Follow in the footsteps of the poet, philosopher and avid walker, Samuel Taylor Coleridge on this journey through the beautiful landscapes that inspired his most famous poems, together with charming villages and wide-ranging views.

Detailed information

	Detailed itinerary
	Dates and prices
	Average temperatures

Detailed itinerary

48 miles with 8 to 12 miles and up to 1,400ft of ascent in a day.

Day 1: arrival day

Day 2: Nether Stowey to Bicknoller
Distance: 10 miles with 950 feet of ascent.
We start the week from Coleridge Cottage at Nether Stowey (possibly with a brief tour, if the National Trust are able to arrange for the building to be open outside normal hours) before heading out through the village and the foothills of the Quantocks, via the remains of a Norman castle and the site of Walford's Gibbet. After walking through pleasant woodland, we arrive at Holford and pass Alfoxden House (now the Alfoxton Park Hotel) where Wordsworth and his sister spent most of 1797. From there we contour round the north end of the Quantocks Ridge to finish the day at the village of Bicknoller.

Day 3: Bicknoller to Roadwater
Distance: 9¼ miles with 1100 feet of ascent.
From Bicknoller we head more or less due west. We cross the West Somerset (steam) Railway, and then the border into Exmoor National Park. We visit the attractive villages of Sampford Brett and Monksilver, and should enjoy excellent views over the Bristol Channel; there is an acknowledged viewpoint which is a good spot for lunch. Following field and moorland paths, we end the day at Roadwater, which used to be an important junction on the long-extinct West Somerset Mineral Railway.

Day 4: Roadwater to Wheddon Cross
Distance: 8½ miles with 1400 feet of ascent.
We leave Roadwater from the Valiant Soldier Inn and head past a Bronze Age burial chamber on our way to Luxborough. We cross the Brendons over Lype Hill, at 1388 feet the highest point on the ‘official' Coleridge Way, and walk beside the route of an ancient ‘hare path' (probably a Saxon army road) before dropping down to the old Exe Valley turnpike at Wheddon Cross.

Day 5: This is your free day to explore the area at leisure.

Day 6: Wheddon Cross to Holnicote House
Distance: 9¾ miles with 1280 feet of ascent.
From the road at Wheddon Cross we walk down through the woodland of the Raleigh Manor estate. From here the ‘official' route gently contours the eastern slopes of Dunkery Beacon, but our HF Holidays variation takes us onto the moor at Dunkery Gate and then up a gradual stony track to the Beacon itself. At 1703 feet, this is the highest point on Exmoor and too good to miss; Coleridge cannot have missed it either. We then drop down to the diminutive church at Stoke Pero with its memorial to a donkey called Zulu, before descending further to the national nature reserve of Horner Wood, and Horner village with its watermill and tea-gardens. We walk north up the road towards the ‘official' finish at Porlock, but just before getting there we strike off east and across fields to Holnicote House.

Day 7: Porlock Weir to Lynmouth
Distance: 12 miles, with 1400 feet of ascent.
We start our longest day – an entirely HF Holidays addition to the Coleridge Way – from the old fishing harbour of Porlock Weir, and follow the South West Coast Path all the way to Lynmouth. En route we take in the isolated church at Culbone (the smallest in England), and the Glenthorne Estate with its abundant wildlife. More particularly we pass farmhouses that Coleridge occasionally stayed at, and obtain a distant view of Ash Farm where he wrote the mystical ballad Kubla Khan . After Foreland Point and the highest sea cliffs in the country, we have the best of all finishes: down the long green path to Lynmouth with the sea on one side and the hills on the other.

Day 8: depart after breakfast.

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Dates and prices

Premium single & twin room supplement: £5 per person, per night

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Average temperatures

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