Our independently run country hotel is situated within the beautiful Quantock Hills – it offers the perfect rural retreat for those who want to get out of town and surround themselves with nature for a day or two.
If you’re new to the area, we strongly advise packing your hiking boots and walking gear, along with a small pair of binoculars and a camera as there is a wealth of fauna and flora to discover near to the hotel. We’re located right at the foot of the Quantock Hills, between Taunton and Bridgwater in Somerset. This area is a designated area of outstanding natural beauty so no matter the season you plan to stay with us, you’re guaranteed to be treated to an abundance of stunning views, picture perfect hiking roots and plenty of local wildlife.
The Quantock Hills
The Quantock Hills are twelve miles by four miles long and enjoy a prime position, stretching down to the Bristol Channel and affording sweeping views across the county of Somerset and beyond to the Welsh coastline.
The Hills are a mixture of open health land and mature wooded valleys, which creates the perfect environment of coast, heath and combe for a wealth of different plant life, birds and animals to flourish. While the combination of beaches and woodland provides for an interesting choice of different trails for those who hike, it also ensures that there’s a really diverse ecosystem in place to support the native wild flowers, plants and animals plus an abundance of bird species. So, what can you expect to see?
Deer
The Quantock Hills has its own dedicated deer management and conservation group – the group does an annual count and works to keep the local deer community healthy and well distributed. Unlike many areas of the UK, the Quantock Hills has a long established population of red deer – you won’t often see these wild deer elsewhere in the country so they are much loved by locals and visitors alike. Wild red deer live in herds so you will often see groups of 10-15 deer together in the Quantock Hills, though there have been reports of herds as big as 60.
Bats
Almost all of the UK’s native bat species – 16 of the 18 in fact – call the Quantock Hills home. The size of the country’s bat population has declined considerably in recent years so the Quantock Hills bats are part of a conservation program. A bat monitoring program is in place to track population locations and count and safeguard them for future generations.
Butterflies
We have lots of gorgeous butterflies in the Quantock Hills and an Environmental Record Centre where you can record details of any butterflies you spot during your stay here.