Explore Neroche & the Blackdown Hills:
You can walk or ride directly from Summerleaze onto the quiet, off-road surfaced trails through the landscape of the Blackdown Hills ridge and the Neroche network of new off-road Herepath Trails for walkers and horse-riders, including the 13.5 mile circular trail centred on Staple Fitzpaine, right on our doorstep. We are surrounded by Crown Estate land offering plentiful permissive footpaths. The Blackdown Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) forms a tranquil, beautiful and relatively isolated landscape on the Devon & Somerset border. Steep ridges, high plateaux, valleys, and woodlands create a stunning mosaic of countryside dotted with farms, villages and ancient features. Castle Neroche sits above us in the Neroche Forest. Once an Iron Age hillfort & later a simple Norman motte & bailey castle, it affords fabulous views over the Taunton Vale to the Quantocks and Mendip Hills.
Take your horse on holiday:
Riders can bring their own horse. High quality purpose-built stabling providing horse accommodation for hire on a DIY basis for guests staying in the cottage. Grazing also on hand; hay & bedding by arrangement. The indoor round pen provides a safe - and weatherproof - place to exercise your horse. Western Riding/Natural Horsemanship: while you are here you can take the chance to improve your own or your horse's performance, or learn Western Riding. Sheila uses a range of natural horsemanship techniques and has been training people and horses for over ten years. Western Horse Simulators: try our full-sized mechanical horses, Geronimo and Cochise, to help you get a perfect balanced seat.
Gateway to Somerset, Devon, Dorset & Wiltshire :
Summerleaze is a perfect location for exploring the SouthWest. In a deeply rural & out-of-the-way location down quiet, unspoiled country lanes, yet only a few minutes drive from the main routes to the southwest, the M5, A303, A30 & A358. It is easily accessible to London & the South East and to the Midlands & Wales and brings you close to Exmoor & Dartmoor, Glastonbury, Wells & Bath, Clevedon Court, Montacute House, Dunster Castle, the West Somerset Railway, Cheddar Gorge & Caves, Knightshayes Court, and Powderham Castle. Within easy reach are the Jurassic Coastline of East Devon & Dorset with Lyme Regis, Sidmouth, & Beer, and the coastline of north Devon & north Somerset with beauty spots like Linton & Lynmouth, Porlock., Minehead & Burnham-on-Sea. Or just meander through picturesque villages with traditional country pubs offering fine West Country fare and local brews. See Cheddar cheese being made at Cheddar Gorge. Visit cider-makers, smokeries offering eel, hams, cheeses, & trout.
