Enjoy everything Radstock has to offer on Nigel’s walk
With no disrespect, Radstock is not a Bath or Bradford-onavon, but what it lacks in aesthetic appeal it certainly makes up for in character. its raison d’être is blindingly obvious as you drive through the town and meet a giant pit winding wheel!
Peak coal saw no fewer than 79 separate collieries working in the area, with the final pits closing back in 1973. That episode in the town’s history may be long gone, but the quite excellent Radstock Museum documents this era with some fine displays.
Almost as long gone are the town’s railways, with both the Somerset & Dorset and the Bristol & North Somerset lines passing through the town centre. When the level crossing gates were in use, traffic on the main A367 would grind to a halt and stack up, with queues resembling those that still haunt the town to this day. today’s queues, however, are due a complex system of roundabouts, traffic lights and sheer volume of traffic.
The railways have been put to good use and turned in to shared use paths. This walk follows the Norton-radstock Greenway (that former Bristol & North Somerset line) out to Midsomer Norton. tree-lined sections with intermittent views makes for pleasant walking, with a highlight being the Five Arches, a bridge that carried the S&D over the B&NSR. Five Arches is also the name of the town’s excellent local history magazine, available from the museum.
Pleasant countryside with a surprisingly remote feel, especially in Clandown Bottom, brings the walk through to the edge of Clandown itself, where there is an even older transport link in the form of the Fosse Way. This Roman road ran from Lincoln to Exeter, a distance of 182 miles, and its claim to fame is that this direct route is never more than six miles from a straight line between the two towns. These Romans must have had some stamina; were road signs around some 1700 years ago, the climb out of Clandown would have necessitated a 25 per cent gradient.
The end of the walk revisits the Norton-radstock Greenway, before thoughts will no doubt turn to food and drink. Normally i would recommend the Museum teashop, but this is currently closed due its diminutive size making it unsafe in these Covid times. Across the River Somer, however, you will find the Riverbank Cafe. Do not be put off by the surrounding complex of busy roads; a brief look at the cafe’s Facebook page will no doubt make a huge impression, especially the ‘Puddings Made with Love’.
Parking in the Waterloo Road car park is free for five hours, but a parking ticket displaying your time of arrival must still be displayed. Radstock Museum is open from 2pm (11am on Saturdays) until 5pm, apart from Mondays, when the volunteers have a well-deserved day off.
Getting there
■ Follow the A367 into Radstock before turning into Waterloo Road by the town’s museum. In 50 yards, park in the Waterloo Road car park.
■ 1. Leave the car park and walk back to the A367, passing the museum on the right. Cross the main road and follow the Norton-radstock Greenway opposite. In 200 yards, by a coal wagon with the name Middle Pit, keep on the Tarmac path as it bears left and drops downhill. In 1¼ miles, 100 yards before a bridge over the A362 in Midsomer Norton, veer right off the path down to the A362. Turn right and, in 50 yards, where the main road bears left by a chapel, keep ahead into Millards Hill. Follow this road, bearing left in 100 yards, and continue to Green Tree Road on the left. At this point, join a pavement and continue ahead, keeping uphill beyond the last property on the left on a stepped footpath. At the top of the climb, keep ahead passing a rank of houses known as White City to reach a junction in 150 yards.
■ 2. Turn left and, almost immediately, keep right at a junction. Continue for ¼ mile to a crossroads before following the road opposite as it climbs steadily uphill. In 600 yards, at a junction with a lane going off on the left, pass through a handgate on the right. Walk ahead across a field to a gate in its far right corner, before following the right edges of two fields downhill into Clandown Bottom. In the bottom of this valley, turn right through a handgate and walk ahead through a valley to a gate and lane in ½ mile. Pass through a gateway opposite and, in 20 yards, keep right at a junction before following a track through Clandown Bottom to reach a gate in ¼ mile. Continue walking across the field ahead to reach a gate and properties in 300 yards.
■ 3. Pass through an arch in these properties and walk ahead along Springfield Place to a junction. Turn right and, in 50 yards, immediately past five Fosseway Cottages on the right, turn right on to a byway – the Fosseway. Follow this track, it shortly bears left and climbs steeply uphill, for 600 yards to a gate and hillside field. Walk down the right edge of this field to a gate and the Norton-radstock Greenway. Turn left and retrace your steps along the former railway back to the A367.