/\/combehouse.co.uk\">combehouse.co.uk<\/a>)<br \/>\nInfo: <a href=\"http:\/\/quantocks.com\">quantocks.com<\/a>; <a href=\"http:\/\/satmap.com\">satmap.com<\/a>; <a href=\"http:\/\/ramblers.org.uk\">ramblers.org.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One dark night long ago the huntsman at Alfoxton Manor was eaten by his own hounds, so says the tale. He got up from his bed to quell a dogfight in the kennels, and they didn\u2019t recognise him in his nightshirt.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2161,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2159","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-walks","category-3-id","post-seq-1","post-parity-odd","meta-position-corners","fix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2159","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2159"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2159\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2159"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2159"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}