The County of Somerset.

Steeped in history and legend, Somerset provides many opportunities for half or full day visits from Bath.

The legend is King Arthur. Dunster Castle is where Arthur is said to have spent his childhood, while the hill at South Cadbury could be identified as Camelot. Avalon could be Glastonbury, linking with the claim that Arthur's grave was to be found at Glastonbury Abbey.

At Glastonbury the Abbey, now in ruins, was an early Christian foundation. Outside the town is the Chalice Well, legendary hiding place of the Holy Grail, near the ancient sacred site of the Tor topped with St Michaels Tower.

Wells is the smallest city in England. The Gothic Cathedral has fine medieval statuary, stained glass, chapter house and astronomical clock. Adjacent is the 13th century Bishop's Palace and the Vicar's Close, a complete medieval street.

Wells is in the Mendip Hills, used by the Romans for lead mining at Charterhouse and today for cheese making at Cheddar and Chewton Mendip. The dramatic gorge and caves at Cheddar and Wookey Hole cut through the landscape.

South of the Mendip Hills is low lying land called the Levels or Moors. Once home to Iron Age Lake Villages, the battle of Sedgemoor (1685) and more recently the willow and peat industry, visits can be made to explore all these activities.

Further south are the steep escarpments and wooded combs of the Quantock Hills. The cottage of the poet, Samuel Taylor Coleridge can be visited in the Quantock village of Nether Stowey.

Many Somerset villages and towns are fascinating: Dunster, Farleigh Hungerford and Nunney with their castles, Priddy on the Mendip Hills, Norton St Philip with the George Coaching Inn, Muchelney with its Priest's House and ruined Abbey, Radstock and Camerton for their coal mining history, Mells for its setting and buildings, Montacute with its Elizabethan manor house and the 'stone' villages of Martock, Somerton, Stoke sub Hamdon and Doulton.

Gardens to visit include those at Iford Manor, Barrington Court, Cothay Manor, Lytes Cary and Hestercombe. The famous Somerset cider can be sampled at Coombes Cider and the Somerset Distillery & Burrow Hill Cider.

Let Bath Parade Guides help you make the most of your visit to Somerset.

Local Links.

> Somerset Tourism (Tourist Bureau Site)
> The Kennet and Avon Canal Trust
> Glastonbury Abbey
> Wookey Hole Caves
> Glastonbury
> Cheddar Caves
> The City of Wells