Watchet, Somerset
I'm not going to get round to the full journal thing, so I thought I should just do a few highlights of our holiday in case they are useful to anyone else planning to visit that area.
We stayed in a flat overlooking the harbour - beautiful view, and it was nice and quiet, which I always appreciate as I live near a busy road, and the noise is always there in the background. We booked through Welcome Cottages - we've used them before for self-catered accomodation, and this was up to the standard we had last time.
Watchet is a nice little town - the main disappointment was that it doesn't really have much beach - there's some shingly areas, but no good sand. You need to go down the coast to Blue Anchor or Minehead to find proper beach.
We didn't really eat out, but there are some nice cafes - the Corner House was good, and I recommend the Star Inn for beer. It has a little beer garden too. There's good fish and chips from the takeaway under the flat. There's not much in the way of food shops either - there's a little Co-op for the basics.
I should mention that all the roads in this area are quite narrow and twisty - it's quite fun to drive them, but it can be a bit hairy in some places when you suddenly round a bend to find a huge lorry trying to come towards you. Everyone drives alarmingly fast.
Things to do:
- West Somerset Steam Railway - we took the steam train from Watchet to Minehead which was fun. Minehead was nice for a look round + it has a beach (and there's a big Butlins, if your kids are that kind of age).
- Dunster Castle - looks really interesting, and Dunster village is nice. Beautiful grounds if you're an idiot and go when the castle is shut like we did :-(
- A bit further afield, we drove up to Lynton and Lynmouth. The drive includes some of the steepest hills and sharpest turns you're likely to find on any roads in the UK. You have been warned. Lynton and Lynmouth are beautiful - set at the top and bottom of dramatic cliffs on the coast. There's a cliff railway to carry you up and down. I last came here when I was a kid - we stayed in a terrible guest house, and went walking on Hollerday Hill in the evening. We got lost and probably would have fallen over a cliff if I hadn't been obsessed with carrying a huge black rubber torch everywhere at the time.
- We carried on from there to visit the Broomhill Sculpture Garden. To be honest, it wasn't worth it - not that there's anything wrong with the garden as such, but it wasn't nearly as big as I'd imagined, the price is pretty steep for what it is (we should have sneaked in - nobody would have noticed) and the roads mean it's a pretty long drive there and back.
- Heading out the other direction from Watchet, we visited Cheddar Caves and Gorge. Again, I'd say the official tour is pretty expensive for what's basically a quick spin up and down the gorge in a coach, and entrance to the cave. I don't think you can buy separate tickets for different bits, or I'd suggest you just drive up the gorge in your own car (which is pretty spectacular). If you don't have small kids, I would suggest skipping the caves and just doing a bit of walking round the area.
- We went on from there to Wells and saw the Cathedral, which is quite beautiful. You could also do Glastonbury which is nearby, but we skipped it this time.
Posted by MFreestone at July 9, 2005 08:36 PM