West Mendip Hills and Banwell, North Somerset

Walk through time to discover a cave of animal bones from before the Ice Age; a Bronze Age cemetery; an Iron Age hill fort; a former Victorian railway reinvented for sustainable travel and a WWII decoy site.

In this edition of the Strongvox Wild Walks series, our walking guide Viv has been discovering great places to visit on the doorstep of our newest development, Jubilee Gardens at Banwell.

The village of Banwell sits at the foot of the Mendip Hills, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, which offers over 400km of public rights of way to explore. The Mendip Hills are flanked to the north and south by a string of pretty villages, the most famous being Cheddar.

In addition to the numerous public footpaths and bridleways traversing the hills, the 10-mile Strawberry Line Path passes under the hills at the 165m long Shute Shelve tunnel. The West Mendip Way, and Butcombe Trail long-distance walking routes intersect at King’s Wood, just above the tunnel, and the Limestone Link joins the West Mendip Way at the nearby village of Shipham.

Strongvox Jubilee Gardens

The 38 brand new Strongvox homes at Jubilee Gardens in Banwell will form a low density and well-appointed development designed to create a new community on the edge of the village. Two, three and four-bed homes, including a number of two-bed bungalows will be available to buy in 2023. To stay updated, register your interest now!

Walks Through Time

There are many beautiful places to discover on Banwell’s doorstep. We’ve selected several, which are not only delightful to explore, but also have historical interest:

• Strawberry Line Path at Sandford – 1.5 miles from Banwell
• King’s Wood (for Shute Shelve Tunnel, – 3.5 miles from Banwell Wavering Down and Crook Peak)
• Shipham (start point for the Rowberrow Warren – 3.5 miles from Banwell and Dolebury Warren 5.5 mile walk)
• Burrington Ham (access point for Black Down – 6.5 miles from Banwell and Beacon Batch)
• The Bone Cave – in Banwell

Strawberry Line Path

The Strawberry Line Path is an ambitious project to create a continuous traffic-free 30-mile path between Clevedon and Shepton Mallet. The section of the path between Yatton and Cheddar is fully operational and passes 1.5 miles east of Banwell, through the village of Sandford.

Originally opened in 1864, the Cheddar Valley Line railway ran from Yatton to Cheddar and Wells and was known as the Strawberry Line because of the volume of locally grown strawberries which it carried to London’s fruit markets.

The wide, gravelled path is suitable for cycling, walking and running and it is largely pushchair and wheelchair friendly too. You can join the path close to the Thatchers Brewery and its popular Railway Inn and farm shop in Sandford. Here, the path passes through Thatchers’ extensive orchards. Sandford station has been restored to its former Victorian glory and now houses a Heritage Centre https://sandfordstation.co.uk/(open weekends April – end October).

Heading towards Cheddar, you’ll pass through Winscombe (one mile from Sandford) and after a further mile, the dramatic opening of Shute Shelve tunnel looms ahead.

Shute Shelve Tunnel, King’s Wood, Wavering Down and Crook Peak

This 165m-long tunnel emerges below the ancient trees in King’s Wood before winding its way along the foot of the Mendip Hills into medieval Axbridge and then onto Cheddar. The tunnel is home to several species of bat and some rare cave spiders, so keep your eyes peeled!

It is possible to exit the Strawberry Line here and climb up to King’s Wood, which forms the eastern edge of an extensive National Trust area. The Mendip Hills AONB website has a great selection of circular walking routes including an easy 2.5-mile low-level circular walk from King’s Wood incorporating a section of the Strawberry Line and the tunnel. More details here.

The West Mendip Way and Butcombe Trail also pass through King’s Wood. With a car park (nearest postcode BS25 1DG or what3words: rebounded.configure.servants), it’s fun to explore in any season and a good starting place to access the local geological landmark of Crook Peak.

The steady climb along the West Mendip Way up through the trees and along the broad ridge of Wavering Down are rewarded with magnificent views right across the Somerset Levels to Glastonbury and beyond. To the west are panoramic views across the Bristol Channel to Wales. Look out for the Exmoor ponies roaming freely. Crook Peak is a craggy outcrop of limestone and is easily spotted from the M5, which dissects the patchwork of fields below.

With two easy summits to bag, it’s a great walk with children and is suitable for dogs on leads. You can make a circular 5-mile walk by following the Curious Trails website route described here.

Rowberrow Warren and Dolebury Warren

Rowberrow Warren is a large hillside of deciduous and coniferous woodland with a lovely stream for paddling in the serene valley of Rowberrow Bottom. In contrast, the open, grassy heathland and Iron Age hill fort at Dolebury Warren boasts wonderful panoramic views across Somerset’s Chew Valley, the Bristol Channel, Crook Peak and beyond. 

Discover both these places on a 5.5-mile walk taken from the ‘50 Walks in Somerset AA Guide’. Recorded by Viv on the Komoot app, the walk starts a couple of miles from Banwell in the village of Shipham and is suitable for children and dogs, but not pushchairs. The walk incorporates sections of the West Mendip Way and Limestone Link and crosses the busy A38 twice, so please take care. Full details and navigation are available here.

Beacon Batch and Black Down

Beacon Batch is the highest summit of the Mendip Hills at 325m and sits on the  round hill of Black Down. The heathland here is an important natural habitat for wildlife and is also of great archaeological interest. Near the trig point, multiple Bronze Age barrows of various shapes form an ancient cemetery. 

During WWII Black Down was used as a decoy site to lure bombers away from the city of Bristol. Laid out by Shepperton Film Studios, the site mimicked Bristol’s streets and railway yards using generators in bunkers to power light bulbs in glow boxes. Drums of oil were also ignited to simulate the effect of a blazing city, with the aim of fooling subsequent waves of bombers. A battery of anti aircraft rockets was in place to attack enemy aircraft on their approach. The control buildings are still visible today. 

Black Down boasts great views in all directions and it’s a large enough area for kids to explore and let off some steam. Easily accessible from Burrington Ham car park on the B3134, it’s a 2.5-mile circular walk to Beacon Batch and back. 

For a longer route of 4 miles, walk from Beacon Batch trig point towards the secondary 309m summit. From here, descend the north side of the hill until reaching the Limestone Link long distance footpath. Return east along the base of Black Down to the car park. Details of a longer circular route from Rowberrow village are available here.

And finally…

Our walk through time wouldn’t be complete without the pre-Ice Age animal bones from 80,000 years ago. These were discovered in a cave located on Banwell Hill, just outside the village in 1825. The landowner at that time, the Bishop of Bath and Wells, considered the bones to be those of animals drowned in Noah’s flood! Today, the Bone Cave is within the grounds of a private residence, but it’s still possible to see the caves, follies and tower located within these grounds as part of an organised tour.

Here at Strongvox, we hope we’ve inspired you to discover these beautiful places first hand. You can register your interest in Jubilee Gardens here.

 

Look out for the next Strongvox Walk on the Wild Side blog for more great places to explore on foot.

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