Strawberry Line Re-opens

North Somerset Council has completed the work to get the Strawberry Line Heritage Trail open once again between Winscombe Millennium Green near Woodborough Road Bridge and Station Road Sandford.

The work started last year in mid-November and consisted of the construction of a retaining wall to support a section of the railway embankment that was collapsing. It needed 400 tonnes of aggregate and soil to stabilise the embankment, and the resurfacing of 1.25 miles (2 km) of Strawberry Line Path. 300 meters of fencing were restored or repaired and the original interpretation boards for the Heritage Trail were repaired. The photos show (clockwise): the collapsed wall shored up, old Winford Station platform, the gateway at Yatton and the line resurfaced.

Helping People Get Close to Nature

The "Nature and Wellbeing Project" aims to enable people with learning difficulties to connect with, and enjoy, the natural world. It is a joint venture between the Somerset Wildlife Trust and, amongst others, the Mendip Hills AONB. We have invited them to visit our nature reserves at Sladers Leigh and Tania's Wood and look forward to seeing parties in due course. For more information on this project see https://discovery-uk.org/wellbeing-in-nature/.

New Video

Richard Frost has produced a new video for the Society's Youtube channel. It's a dizzying motorbike ride through Burrington Combe. See the links page.

Car Park Closure

The National Trust car park at Kings Wood, Winscombe Hill  is closed and is likely to remain closed  until possibly  mid Feb. They are felling Ash trees in the woods because of ash dieback and are using it for storing their machinery.

Archive of Past Newsletters

Recent newsletters may now be found in the Archive page. Earlier newsletters will be added if we can find electronic copies (scanning is time consuming and produces rather large files). We have paper copies of most past newsletters and these can be made available on request to the Membership Secretary.

A Less Attractive Mendip Scene

The reason for including the picture below (Ubley Drove) is not just to have a rant about the selfish moron who dumped this stuff but to say that I reported it via Mendip Council's website and within 24 hours it had gone. Let's have three cheers for the Council and its contractor IDVerde: "hip-ray, hip-ray, hip-ray".

All local councils have means for reporting fly tipping so if you see it please don't assume someone else will act, report it.

Peter Janes

Mendipity - a new book of walks
With support from the Society our President, Les Davies and member Sue Gearing have published a new book of walks on Mendip, called Mendipity.  More details, including how to order a copy may be seen by clicking this link https://www.dropbox.com/s/ydo0m0ebln1acwn/P71-1.pdf?dl=0 (this is the advertisement which appeared in Mendip Times).

Strawberry Line - Study of Breeding Birds

Our nature reserve at Slader's Leigh features in a study of breeding birds along a section of the Strawberry Line conducted by local resident Lincoln Garland. An abstact may be seen at the following link and the full article may may be downloaded here: https://www.preprints.org/manuscript/202009.0303/v1 .

The Mendip Society YouTube Channel
Richard Frost (Chairman) commissioned Graham Keating of Wavelength Consultancy to make six short videos of the Mendip AONB to increase awareness of and promote the area.

Members have since contributed five more videos showing aspects of, and activities around, Mendip. 

These are all on the Society's YouTube channel which can be reached via the Links Page, or if you prefer to watch them on your TV, by going to YouTube and using its search facility  to find The Mendip Society.

Gallery Updated with Photos from Members taken during their 'daily exercise'

Events and Walks

Update 18th December. The Committee has decided that the Covid situation is too unsettled at present to restart the programme but will keep this under review.

Please check this website and your E-mails regularly .

The Mendip Hills sit high above the Somerset countryside in South West England.

The limestone uplands feature dry gorges, caves, sinks and river sources. One of the most famous areas is the Cheddar Gorge and the Mendip Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) is a protected landscape.

The Mendip Society works to conserve and enhance the Mendip Hills and surrounding areas for everyone to enjoy. 

As a registered charity, we organise social activities on the hills for all our members including walks, special interest visits and talks. We also manage some small nature reserves and members are encouraged to be involved with these.