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Each month we turn our focus upon a different county, highlighting
some key ancient tree sites and identifying some other places of
general interest for tree-lovers. Other than Woodland Trust
properties, admission or parking charges apply for many sites, and
as access may be prohibited or limited to certain dates or times,
it’s always advisable to check with the site owner or with the local
Tourist Information Office before making a visit.
This month we turn our attention to Somerset, a famous
historic county in Wessex, the west country of England. It’s
well known for its heritage - breathtaking natural attractions and
notable historical buildings and figures; oh yes, and for its cider
and cheese!
If you enjoy natural landscapes, then Somerset certainly provides
some fine sights. For example, there’s the Cheddar Gorge, the
biggest gorge in the UK. It’s set in the Mendip Hills, a designated
AONB, and also has impressive caves named after the explorers Gough
and Cox. You’ll find a museum and children’s attractions here too.
You can also visit the Brendon Hills and two more designated AONBs,
the Blackdown Hills and the Quantock Hills, the latter providing
inspiration for the poets Coleridge and Wordsworth. Glastonbury Tor
rises out of the ancient wetlands known as the Somerset Levels, and
it was in this area that King Alfred is said to have burnt the
cakes! The breathtaking beauty of the rocky Exmoor coastline
contrasts splendidly with long stretches of sandy beaches further
along the same coast. Lastly but certainly not least, two-thirds of
the Exmoor National Park, perhaps often associated with neighbouring
Devon, lies in Somerset. This wonderful location, comprising
valleys, waterfalls, gorges, ancient oak woodland, sea-cliffs, bays
and coastline was of course the setting for Blackmore’s Lorna Doone.
Be sure to check out the National Park visitor centres at Dunster
and Dulverton.
Children will also enjoy the Wookey Hole Caves, home to the
legendary Witch of Wookey! You can visit a 19th century paper mill
and a cave diving museum here too, but it’s the incredible River Axe
ravine, which makes the visit really special. For walkers, there’s
the Coleridge Way, tracing the footsteps of the great Romantic poet
Samuel Taylor Coleridge, the River Parrett trail, the Liberty Trail
and the Leland Trail. Additionally, there are long distance trails
in the Mendips and on Exmoor. In total, the county has 9,000 public
rights of way covering some 6,000 kilometres!
For garden lovers, there’s plenty to do too. Hestercombe Gardens
near Taunton comprises some 40 acres of formal terraces, waterfalls,
lakes and woodland. You’ll see Lutyens and Jekyll’s Edwardian
gardens, a Victorian terrace and a Georgian landscape, as well as
some breathtaking views from the so-called ‘Secret Garden’. For
formal gardens, check out Montacute, whilst Elizabethan gardens are
to be found in the villages of Barrington, Clapton Court and
Tintinhull.
If you enjoy historical buildings, try England’s smallest city,
Wells, set in the Mendip Hills. Here you’ll find a quite beautiful
12th century cathedral, built in an Early English Gothic style. Look
in particular for fine medieval sculptures and a unique mechanical
clock. Then, there’s the ruined Glastonbury Abbey, set in superb
parkland, which is believed to have been the UK’s earliest Christian
sanctuary and also the burial place of King Arthur and Queen
Gwynevere. Don’t miss the award-winning museum here. There are some
splendid castles too. Taunton Castle today houses the county museum,
including prehistoric, Iron Age and Roman artefacts plus a 16th
century almshouse and a military exhibition. The castle bears the
scars of the English Civil War, and the same can be said of the
castles at Dunster and at Nunney near Frome in particular.
The honey-coloured stone used in the county has also resulted in
numerous quaint, picture-book villages. For market towns, you might
try Taunton, Wellington or Wiveliscombe on the edge of Exmoor,
whilst popular coastal resorts like Minehead, Burnham-on-Sea, Berrow
and Brean Sands provide family fun. For a more modern shopping
experience, there’s Clarks Village, built on the shoe manufacturer’s
original manufacturing site. Finally, don’t miss out on seeing real
cheddar cheese and cider being produced – they’re a real taste of
Somerset!
So, where should we look for Somerset’s finest ancient trees,
ancient woodland and treescapes? Well, the 267 square miles of the
Exmoor National Park is a good place to start. It’s believed that
8,000 years ago almost all of this area was continuous oak woodland.
Today, 12% of the area is still wooded, with more than half
privately owned. Around half is broad-leaved, and some 5,000 acres
is ancient semi-natural woodland, mainly upland oak woods. A third
is planted conifer woodland, sadly converted from ancient woodland
sites during the last century. Many of the woods on Exmoor are
accessible especially those managed by the Exmoor National Park
Authority, the National Trust and Forest Enterprise.
The ENPA’s Tarr Steps, a designated National Nature Reserve,
is best known for its scheduled monument, the clapper bridge. This
is probably of medieval origin and is constructed from large stone
slabs and boulders. Much of the woodland here was once coppiced,
primarily to provide charcoal for the local iron smelting industry.
This is mainly oak woodland, with beech, ash, sycamore and hazel.
Visit in spring for a fine display of bluebells, and keep an eye
open for otters in the River Barle. Bye Common is a lovely
location and a little unusual in that it is dedicated memorial
woodland, in conjunction with a local hospice.
The National Trust’s Holnicote Estate (SS9146) covers some
12,500 acres of Exmoor National Park. The estate includes the Horner
Woodlands NNR, which consists of two sites, Horner Woods (SS8945)
and Dunkery Hill, an upland area of heathland. This beautiful,
ancient oak woodland is important for ferns, lichens, mosses and
liverworts. No fewer than 14 of the UK’s 16 bat species reside here.
Watch too for wild red deer and silver-washed fritillary
butterflies. Several circular walks from Horner and Webber’s Post
run through these woods, and there are fabulous views from the
hilltop. The estate also includes Cloutsham (SS8943), once a
hunting lodge and now a working farm. This looks across to Cloutsham
Ball, a hill below the Dunkery Beacon, and to Cloutsham Woods. This
area of the estate was planted with trees in the 18th and 19th
century, and today the woodland provides a popular picnic spot. Look
here for more than a hundred ancient oak pollards and a few
remaining ancient ash trees too.
The NT has a number of other very interesting woodland locations in
the county. Firstly, Leigh Woods (ST5574) is one of the
finest broadleaved woods in Wessex. The NT owns about a third and
Forest Enterprise owns the rest. To the north there’s ancient
woodland with standards and old coppice. To the south you’ll find
former pasture woodland of oak and small-leaved lime, including many
old pollards. As you walk the trails, look for the rare Bristol
whitebeam and for Bristol rockcress on the steep slopes above the
River Avon. If visiting in the summer, you may see orchids,
western-spiked speedwell and white-letter hairstreak butterflies. In
the autumn this is a great location for a fungi foray! Secondly,
Grabbist Hill (SS9843) is a steep hillside with oak woodland and
unrivalled views over Dunster Castle to the Quantock Hills. Thirdly,
Shervage Wood and Willoughby Cleave (ST1640) comprises oak
woodland and coppice and provides great views over the Bristol
Channel. You’ll find a number of ancient oaks here, and associated
with this, the site is well known for its variety of beetles.
The NT also has a number of properties of note. Firstly, there’s
Dunster Castle (SS94), which is located on a wooded hill. This
has been an important fortress for more than 1,000 years. It
overlooks the medieval town of Dunster, with a National Park visitor
centre and cloth-making exhibition. Nothing of the castle’s Saxon
heritage has survived, and the only remnants from the Middle Ages
are an impressive gatehouse and the bases of two towers. Home to the
Luttrell family from the 14th century to the mid 20th century, a new
house was built within the castle in the early 17th century by
William Arnold, and the castle was further redesigned by Antony
Salvin in the 19th century. It has lovely grounds which include
sub-tropical terraced gardens, England’s oldest lemon tree, a
National Collection of strawberry trees, an 18th century landscaped
park. The medieval deer-park was enclosed by Henry Fownes Luttrell
in the 1750s, and he was responsible for planting many of the fine
trees which are there today. Look here for a number of ancient oak
trees, including a massive V-shaped oak to the edge of the ‘Horse
Road’.
The honey-coloured Hamstone Montacute House (ST4917) is a
superbly preserved Renaissance manor house, with collections of 17th
century tapestries, furniture and Elizabethan portraits in the Long
Gallery, which are on loan from the National Portrait Gallery in
London. The house was designed in the late 16th century by William
Arnold for Sir Edward Phelips, speaker of the House of Commons.
Outside, there are fine formal gardens, with planting from Vita
Sackville-West, and extensive landscaped parkland. Look here for
some fine old trees, including a small number of ancient oaks. This
lovely location provided the perfect setting for Jane Austen’s Sense
and Sensibility, which was filmed here in 1995.
Tyntesfield near Wraxall is a fine Victoria county house and
estate. This property, which was taken over by the Trust relatively
recently, has been home to four generations of the Gibbs family.
Look for a number of fine trees in the grounds. Fyne Court
was once known for the pleasure grounds of Andrew Crosse, a
pioneering 19th century electrician. Today, it incorporates a nature
reserve, the HQ of the Somerset Wildlife Trust and a visitor centre
for the Quantock Hills. Lytes Carey Manor is a charming manor
house with a Tudor great hall. This was home to the medieval
herbalist, Henry Lyte, and includes a 14th century chapel, a walled
garden and a fine estate. Finally, Barrington Court is a
Tudor manor house, with a formal garden inspired by Jekyll and a
splendid arboretum.
Forest Enterprise is responsible for the royal Neroche Forest,
an extensive area of ancient woodland which covers the ridges of the
Blackdown Hills. Neroche is the name of an Iron Age hillfort located
above Staple Fitzpaine. There’s mixed woodland here now but it’s
intended to convert parts of the coniferous woodland here back to
broadleaved woodland, wood pasture and open space. The plans also
include bringing back traditional coppice management in some areas
and using traditional English Longhorn cattle for low-intensity
grazing. In the broadleaved woodland, look for old pedunculate oaks,
stinking iris and purple hairstreak butterflies. Watch out for fine
avenues of mature beech trees along the roads in the area too, and
you’ll find fine views especially from the Staple Hill car-park. The
village of Ashill was once part of the ancient forest and its
extensive woodland was mentioned in the Domesday Book.
Now, let’s turn to two other interesting properties in the county.
Firstly, there’s Nettlecombe Court (ST0537), a 16th century
country mansion which stands in a secluded valley in the Brendon
Hills on the edge of the National Park and was once home to the
Trevellyan and Wolseley families. The Elizabethan manor house became
the Leonard Wills Field Centre in 1968, probably providing the most
idyllic setting for any of the Field Studies Council’s residential
centres. There was a deer-park here in the Middle Ages. Today the
park is a designated SSSI, and a good number of ancient oak trees
can still be seen.
Secondly, there’s the Ashton Court (ST5572), near the Clifton
Suspension Bridge and owned by the local authority of Bristol. The
estate includes a mansion house, which was once the home of the
Smyth family, a country park and a golf course. The park was
designed by Humphry Repton and covers some 850 acres of woodland and
grassland. Look in particular for the giant sequoias as you arrive
and also for the famous Domesday Oak in the woodland. You’ll find
ten woodland areas, each with its own character. Clarkencombe
shelters more than 200 ancient oak pollards and ash trees, whilst
Rownham Plantation is noticeably tranquil and carpeted with
bluebells in spring, Check out the visitor centre in the stable
block too, and as you stroll along the nature trails through the
parkland, watch for red and fallow deer; there’s been a herd here
since 1300.
The Somerset Wildlife Trust preserves some important woodland sites
in the county. Here’s four of the best: Firstly, Bickham Wood
(ST2708) is very wet ancient woodland on the edge of the River
Yarty valley and the Blackdown Hills. You may see sedges and
horsetails in the wetter areas, whilst wood speedwell and ramsons
can be found elsewhere. Visit in autumn for a fine array of fungi.
Secondly, part of a SSSI, Aller Woods (ST4030) & Beer Woods
(ST4131) form an area of semi-natural ancient woodland on the
west facing slope of Aller Hill and adjoining the National Trust’s
Turn Hill. There are some fine standards, as well as old coppice
stools. It was managed for centuries as traditional coppice
woodland. Look for wild service trees and at ground-level rare
purple gromwell plus small teasel, toothwort, green hellebore and
greater butterfly orchids. Both roe and muntjac deer may be spotted
here too. Thirdly, Great Breach Wood (ST5032) is also part of
a SSSI and encompasses semi-natural ancient woodland at Bunch Wood,
where you’ll find a few ash and oak pollards and coppiced stools of
small-leaved limes. Mature oaks and ash dominate some areas, whilst
others have been replanted with conifers. Goat willow, aspen and
grey willow are prominent in the wetter areas. Look for pyramidal
orchids, wood millet, woodruff and pendulous sedge, and in summer
you’ll find this a particularly good site for butterflies. Fourthly,
Harridge Wood (ST6448) is part semi-natural ancient woodland
and comprises five sites including Limekiln Wood, Home Wood and
Edford Wood. There are several sizeable oak standards here, dating
back at least two hundred years, and carpets of wild daffodils can
be found on the slopes near Home Wood. This is an important site for
bats, with at least six species recorded here in sizeable numbers.
Now, here’s a summary of some other interesting SWT woodland sites:
Fyne Court is the Trust’s HQ but is also a nature reserve with
woodland and ponds; Long Wood is an ancient woodland SSSI in
a valley to the north of the Cheddar Gorge; Langford Heathfield
(ST1022) is a SSSI of heathland and ancient oak and ash
woodland; Holford Kelting (ST1541) is part of the Quantocks
SSSI and is semi natural ancient woodland; Ruggin (ST1817) is
part of a SSSI and consists of grassland, wood pasture and semi
natural ancient woodland; Aisholt Wood (ST1935) is ancient
oak woodland on the Quantock Hills; Thurlbear Wood (ST2721)
is part of a SSSI and is ancient woodland with oak and ash
standards, and hazel and field maple coppice; Boon’s Copse
(ST2820) is a relic of the ancient Neroche Forest; Mascall’s
Wood (ST4753) is on the southern slopes of the Mendips and is
notable for its whitebeams and introduced turkey oaks; Dundon
Beacon (ST4832) combines semi- natural ancient woodland and a
scheduled ancient monument – there’s an Iron Age hillfort and a
Bronze Age barrow here; and finally, King’s Castle Wood (ST5645),
the site of an Iron Age camp, is ancient woodland, dominated by oak,
ash and small-leaved lime.
The Woodland Trust also manages some excellent locations in
Somerset, and perhaps the highlight is Dolebury Warren Wood
(ST4559). This woodland is located within the Mendips AONB on
the northern escarpment of the Mendip Hills adjacent to an ancient
hillfort. The earthworks of the fortress, which was probably built
by a Celtic tribe and is one of the most significant in the Mendips,
provide an interesting feature in the hillside. Some of woodland is
believed to date back to medieval times. What is certain is that the
owner of the nearby Mendip Lodge, the Reverend Thomas Sedgewick
Walley, began extensive tree planting in 1787. Records clearly show
this. Some of his trees are thought to have survived and are present
today. Look in particular for a very old small leaved lime tree in a
grassy glade, and a very large beech tree in the wood. In the early
part of the 20th century many old trees were replaced with conifers,
but there are a number of old coppice stools of interest. Visit here
in spring for a fine display of bluebells, primroses and wood
sorrel.
Towerhouse Wood (ST4771) is an ancient woodland site standing
near the village of Wraxall, not far from Nailsea. Look for some
superb oak pollards and large ash coppice stools along the edges. In
fact there are many mature trees here including oak, beech, field
maple and ash. Hazel coppicing has been reintroduced in some parts
of the wood, and if you’re sharp-eyed, you’ll spot the odd spindle
tree here too. The adjacent fields are known to have been in use
from prehistoric times, and old limekilns have been discovered to
the western edge of the wood. As bluebells and wood anemones flower
in abundance, a spring visit to this wood is recommended.
Other WT locations which merit a visit include Adcombe Wood &
Woodram Copse (ST2217), which is semi-natural ancient woodland
and a SSSI in the Blackdown Hills AONB; Henlade Wood (ST2722)
which covers some 22 acres of semi-natural ancient woodland;
Bickenhall (ST2819) which is a disused churchyard with a
splendid ancient yew tree and a good variety of wild flowers;
Beacon Hill Wood (ST6345) where you’ll find a standing stone in
its centre; Greyfield Wood (ST6368) which extends over 90
acres and is noteworthy for its autumnal colours; and Ashcombe
Wood (ST7569), another semi-natural ancient woodland site in the
Cotswold AONB.
English Nature also has a number of other interesting NNR locations
on its books. Ebbor Gorge is part of the Mendip Woodlands
Special Area of Conservation (SCA) and stands on the southern
escarpment of the Mendip Hills. There are two valleys here, Hope
Wood and Ebbor Gorge. Some of the woodland here is ancient, whilst
the remainder is secondary and is dominated by ash and field maple.
The humidity of Hope Wood makes it especially good for fungi and
ferns. Rodney Stoke, on another southern Mendip escarpment,
comprises Big Stoke and Little Stoke woods. Ash and small-leaved
lime trees are prevalent. Look here for two rare plants, purple
gromwell and endemic whitebeam, as well as for ancient woodland
indicators like wood spurge, meadow saffron and nettled leaved
bellflower. Others include Shapwick Heath which has damp
woodlands surrounding meadows and Hawkcombe Woods.
Finally, here’s one last garden of interest. Milton Lodge
near Wells has two distinct gardens, separated by the Old Bristol
Road. Once side is formal, with a series of terraces and a
collection of ornamental trees, whilst the other side is a 7-acre
woodland garden known as the Combe. Both gardens include some fine
old trees and splendid views of Wells Cathedral.
Please
email us, providing as much information as possible and
preferably including an Ordnance Survey map reference. We’re also
very keen to build up a library of photographs of ancient trees and
ancient tree sites. Can you help? If you’re willing to share your
treescapes and tree portraits, please
email them
to us, remembering to provide location details for each photo, with
an Ordnance Survey map reference if possible. We’d love to include
them in a future article!
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