This was a 6 mile walk that took me about 2.5 hours. The weather was warm with periods of sunshine, but rather hazy.
I do not have a GPS set but do like to carry a decent map. In this case it was Ordnance Survey 1:25000 Explorer Map 140 "Quantock Hills and Bridgwater". These are the best maps available, but the Quantocks are cris-crossed by a network of paths and tracks in the access land that have no official status and are not mapped. This can be confusing at times. Also, it seems to me that the boundaries between woodland, scrub and heath are not always in the right place. The map I have was revised in 2004, but I do not think this included the vegetation information. The land forms do not change much but bushes and trees can grow considerably over a couple of decades. or be removed quickly.
Back to the walk.
Starting from Staple Plain I followed the Great Road . This stony track, not a public road or particularly great , has a sign at the start saying "No unauthorised vehicles". There are often vehicles on it in quite large numbers. I wonder how many of them are authorised? How do you tell? Today however, it was quiet.
The Great Road offered excellent views towards Minehead, the Brendon Hills and Exmoor before crossing the Quantock ridge, and equally stunning views over the Bristol Channel, Sedgemoor and the Mendips on the Holford side. For an excellent all round view it is only a short detour to the summit of Beacon Hill. The track eventually leads to the edge of the woods above Holford. Here there are a plethora of paths but I found no signs pointing to Holford. One that led downhill and in the right general direction came out on a sharp corner of the drive that leads to Alfoxton Park. On this corner there is a very substantial rectangular stone walled, roofless structure. There is a plaque on the wall that reads:
"This ancient dog pound was given to the village of Holford in l982 by the family of the late John Lancelot Brereton, descendants of St Albyn's owners of Alfoxton since the 15th century whose crest appears above."
Unusually, I did not have a camera with me but there is a photo and a rather grisly explanation on the Quantock Online website. The structure also shows up clearly on Google Earth. I did wonder whether one of John Lancelot Brereton's ancestors was a Member of Parliament who claimed expenses for building this!
At this point I joined the route of the Coleridge way. The drive leads through woodland to Alfoxton House. This is marked "Hotel" on the map but there is no evidence on the ground to suggest it still serves this purpose. William Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy stayed here in 1798/9 and spent time with Coleridge. The route passes behind the house, and after passing Alfoxton Cottage turned right and led downhill . I preferred to keep to higher ground and found one of those unmapped paths that took me back to the Coleridge Way without losing height. I crossed Dene Combe, with its unmapped but unmissable narrow strip of woodland, before cutting up another narrow path to meet the Greenway path (not to be confused with the Quantock Greenway). This went steadily but not too arduously uphill and offered a view of pleasantly empty moorland ahead and fine views over the Bristol Channel, Kilve and East Quantoxhead behind. The Greenway Path joined the Great Road which I took back to Staple Plain.
This was a satisfying walk covering some new ground as well as parts I have visited before.
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