Have an adventureWhy not add to the adventureand find details on the websiteof other activities to enjoyalong the way such as apps,story boxes and geocaches.

Walk furtherIf you have never walked a long distance pathbefore this is the ideal introduction: The ColeridgeWay can be easily walked over a leisurely week,alternatively download the route guide andchoose sections to do one at a time. Either way,the information in this guide can be used to helpmake your trip enjoyable and easy to plan. TheColeridge Way also links with other promotedroutes including the South West Coast Path andTwo Moors Way if you wish to walk further!

Where there’s a Quill there’s a WayThe route is signposted in both directions makinguse of the quill logo. The website offers a fullroute guide and mapping to download. Walkersare advised to also carry OS Explorer Maps 140(Quantock Hills & Bridgwater) and OL9 Exmoor.

Protected LandscapesThe Coleridge Way runs between two protectedlandscapes, the Quantock Hills AONB and ExmoorNational Park. Nationally protected landscapesexist in part thanks to the Romantic poets.

Coleridge, Wordsworth, Byron and Shelley allwrote about the beauty of the ‘untamed’countryside and saw wildness as a metaphor forthe human heart. This began a shift in publicconsciousness towards valuing nature andnatural beauty. Wordsworth famously claimedthe Lake District as “a sort of national property,in which every man has a right and interest whohas an eye to perceive and a heart to enjoy”

This statement began ajourney lasting 150

years towardsprotecting the

country’s mostbeautifullandscapes forthe nation toenjoy. ExmoorNational Parkwas designatedin 1954. TheQuantock Hillswas the firstArea ofOutstandingNatural Beauty

(AONB) to bedesignated in

England in 1956.

Discover MoorExmoor, the coast and Quantock Hills have somuch more to offer so why not allow a few extradays to discover wild moorland, high coastalcliffs, a heritage coastline, and some of the finestcountryside on offer. For full details visit www.visit-exmoor.co.uk

Ride the Coleridge WayFor those on horseback or mountain bike there isalso the Coleridge Way Bridleway from NetherStowey to Exford (33 miles). Visit the website forinformation and a route guide.

Stay overVisit the website for full accommodation listings,many providers will offer baggage transfers orinclude packages where they make the transferarrangements for you.

Travel this wayTo make the most of this linear route there are anumber of options to help you travel from one endto the other. Public Transport services operatebetween Lynmouth and Minehead and Mineheadto Nether Stowey (check Traveline for latestschedules - 0871 200 22 33). The MoorRoverprovides a pre-bookable on-demand service alongthe length of the route for walkers, in addition tolocal taxi firms - further information on the website.

51 miles of breathtakingcountryside

The poet Robert Southey, a friend of Coleridge’s,may have lodged at the Ship Inn, Porlock, in 1799when he wrote his sonnet ‘To Porlock’. Walkingwest from Porlock you pass close to the housebuilt for Ada Lovelace, daughter of Lord Byron.Ash Farm in Culbone is reputedly where Coleridgestayed when he wrote ‘Kubla Khan’ and where hewas famously interrupted by ‘a person onbusiness from Porlock’.

‘In Xanadu did Kubla KhanA stately pleasure dome decree’

As the Coleridge Way drops into the valley of theEast Lyn, you pass Oare church where CarverDoone shot Lorna in Blackmore’s novel (1869).Watersmeet, further downstream, was also afavourite spot of Coleridge and Wordsworth.Arriving at Lynmouth you pass Shelley’s Hotelwhence the poet Shelley, 1792-1822, fled by boatto Wales with his wife and sister-in-law.

Walk the Coleridge Way todiscover the landscapes thatinspired the Romantic Poets

www.coleridgeway.co.uk

The Coleridge Way,Romantic Poets and literary linksThe Romantic Movement blossomed in the late 18th century. Its followers found particular inspiration in nature. Some of the mostfamous of the Romantic poets were drawn to thewild beauty of the open moors and coast of WestSomerset and North Devon.

The Coleridge Way begins at Nether Stoweywhere Samuel Taylor Coleridge came to live in1797 and from where he set out on almost dailywalks over the Quantocks and Exmoor with hisclose friends William and Dorothy Wordsworth.They trekked over moors, down combes andalong streams, composing poetry which resultedin ‘Lyrical Ballads’, a book seen as marking thestart of English literary Romanticism.

Visit www.coleridgeway.co.uk for all theinformation you need to plan a visit. If you have anyquestions call either of the friendly teams atPorlock Visitor Centre on 01643 863150 or LyntonTourist Information Centre on 0845 4583775.

Brown ArgusPhoto courtesyof ButterflyConservation

© National Portrait Gallery, London

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Watersmeet

St. Audries Park from West Quantoxhead

Coleridge Cottage

Walk 51 miles through the breathtakingcountryside of the Quantock Hills, theBrendon Hills and Exmoor National Park. An area so beautiful it inspired writers suchas Samuel Taylor Coleridge who producedsome of his best known work, oftencomposed and planned out whilst walkingin these wild and remote landscapes.The route takes you up over open moorland, downancient wooded valleys and through historic villages,finishing on Exmoor’s dramatic coastline in Devon.The walk can be completed over a leisurely week,making the Coleridge Way a perfect introductionto long distance walking. Stay along the way in achoice of high quality accommodation, all offeringa warm welcome and friendly local advice.Photos courtesy of Exmoor National Park Authority, QuantockHills AONB and Ruth Luckhurst. Front cover photo by Jon Coole.

Nether Stowey in the foothills of the QuantockHills AONB was home to Coleridge between1797 and 1799. The award winning ColeridgeCottage, owned by the National Trust, is wellworth a visit before you begin. Holford is surrounded by beautiful ancient oakcombes, climbing to open heathland hilltops. William Wordsworth and his sister Dorothylived at Alfoxton Park during their friendshipwith Coleridge. Extensive views over the Bristol Channel andover West Quantoxhead as the route skirts theQuantock Hills.

Fascinating buildings in very picturesqueBicknoller which lies on the lower slopes ofthe Quantocks. Part of the church, which has ahuge yew tree in its grounds, dates from the12th century.Monksilver, on the boundary of ExmoorNational Park, takes its name from the Latin“Silva” meaning woodland i.e. Monks Wood. The steep climb up Bird's Hill is rewarded withviews of ancient woodland and glimpses of theBristol Channel through the trees.Roadwater lies close the West Somerset MineralRailway Line which in the 19th century transportediron ore from the Brendon Hills to Watchet.The high ground above Luxborough is an idealplace to look back over some of the high pointsof the route between here and Nether Stowey.

WheddonCrossis thehighestvillage onExmoorandfamous for‘SnowdropValley’ in thenearby Avill Valley.Your first taste on the route of real openExmoor moorland with views of DunkeryBeacon, Exmoor’s highest point. Keep an eyeout for Exmoor ponies.

Webber’s Post Beautiful viewpoint where wildrugged moorland gives way to wildlife-richwoodland.Pass through ancient Horner Wood, part ofthe National Trust Holnicote Estate, to discoverthe medieval packhorse bridge at Horner alsoknown as Hacketty Way Bridge.“Porlock! thy verdant vale so fair to sight”(Robert Southey). A great place to take a breakmidway along the Coleridge Way. ExplorePorlock Vale, the shingle beach, marshes,wildlife, woodland, plus the village itself. Callinto the visitor centre to sign the ColeridgeWay log book and find out more.Culbone Woods near England’s smallestchurch and the farm where Coleridgeconceived his poem ‘Kubla Khan’.Follow the steep-sidedDeddy Combe into thewild Doone Valleyto Oare with itschurch. madefamous as alocation in R DBlackmore’sromanticnovel ‘LornaDoone’.

The route follows the valley along tranquilriverside paths beneath towering hills passingMalmsmead and Brendon en route to thecelebrated waterfall and wooded setting ofWatersmeetLynmouth The western end of the ColeridgeWay is located near the pretty harbour, outsidethe National Park Centre at the Pavilion. Fromhere you can follow the South West Coast Pathup to Lynton 400ft above Lynmouth (linked by aVictorian water powered cliff railway).

From Lynton, the Valley ofRocks,which Coleridge

visited in November1797 with

Wordsworth, is a short stroll away.

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