The Mendip Hills
Situated only 20 miles or so from the famous city of Bath, the Mendip Hills area is steeped in history and legend associated with Roman and Iron Age remains, and features some of Somerset’s most attractive landscapes.
This apparently modest range of limestone hills stretches about 50 miles from the coast at Weston-super-Mare almost to Frome in the east (The Mendip Way long-distance footpath covers this route, and is an ideal focus for a short break holiday).
The summits of the Mendips offer spectacular, panoramic views over the Bristol Channel, and towards Exmoor. The folds in the hills have created many attractive valleys in which mellow, stone-walled villages nestle. Underground, the Mendips are honeycombed with caverns carved out of the limestone rock by the erosive power of water over millions of years. Some caverns, such as Wookey Hole caves, have long been popular visitor attractions, but many more are known only to experienced cavers. Nearby are the magnificent landscape features of Cheddar Gorge and Burrington Combe.
Evidence of man’s former settlements and industries abounds on the Mendips. These include Neolithic earthworks, Bronze Age barrows, Iron Age hill forts, and lead mining remains dating from Roman times to the 19th century.
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