Welcome to the villages of Nether Stowey and Over Stowey in West Somerset,

part of the Walkers are Welcome Network

Our two villages have welcomed walkers for hundreds of years. A group of local residents and small business owners have now got together to form Stoweywalking, to promote walking in and around the Stoweys to both local people and visitors. Nether Stowey and Over Stowey are located at the foot of the Quantock Hills, the first Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) in England. The poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge lived in Nether Stowey and walked the hills for inspiration with his friends William and Dorothy Wordswoth. Some would call them the first ramblers.

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Nether Stowey has always welcomed travellers, being a coaching stop on the toll road to Minehead. The village still boasts several local shops, pubs and bed and breakfasts along with a bus service between Bridgwater and Minehead. Just a stones throw away lies the original settlement of Over Stowey; a small village with a beautiful church and an active cricket club. Whereas Nether Stowey lies just outside the Quantock Hills AONB, much of the parish of Over Stowey comprises the ancient woods and heathlands of the Quantock Hills.

Since 2005 Nether Stowey has been the starting point of The Coleridge Way, a medium distance trail which now stretches 51 miles across the Quantocks and the Brendon Hills and onto Exmoor, finishing at Lynmouth Harbour. What better way to explore the beautiful unspoilt Somerset landscape and meet the local people than to walk across it as Coleridge himself did.

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