Somerset
Somerset is a county in South West England which borders Gloucestershire and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east and Devon to the south-west. It is bounded to the north and west by the Severn Estuary and the Bristol Channel, its coastline facing southeastern Wales. Its traditional border with Gloucestershire is the River Avon. Somerset's county town is Taunton.
Somerset is a rural county of rolling hills, the Blackdown Hills, Mendip Hills, Quantock Hills and Exmoor National Park, and large flat expanses of land including the Somerset Levels. The city of Bath is famous for its Georgian architecture and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The county contains several miles wide sections of the Avon green belt area, which is primarily in place to prevent urban sprawl from the Bristol and Bath built up areas into the rural areas of North Somerset, Bath and North East Somerset, and Mendip districts in the county, as well as maintaining surrounding countryside. It stretches from the coastline between the towns of Portishead and Clevedon, extending eastwards past Nailsea, around the Bristol conurbation, and through to the city of Bath. The green belt border intersects with the Mendip Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) along its south boundary, and meets the Cotswolds AONB by its eastern extent along the Wiltshire county border, creating an extended area protected from inappropriate development. W
Somerset community action
Sustainability initiatives
- Transition Glastonbury
- Transition Portishead
- West Somerset Together on facebook
♥ Biodiversity
Somerset Beekeepers' Association - Somerset Wildlife Trust - Yatton and Congresbury Wildlife Action Group - Wikipedia: Nature reserves in Somerset (category)
Cycling activism
The county has one of the first National cycle routes created in Britain 3, 4 and 24 provide cyclists with ways to minimise contact with motor traffic. The Bristol & Bath Railway Path is a 15-mile off-road cycleway, following an old railway track that forms part of Route 4. The path consists of a 3-m-wide tarmacked surface, and was used for 2.4 million trips in 2007, increasing by 10% per year.[90] Route 24, otherwise known as the Colliers Way, currently runs from Dundas Aqueduct to Frome via Radstock. W
Food activism
Glastonbury Farmers Market - The Community Farm, Chew Magna - Incredible Edible Somerset - Somerset Community Food, grass-roots charity in Somerset which aims to re-connect people with the social, health and environmental effects of growing, buying, preparing and eating local food - Somerset Country Markets - Somerset Farmers’ Markets - Somerset Local Food Direct
Health and wellbeing
Rural sustainability
Sustainable transport activism
Long-distance footpaths in the county include: Coleridge Way, Limestone Link, Macmillan Way West, Mendip Way, Monarch's Way, Quantock Greenway, River Parrett Trail, Two Tunnels Greenway and West Deane Way. The South West Coast Path National Trail has its starting point at Minehead. W
Wikipedia: Footpaths in Somerset (category)
Towards sustainable economies
- Onion collective, added 19:29, 19 December 2020 (UTC)
News and comment
2018
Stream Farm – A New Model for New Entrants, Dec 21 [1]
Ecological Land Cooperative purchases site in South Somerset to create new small farms, Oct [2] The Ecological Land Cooperative works to create affordable ecological smallholdings for new entrants to farming – those who would ordinarily be unable to afford a house in the countryside yet who wish to earn a living through farming.
Events
2014
June 15 Green Scythe Fair
Campaigns
The Strawberry Line, A traffic-free route from the Mendips to the sea
Local communities in Somerset
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Interwiki links
Somerset W