Latest news with #QuantockHills
BBC News
2 days ago
- Climate
- BBC News
Quantock Hills ranger issues barbecue warning amid wildfire risk
A ranger has alerted people to the dangers of accidentally creating wildfires in Stevenson, a ranger for the National Landscape Team on the Quantock Hills, said there should be no barbecues or campfires on the moorland due to the fire risk. His warning comes after a section of the Quantock Hills were set on fire in April, with fire crews having to work through the night to contain the blaze. "Everything is tinder dry at the moment," Mr Stevenson said. "If something was to catch fire on the hills particularly, the whole place would probably go up to be honest." Mr Stevenson said in the past two years, approximately four or five fires have been started on the Quantock Hills by barbecues and campfires that got out of hand. The ranger said while controlled burns are carried out on the hills between December and February, they should not be confused with winter fires are set for habitat management and also work as a fire prevention service, Mr Stevenson explained."There may be patches across the hills that you may see are black and charred immediately after the winter," he added."They'll very quickly recover with a damp spring, which we haven't had this year."He said anyone who sees smoke on the Quantox between March and November should call 999. Fire and rescue services in England and Wales have responded to 856 wildfire incidents so far this year, according to the National Fire Chiefs the end of July, it said wildfire numbers were 663% higher than the same period in 2024 and 33% higher than the same period in 2022, which was then a record year for Stevenson told BBC Radio Somerset's Simon Parkin that he did not want to discourage people from walking on the hills, but urged people to be mindful of their surroundings. 'Don't take a BBQ' Ben Williams, the group commander from Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service, has also asked people to enjoy the countryside safely. He said: "We've had a quite a dry hot summer and in these fine periods of weather we really encourage people to get outside."But we'd say take a picnic, don't take a barbecue."Effectively any open fire increases the risk of that spreading going out of control."It means resources have to be dragged in from right across the country."When we're dealing with those incidents which were entirely preventable, those resources are being diverted away from their primary role - maintaining a life."
Times
05-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Times
Somerset's coolest new farm stay with its own private vineyard
It's hard to pinpoint the exact moment I decided I wouldn't mind staying in this patch of southwest Somerset for the rest of time. I suppose it could have been during my Sunday-morning lakeside massage. Specifically when gazing out through the door of the tumbledown boating shed-turned-treatment room at the reeds swaying in the summer breeze and realising the choral birdsong soundtrack wasn't being piped through the portable speakers but coming live and direct from the trees outside. Or perhaps it was the previous day, on a grassy slope amid apple orchards, surrounded by local families and their dogs, as a dinky Glastonbury-style knees-up unfolded around us featuring acrobats and pints of homebrew. Actually, I think it was back at our farmstay watching our host, Panu Long, point out ancient-looking pagan symbols scratched into the walls of the barn where his hulking 150-year-old cider press and shiny new silver fermentation vats reside. Cider has long been a big deal in these parts, but Panu and his wife, Sophie Brendel, are just as serious about bringing wine here as climate change starts to see southern England give France's Champagne region a run for its money. The couple and their two children moved to this 40-acre farmstead, four miles east of Taunton in the gaze of the Quantock and Blackdown Hills, in 2022 (and have since acquired a labrador, kitten, Legbar chickens and a cote of doves). The following year they began planting vineyards and have since rechristened it Thornfalcon Winery & Press. But while production of their wine range is still a work in progress (it takes three to four years from planting before the grapes can be used), their hospitality is already well underway. We spent two nights in the Coach House, a barn conversion dominated by beautiful timber frames and a vast open-plan living/kitchen area with a creaking dining table at its heart. Flagstone floors lead to the children's twin room, an adorable Enid Blyton-style den decked out in folk wallpaper, stripy blinds, checked bedspreads and patterned quilts. Then we duck into the mezzanine master bedroom for more arts and crafts-inspired interiors. A welcome hamper in the kitchen is loaded with goodies from the farmhouse gardens (eggs, lettuces, carrots, asparagus, broadbeans, rhubarb…), plus local cheeses, jams and bread. The first night we arrive late to find a fish pie in the oven courtesy of Sophie, and Panu knocking on the door with a tray of Thornfalcon house martinis. Before they upped sticks Sophie worked as marketing, digital and commercial director for the Victoria and Albert Museum, where her love of fabrics and interiors was ignited, while Panu was in drinks, overseeing the bars at big-ticket events such as the Baftas and Elton John's White Tie and Tiara Ball. • Discover our full guide to Somerset Outside in the Coach House paddock stands their latest pride and joy: a traditional vardo Gypsy caravan. The plan is for it to be wheeled to any of Thornfalcon's three guest stays as a portable extra children's bedroom. There's also the Vine Hut — a roomy shepherd's hut with an outdoor copper bath and fire pit overlooking the vineyard — and the Lambing Shed, a more isolated retreat hidden away in the orchards with a wood-fire garden bath. Both sleep two, have kitchens, log-burning stoves, (indoor!) showers and look like giant doll's houses, such is the attention to detail across every last inch. • 13 of the best luxury hotels in Somerset The next morning the pair take us on a tour past their handsome 250-year-old thatched farmhouse and up a lush track to the lake. Normally they would be encouraging us to swim in it, but it is out of bounds while the resident nesters, Mr and Mrs Swan, hatch their cygnets. Then it's on to the vineyards, where Panu shows us the fledgling chardonnay, pinot noir and meunier grapes that will be made into their sparkling wine, and his innovative deterrent for hungry deer: a movement-triggered speaker system that blasts Radio 4 across the hillside. A discussion about the UK-EU youth mobility scheme on The Week in Westminster was certainly enough to move me on quickly. Future plans include converting an outbuilding into an events space for supper clubs and corporate getaways, plus Sophie's long-term dream of turning the stables into music studios for more creative escapes (they have already hosted their first writers' retreat). Panu has further drink-related ambitions too; he has already planted more vineyards with hardier, hybrid grape varieties and is busy perfecting his 'keeved' cider — a naturally carbonated delicacy, sold in champagne-like bottles, which should be ready this autumn. That afternoon we're packed off to the nearby Burrow Hill Farm for Cider Bus Saturday, a local tradition that started during the pandemic when groups could only meet outside ( It's hosted by the illustrious cider-making Temperley family, who have owned Burrow Hill since the 1960s, and whose blue double-decker Somerset Cider Bus will be a familiar sight to anyone who has been to Glastonbury Festival. Most other summer weekends it's the centrepiece for this small local shindig that also features a pop-up food stall and some sort of family-friendly music performance or circus act hidden down an orchard track. Today we get pizza and an all-female troupe of tightrope walkers called Daughters of the Dust. A little onsite shop also sells Mary Temperley's homeware and toiletries. It's impossible to visit Burrow Hill without someone mentioning Mary's sister and the most famous family member of all: Alice Temperley, whose eponymous fashion emporium relocated from London to nearby Ilminster a few years ago. Now housed in the Victorian former magistrate's court, it's an Aladdin's cave of bohemian fabulousness and well worth a visit, particularly because of its outlet store prices. I screech in just as it's closing but still manage to walk out with most of a new summer wardrobe. Back at Thornfalcon, the traditional wood-burning hot tub and sauna have been fired up, ready for us to pile in. They're on the banks of the lake, overlooking a beached fishing boat, the nesting swans and setting sun beyond. Sophie arrives carrying a white-label prototype of Thornfalcon fizz and my family wonder why we don't just move to Somerset to start a vineyard too. The next morning the kids help collect eggs from the henhouse, I have my life-affirming massage and we bid Thornfalcon an emotional farewell as Sophie delivers one last delight: she has booked us Sunday lunch at the Lord Poulett Arms in Hinton St George — a film set-ready 17th-century inn with the best roasts in the vicinity (mains from £20, B&B doubles from £120; But crucially, it's also off the A303 on the way back home to London, otherwise I'm not sure she'd have ever convinced us to leave. Krissi Murison was a guest of Thornfalcon, which has B&B doubles from £125 ( By Siobhan Grogan The market town of Ilminster is a 15-minute drive from Thornfalcon and has a 15th-century church, a popular theatre, and plenty of independent cafés and shops for pottering around. Half an hour further from there, higgledy-piggledy Bruton is (famously) well worth the day trip for its terraced streets, acclaimed Godminster cheese shop and art gallery Hauser & Wirth in a former farmstead with a stunning landscaped garden (free; Get another art fix at Close Gallery, which showcases contemporary works, in the grounds of Close House in Hatch Beauchamp (free; The Quantock Hills were England's first Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and are the best place for hiking and cycling with their windswept heathland, wildlife sightings and stretches of wilderness. Rocky ridge Haddon Hill is another good option for a countryside ramble, with lunch afterwards at the modern fine-dining restaurant Holm in South Petherton — it's full of clever ideas such as Westcombe cheddar fries with asparagus or chocolate crémeux with Jerusalem artichoke ice cream (mains from £23; Afterwards stroll around the village, which has a church with an octagonal central tower with 12 bells and a performing arts centre, the David Hall ( There's history galore at the 50-acre 16th-century Hestercombe Gardens (£17; the Jacobean almshouses of Taunton and Castle Neroche, an Iron Age hillfort. The National Trust's Tudor mansion Barrington Court also has gardens, a café and independent artisan studios for shopping (£12 or free for National Trust members; The award-winning gastropub the Barrington Boar is nearby and recently opened a new bakery in the converted cider barn next door (mains from £23;
