The Somerset Levels couldn’t be more of a contrast to the soft, rolling hills and valleys of West Dorset. And sometimes a change is as good as a rest.
On a warm, sunny holiday weekend it’s a great place for an early morning explore, heading inland when most people are making for the coast. Less than half an hour away to a totally different landscape of mystery and flatness,
Starting at Thorney, walking beside the River Parrett along a short section of the River Parrett Trail as the mist started to clear. Birdsong everywhere. A heron flew past and a cuckoo started to call from a copse a little way off. Then a swan flew across Thorney Moor just for good measure.
This is Midelney Pumping Station, sitting on it’s own little island like some modernist Grand Design property.
Although a peek inside it’s all machinery and kit for controlling the water levels. On the Somerset Levels drainage is serious business.
The river runs slowly, winding its way towards Muchelney.
Not a hill for miles, just meadows, hedges and a big, big blue sky.
There’s an ancient hedge beside the path coming into Muchelney, all gnarly hawthorns and great orbs of mistletoe.
Between the cuckoo, the river, the moors, the ancient hawthorn and the mistletoe, even on a bright sunny morning the feeling of mystery and folklore is evident all around.