Porlock

Porlock is a coastal village in west Somerset, 5 miles west of Minehead. At the 2011 census it had 1,440 people, so it is a village in scale, and it falls within Exmoor National Park, whose authority runs some local functions. That makes it a natural base for anyone who wants moor and sea in one place.

Getting in or out shows the landscape. A toll road bypasses the 1 in 4 gradient on Porlock Hill, which gives a sense of how steeply the moor rises from the coast. Drivers with larger vehicles will want to check their route before they set off, rather than discovering the hill on arrival.

On foot, the best-known short walk starts at Porlock Weir and goes to Culbone, a 2-mile walk. The village also has a Porlock Beach and the Porlock Ridge and Saltmarsh nature reserve, so there is a choice between woodland, shingle and marsh within a short distance of each other.

Porlock has literary connections too. Coleridge retired to a lonely farmhouse between Porlock and Lynton and was interrupted while composing Kubla Khan by a person on business from Porlock, which is why the village name turns up in discussions of the poem. The area is also linked with R. D. Blackmore, author of Lorna Doone. Choose Porlock for a quiet, walking-led stay where Minehead is close if you need more services.