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The visitor to Tiverton may well wish to spend some time on Exmoor.
The National Park serves the visitor well with plenty of way marks
and guides to encourage the walker to this barren open moor where
there is so much to be seen and much more to be understood.
The highest point on Exmoor is Dunkery Beacon, which is 1705 feet
above sea level and below it are woods, lakes, remote cottages and
farm houses and a range of industries, often of the cottage variety.
The medieval Exmoor Forest was once a royal hunting preserve. The
cantering hooves took over from where primitive man had scratched
a living for centuries.
The National Park maintains a fine balance between the demands of
aggressive farming and the conservationist.
The sound of a steam train struggling to get up speed can easily
emerge from the folds of the green valley between Bishops Lydeard
and Minehead. The line started its life catering for the once busy
harbour of Watchet, and is now the longest preserved railway in
the country and well worth a visit or even a trip.
Watchet was the home of the Ancient Mariner, the seafarer in Coleridge’s
famous poem, so it is claimed, but the little port has watched as
many of its locals have made their way on to the waters of the world.
Dunster Castle tries to hide in a green forest overlooking the busy
streets, but it really dominates when fully in view.
Parish churches always tell of the past. One in particular at Old
Cleeve has a tower built with the help of a pair of clothier’s
shears and is worthy of some time to admire. St Decumens stands
as a beacon overlooking Watchet. It is said that Saint Decumens
was a holy man who came across the Bristol Channel from Wales with
a cow, both accompanied on a raft.
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