Exmoor and the sea: pretty stone cottage at Nettlecombe – wonderful Exmoor and Quantock Hills for walking and horse-riding. Situated in Exmoor National Park, a haven for naturalists, four miles from the sea, in a small hamlet with a superb local pub/restaurant a mile away, the Notley Arms, which you can walk to along a footpath by meandering stream and little ox-bow lakes. Nearby is Nettlecombe Court, an Elizabethan manor house, now run as a field study centre and offering many courses from painting to various aspects of nature study. Fossil beach at St Audries Bay with rock pools and waterfall. Historic Dunster with its Castle, that hosts open air productions of Shakespeare’s classics in summer and also a large country fair during the summer. Dunster is famous for its old-world tea shops, its woollen mill and beautiful architecture. Taunton, the county town, is 15 miles away – a large shopping centre with twice-weekly market and. County museum. Minehead is 7 miles away has a pretty town centre and North Hill leading to the top of Exmoor and sailing and windsurfing for the brave in the harbour. Butlins is there for children of all ages looking for fun. Minehead golf course is open to visitors. Watchet, 4 miles away, is an historic harbour town (‘Ancient Mariner’). It now sports a marina and many boat trips are available to offshore islands, along the coast and sea fishing. All local amenities are to be found in the small town of Williton (2 miles away), where many of the pubs have live folk and jazz bands in the evenings. There is a cider farm at nearby Washford You can go horse-riding from stables both on the Quantock Hills and over Exmoor. If you like hunting, fox hounds and stag hounds hunt in the area and you would be welcomed. Mountain biking is popular on the hills. Exmoor is ‘Lorna Doone’ country - visit Doone Valley, Oare Church and the Valley of the Rocks. Other places worth visiting are Porlock, Lynton and Lynmouth, Dulverton.. The Somerset levels are a must for bird watchers interested in waterfowl and of course a great variety of birds are to be seen on Exmoor. Herds of wild red deer live on Exmoor and the Quantock Hills.