This summer we are doing a two part holiday in Somerset and Cornwall. The first week we are staying at a Caravan and Camping Club site called Mendip Heights, right in the heart of the Mendips and close to everything we want to see. It had lovely clean facilities, not too crowded and has a wonderful farm shop called the Priddy Good Farm shop a 2 minute walk away, who incidentally sold the best bacon I think I've ever had.
Priddy is an interesting and quirky place, very beautiful in the bleakest of ways. It feels very remote and full of cows and sheep with lovely stone walls and undulating hills, that makes me feel I'm in a Thomas Hardy novel.
We did a small 3 mile walk when we got there as the weather was nice and we knew it was going to take a turn in the foreseeable future. The campsite is selling a booklet on local walks that start and finish at the campsite so we took one of those and did the smallest walk as it was already nearing 5pm. The walk took us around Priddy and gave us a good vantage point of Priddy's famous Nine Barrows which are Bronze Age burial mounds that gives the horizon its distinct view.
There are also a number of cave systems under Priddy formed where the water draining from the sandstone sinks underground when reaching the surrounding limestone, the walk took us past the caving club, which would be an excellent activity if the children were a little older. Priddy is also home to an annual sheep fair and there is a monument on Priddy Green celebrating that fact.
Wherever we travel we try to shop local and thankfully the Priddy Good Farm Shop was well stocked with excellent butchers and local ales and ciders, also the Cafe served us the best cooked breakfast after a stormy night with little sleep, we very much enjoyed our stay at Mendip Heights, despite the weather this week being a bit touch and go.
Also, a short drive away is Cheddar Ales, where you can go and fill up your jerry can with some excellent local ale. I thoroughly recommend Potholer, it was delicious!
Even if you are not staying at Mendip Heights you can go into the shop there and get the walks booklet and park at the cafe for a good walk after a hearty breakfast.
To book a table and purchase some pretty special bacon visit: http://www.priddygoodfarmshop.co.uk/
To stock up your camp trip with some decent beer visit: https://www.cheddarales.co.uk/
