North Somerset

A picturesque region of huge rolling fields, immense views and hedgerows alive with songbirds. The limestone Mendip Hills are splendid for walking and contain spectacular Cheddar Gorge, a National Nature Reserve, and caves where cheese is still matured. The gorgeous city of Bath is a ‘World Heritage Site’ steeped in Roman and Georgian history; much loved by Jane Austen, it's still very culturally alive, with smart restaurants, boutique shops and modern spa with natural thermal springs. In Somerset’s heart is the un-English flatness of Sedgemoor with cattle at sunset and villages on low hills above willow-banked streams like a classical painting. Nearby are Glastonbury with its tor and legends (and festival) and Wells, England’s smallest city, with tremendous cathedral.