This new guide to the idyllic and popular county of Somerset from expert
author and Somerset resident Norm Longley is ideal for both visitors and
locals alike with its mix of visitor information, history, culture and
anecdote, not to mention coverage of wildlife, birdwatching, walking,
cycling and other outdoor activities. Accommodation and restaurants -
and cider - are covered, too: as Longley himself says, he often spends
weekends 'roaming the Somerset countryside in search of exciting and/or
novel things to do - or at the very least, hunting down good food and
drink.'Divided into seven easy-to-explore geographical regions, from
Bath and north Somerset through Wells and the Mendips to Exmoor National
Park and International Dark Sky Reserve, this is an indispensable
companion for everyone from culture devotees to outdoor adventurers,
birders to beach lovers, transport enthusiasts to event-goers, families
to foodies. The Somerset Levels are covered, and so too are Quantock and
Blackdown Hills, the coast, and east and south Somerset.Somerset is
consistently seductive: windswept marshes and wild moorland, enchanting
upland areas, iron-flat lowland terrain, limestone gorges, and a
forty-mile long stretch of coast with rocky coves, fossil-filled cliffs
and a tiny offshore island. And, of course, there's the UNESCO World
Heritage city of Bath, with its beautifully preserved Roman baths,
graceful Georgian architecture and enticing gastronomic
possibilities.Bradt's Somerset covers all this and more, from the
Glastonbury Festival to the American Museum and Gardens, carnivals to
quirky local customs, the longest heritage railway in Britain to
England's first designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and a
good dash of legend and myth too, from King Arthur at Avalon and
Camelot, to the country's third largest complex of standing stones at
Stanton Drew.
