Coleridge Way

Coleridge Cottage at the start of the Coleridge Way

The Coleridge Way is a 51-mile walking trail through Somerset and which ends in Devon.

The route was opened in April 2005, and links several sites associated with the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge starting from Coleridge Cottage at Nether Stowey. Originally the route finished at Porlock (a reference all Coleridge scholars will recognise) but on 21 May 2014 an extension to Lynmouth was launched. Walkers have the option of continuing along the South West Coast Path into the Valley of the Rocks and Poets Shelter.

In 2008, the Coleridge Way was selected by The Times as one of Britain's best autumn walks.

The route

A Coleridge Way waymark

The footpath is waymarked: the waymarking symbol is a quill pen to recall the poet. The landscapes it traverses include heathland, moorland, deciduous and coniferous woodland, farmland, deeply wooded valleys.

The path starts in the Quantock Hills of Somerset, passing through the villages of Holford, West Quantoxhead and Bicknoller before moving onto the Brendon Hills, within are the foothills of Exmoor

From the Brendon Hills it crosses to Exmoor itself; it runs through the villages of Monksilver, Roadwater and Luxborough, across Lype Hill to Wheddon Cross. The route then crosses an area of moorland at Dunkery Hill, Someerset's county top. Then from Dunkery Hill it runs on to the woodland village of Horner and moves towards the coast at Porlock on the Bristol Channel.

Coleridge wrote that in the midst of writing his epic Kubilai Khan, which had come to him in a dream, he was interrupted by a visit by a man from Porlock on a matter of business, and that by the time his visitor had departed, he had completely forgotten the rest of the poem and it was never finished. The original walk therefore was stopped at Porlock, which is a fine place to fnish in any case.

Continuing nevertheless from Porlock, the route heads inland and climbs through Worthy Woods before descending into the Doone Valley, passing Oare and entering Malmsmead, on the county border. Here it crosses the Badgworthy Water into Devon.

In Devon the route runs to Brendon and Watersmeet before finishing by the Pavilion National Park Centre in Lynmouth.

At Lynmouth the route meets the South West Coast Path.

The Coleridge Bridleway

In May 2007, the Coleridge Bridleway was launched providing a horse riding route between Nether Stowey and Exford and includes over four miles of bridleways.

Outside links

• The Coleridge Way – Visit Exmoor
• The Coleridge Way from Quantock Online