Best time to visit
Worth a visit at any time
Look out for
Historic buildings including the dog pound, the tannary - now Combe House Hotel, the Parish church - built in the 19th century but on the site of an earlier church originally built in the 12th century. During the spring and summer the sessile oak wooded combes are alive with migrating birds such as Pied Flycatchers, Redstarts and Wood Warbler and if you venture out at night you'll see bats, such as the rare Barbastelle, flitting through the canopy.
Getting there
What3Words:
Nearest postcode:
Google Maps link:
hairpin.dumpy.obtain
Address:
Facilities nearby
A number of outlets in Holford. Nearest public toilets in Castle Street, Nether Stowey
Transport and parking
Parking for cars is avaliable at Holford Bowling Green car park
Accessibility
The village has a number of quiet lanes which are bound surface (tarmac). There are some slopes on these. There are a number of rights of way that leave from the car park, these are unsurfaced with uneven terrain and some steep slopes including cross slopes.
The village of Holford has a long history and in past times was a bustling industrial area of the Quantock Hills with the Huguenot silk factory in Holford Glen, a 16th century tannery with its waterwheel, which is still present and the sessil oak wooded combes, which would have been full of charcoal burners and woodsmen managing the oak for timber and the tannery. Holford was also home to William Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy between 1797 and 1798 when they rented Alfoxton House. It was during this period that William collaborated with Samuel Taylor Coleridge and the Romantic potery movement began. Sitting at the foot of Holford and Hodders Combe the village is a great starting off point to explore these majestic wooded combes. Designated as Sites of Special Scientific Interest and Special Areas of Conservation they are nationally and internationally important for their plants and animals.