Walking Holiday Breaks

The Coleridge Way - In the Footsteps of the Romantic Poet

Samuel Taylor Coleridge 1772 -1834

A walking holiday break on the Coleridge Way follows takes you through the stunning Somerset countryside of the Quantock Hills, the Brendon Hills of Exmoor, a landscape that inspired the poet Coleridge to produce some of his best known work.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge is one of England's most famous poets, author of Kubla Khan and the Ancient Mariner.

He moved to the Quantock Hills in 1797, where he came in search of a simpler life. and spent much of his time walking.

“…..And here were forests ancient as the hills,
Enfolding sunny spots of greenery…." Kubla Khan

Coleridge was soon joined by his famous walking partner the other great poet William Wordsworth who rented a house nearby.

The 36 mile walk begins from Nether Stowey where Coleridge lived to Wordsworth’s House in Alfoxton Park.You ascend the slopes of the Quantocks Hills, designated Englands first AONB, a patchwork quilt of high moorland heath, woodland farmland, and deep wooded combs, where with an early start you catch sight of some of the 1000 plus Red Deer.

Your route continues over the rolling Brendon Hills, through well farmed rich red soil pastures segregated by beech hedges and interspersed by winding combs and small rural hamlets and into the Exmoor National Park.

Your final section of this splendid walk continues along the beautiful high central moorland edges of Exmoor, and the highest point along the way at Lype Hill, with expansive views over to the North Somerset Coast and Wales. You skirt Dunkery Beacon descending to the end of your walk at Porlock and the sea at Porlock Bay where it joins the spectacular South West Coast Path.

Along the way you pass through secluded picturesque villages with wonderful names like Quantoxhead and Bicknoller Monksilver, where you may be tempted by an array ancient pubs, which lubricated the thirst of Coleridge and Wordsworth on their walk A short detour takes you to the tiny church at Culbone ,the smallest complete church in England, and the Bell Inn at Watchet, where legend says Coleridge started his most famous work, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.

You can continue your walk from Porlock on the stunning South West Coast Path to Lynton to take in the farmhouse where Coleridge wrote his most famous poem Kubla Khan, and to the ‘Valley of the Rocks ‘, known to have inspired both of these formidable walkers.

The Coleridge Way can be completed over three or four consecutive days, for a perfect short break. Or you can make it a longer walking holiday adding a few extra days continuing along the spectacular South West Coast Path which it joins, along the stunning ocean scenery.

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