Watbri two

Slow Way not verified yet. Verify Watbri here.

This long route ought be two Slow Ways. I don't understand why the village of Nether Stowey at the half way point isn't a Slow Ways place. It was considered apparently, and rejected. Not sure why. Whatever, this route is definitely a walk of two halves and my star rating is an average of my ratings of the different sections, which I note in this review.

Watchet to Nether Stowey

This is a really nice ramble along the coast followed by a gentle climb to the lower fringes of the Quantock Hills. It is mostly along scenic, well-used paths. I'd give this five stars. The coast path section from Watchet to Kilve beach uses the well-signed England Coast Path and apart from a necessary trek round the back of the caravan park at Doniford Bay, it is an enjoyable stroll along the edges of fields on the top of the low (and eroding) cliff, with beach sections between Watchet and Doniford, and another at St Audries Bay. Check the tide tables before setting out as both are impassable for a while around high tide, and there aren't really alternative routes. Both beaches have fun rock patterning and a few shore birds to watch. Kilve beach, at the far end, is fairly popular by the standards of the stony, muddy West Somerset coast and well-known for its fossils.

The path then turns inland up the road, passing a few interesting old buildings on the way into Kilve village proper, where there is a pub and little shop. The Slow Way crosses the A39 in a safe place and heads up the quiet Pardlestone Lane. After half a mile it turns off to take a bridleway up through a few fields to join the Coleridge way. The plot of the route of the bridleway is slightly different to that shown on the OS map as it is now routed around the edges of the fields. Conditions underfoot should be fine most of the time, but if the ground is heavily saturated, consider carrying on up the lane and picking up the Coleridge Way a little earlier at Pardlestone Hill instead as it can get very muddy in places. The Coleridge Way on to Holford is along a hard track with a couple of benches to take a rest on. The Slow Way cuts off a corner into the village using a newly updated path and footbridge across a little wooded stream valley. It comes out a little further south onto the road than is marked on the OS map and the Slow Way plot reflects this. No problem going in this direction, but don't overshoot the entrance to the path going the other way.

From Holford to Nether Stowey the Slow Way continues along the Coleridge Way. It is a steady and moderate pull up through the woods to gain the open hill. There are good views around and a few grazing cattle well used to walkers. Pay attention to navigation here as there is a braided network of tracks and few marker posts. After this, it is all easy walking on tracks and roads through broadleaved woodlands with the odd field edge footpath, and a downhill approach to Nether Stowey.

Nether Stowey is a nice old village with pubs, shops and a National Trust tea room in a cottage once briefly occupied by Samuel Taylor Coleridge of romantic poetry fame. If you don't want to visit you can miss out the loop down Castle Street into the centre and back out through the housing estates by turning right at South Lane and picking up the path out east directly.

Nether Stowey to Bridgwater.

The second half of the walk is very different. Much of it is through arable land that is not as well walked (and unsurprisingly so as the footpath network has been almost obliterated in places). The plotted route of this Slow Way is, however, viable and is easy walking, though less scenic with more walking along minor roads. It is possible that you might still encounter some standing crop, but the Slow Way has been deliberately routed to avoid paths directly through cultivated fields as much as possible. Given all that, it is still a nice walk in places, and gets prettier from the approach to Cannington onwards. I'd give the more utilitarian section between Nether Stowey and Cannington three stars, and the more varied section between Cannington and the centre of Bridgwater four stars.

So... In just a little more detail....

The path east out of Nether Stowey is well-used but narrow and can get a little weedy in summer. The route then takes the long-abandoned course of the old main road to reach and cross the A39, and make its way towards Inwood Farm (aka the Quantock Lakes complex). Follow the tree-lined access road, then bear right across it past the new carpark with the gleaming tractors on display (this is not shown on the map or satellite image currently) and carry on round past the caravan park. There are some markers on new posts to help but there have been recent groundworks by the caravan site and the footpath plot is not exact, nor was there an obviously used path when I went through in September 2023. Just follow the edge of the field proper around and you will reach eventually reach a stile out on the far side. This field and the following one were seeded to grass when I walked through, but looked as though they may possibly hold arable crops in some years.

The route then continues along on a quiet lane around Whitnell before reaching the edge of Fiddington, where it fiddles across a little horse pasture, then the access road to Mill Farm, and drops down through another horse pasture to a shallow stream valley. There is an eccentric box of stiles and fences around the stream, and I climbed over a clean wooden fence to avoid landing in some nettles, but this route is at least navigable, which is more than you can say for many in the area.

The outgoing path heads up the side of an arable field and the Slow Way crosses another lane to pick up a dirt track heading to Edbrook, passing a complex of sheds and pens full of young pheasants and partridges in the summer (plenty more running around loose in the general area when I walked through in October too). This arrives at another arable field just before Edbrook Farm where you may have to turn right and walk around (good) headlands instead of crossing the field diagonally on the footpath route at some times of year. From Edbrook Farm, there is a few hundred metres stroll along the very quiet Edbrook Lane before the bend just ahead of Keepers Cottage, where you turn up (signed), walk up the edge of the field by a wood and turn left into the wood at the top of the rise. The remainder of the walk into Cannington has better-used paths with some nice views, although it looks as though housing development may soon be on its way to the fields near the new by-pass, so there may be disruption in the future.

Cannington is another large village with a nice old centre around the church. It also has pubs, shops and a tea room by the walled garden. It also has a bus service into Bridgwater, which I note because it is the only public transport available along the whole route, unless you want to try blagging a ride on some lone school buses at either end of the day.

From Cannington the paths are much better walked and mostly well-signed. At Grabhams Farm, it is only a little longer to go around the road if you don’t want to go through the farm. Recommended coming from Bridgwater, where the route through the farm is less obvious (come to think of it I am not sure why I simply didn't plot it this way!). Another thing to note is that the field to the west of the appropriately-named Moor-hen Farm (w3w positions.immediate.smiled) - which is lovely and has a flavour of the Somerset Levels about it - had some standing water when I walked across it at the beginning of October (pictured) so is likely to be a lake in winter, but there is drier ground around the edges of the field which will be usable for most of the year. Finally, the Slow Way takes a little hop over a little ridge (with wider views) before reaching the edge of Bridgwater at Wembdon.

The way into the centre of town is mainly off-road, taking local foot and cycle paths through little parks and housing estates to reach a corner of the canal in the marina area, which is in an interesting awkward stage of development from old industrial zone to new living and leisure zone. Finally you arrive into the centre of town via some pedestrianised streets.

There is no shortage of eating, drinking and provisioning opportunities on this Slow Way but, as I said, . public transport lacking. There are a few stiles to climb over and you will meet livestock. You can get to Watchet on the 28 bus route from Taunton, and it is a nice little harbourside village. I recommend the East Quay arts centre, which has a good cafe. And Bridgwater is Bridgwater - currently a peculiar boomtown with the construction of Hinckley C going on nearby. You have to work out how to love it (and it is possible, especially if you take some of the Slow Ways in and out of it) but it is undeniably well connected by bus and train.

Photos

Rocks at St Audries Bay
Looking west along the coast path near Kilve and a curious building nearby
Various views along the Coleridge Way and the footbridge across the stream into Holford
Two tracks through the arable on the way to Cannington
Cannington
Wet ground on the route between Cannington and Bridgwater
Canal corner on the way into Bridgwater.

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