Bishop Sutton

Bishop Sutton is a village on the northern slopes of the Mendip Hills, about 10 miles south of Bristol on the A368. It shares the civil parish of Stowey-Sutton with the neighbouring village of Stowey, and it lies east of Chew Valley Lake.

The lake is the obvious reason to stay here. It covers 1,200 acres and is the sixth-largest artificial lake in the UK by area, and over 260 bird species have been recorded there. Two nature trails run along the shore. The Grebe Trail is a hard-surfaced path of about 0.75 miles that suits pushchairs and wheelchairs. The Bittern Trail is a grassy path of about a mile along the east shore to an open bird hide, and it is often waterlogged in winter.

Closer to the village, Folly Farm is a nature reserve run by the Avon Wildlife Trust, with rare wildflower meadows and clear views across the Mendip Hills. Its meadows and Dowlings Wood are Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Burledge Hill, a Site of Special Scientific Interest since November 2005, carries an Iron Age univallate hillfort. Valley Fest runs at The Community Farm near Chew Magna from 29 July to 1 August 2027, with four stages and free camping.

The village has a working past. A coal mine here was owned by J. Lovell and Sons from 1835 until 1929, and a large flour mill later had part of its buildings converted into flats. The parish church, Holy Trinity on Wick Road, dates from 1848 and is Grade II listed, and a Methodist chapel in the village dates in part from the 1780s.