West Quantoxhead

Also known as St Audries due to the large estate, deer park and manor house here named "St Audries Park".  For those on short walking days West Quantoxhead provides a quiet overnight option part way through the Quantock section of The Coleridge Way. A tiny hamlet with only a few houses, it sits on a ridge with sweeping views, from forestry at the lip of the Quantocks, across the wide planes to Minehead and Exmoor in one direction and over the coast at Watchet as far as Wales in the other.

It’s a glorious and very English vista, with the tall church of St Ethel Dreda holding position below the ridge way surround by green pasture and woodland. An impressive place to explore on an evening stroll with its English Oak roof and gargoyles. This replaced the former medieval church which was entirely rebuilt in 1856, though the shaft of a cross from the original building in the churchyard, along with the Norman font and a stone coffin, are still here. Evening meals are provided here at The Windmill Inn, which also has rooms, though there is a fine B&B option close by for those who prefer this.