The Knowhere Guide

Best and Worst in Porlock, Somerset*

Porlock, Somerset Triumphs and Tragedies

Favourite Building

• All the ruined mansions in the woods that we used to muck around in as kids. St. Dubricious Church, with the flat steeple. When we were kids, the legend was that a giant had chopped the top off for some reason. Hey, I believed it!
• Go to interesting 16th century museum @ Doverhay on the way in Unusual truncated spired church in high street.
• Top Ship, without it we wouldn't be able to tell that old story about Coleridge.
• Has got to be the Village Hall, especially back when I was a lad. When available and not so available socialites, high only on life, well apart from scrumpy, gathered there every friday night. The night always ended with Hi Ho Silver Lining.

Demolish It Now Building

• Caddys corner store - that old cow
• The cottage hotel

The Best Things

• The walk around Doverhay, the horseshoe and past the Rec and the local Church, back out onto High St. - Good for Summer Playing Football at the Rec - Premier League here we come The people; laid back and up for a laugh The moors, and other natural delights that kids who live there hate but everyone else loves.
• Burrowhays Campsite - nice relaxed place, good location by the river, and some funky horses. Run by the former most eligible bachelor in Somerset before he married that nice lady who books the horses out.
• The beach: What beach? unless you count pebble & shingle. Nearest sand is Minehead. The Bristol Channel has the warmest sea in the B. Isles - I dunk there regularly, no nasty floating surprises !
• The Bristol Channel. Those of us in the know reckon that it is a great place to sail all you have to remember is that you can only go the same way as the tide! Unlike the South coast, moorings are reasonably priced, it's just a case of getting used to that tidal range.
• My dad told me to say that the lawn bowling club is the best in the county.
• Undoubtedly the "Visiting ice-cream van" mentioned by the previous visitor. I work for said ice-cream company, Styles Farmhouse Ice cream. We are a locally-based company which produces high-quality icecream using only the finest ingredients. Many of our flavours are also made with sheep`s milk, making them suitable for allergy sufferers (And arguably more delicious than the dairy flavours!) You can find our vans at strategic spots around Minehead and Porlock, or call into a shop stocking our products (There is one in Porlock). Heartily recommended!!
• Sparkhayes Campsite. The best and flatest campsite in the West Country (allegedly). The camp warden is a credit to the breed. There is no camp club or tasteless shop on site, but if you want a peaceful break away form it all, there is no better place to be. The visiting ice cream van sells the best blackberry ice cream. Village shops are only two minutes walk, and the local bakery does some cracking pizzas on Friday and Saturday. It is a very good base for walkers, and for those who are interested in wildlife there are Common Buzzards, Swifts, Daubenten's Bats, Red Deer, and the campsite ducks (all within spottable range of the average binoculars). For those who like more technological things to spot, Concorde flies over twice a day.
• The beach is 5 min walk.
• It's got a couple campsites in the middle of the village
• Such a small place it takes five minutes to walk from one end to the other

The Worst Things

• No music, no films, no decent beaches. Plenty of bl**dy trees though.
• when it rains it pours
• The courage in the Castle is CRAP no decent fish asd chips very tasty barmaid in the castle is worth the crap beer
• People who drive incredibly slowly up Polock Hill.
• The lawn Bowling club as aforementioned.
• It's on the Bristol Channe, the 2nd most tidal estuary in the world. It's downstream from the disgusting Avonmouth area, and Hinckley Point nuclear power station. The place stinks...and it rains most of the time.
• The beach has pebbles the size of footballs.
• The roads are 'kin steep - 45 deg in places.
• It's in the middle of nowhwere

The Knowhere Guide started out as a list of places to skateboard in the UK. It is a compilation of (unedited) information and views supplied by users like yourself. It is not a conventional tourist guide!

In most cases, the information in each section has been submitted by more than one contributor (the credits at the bottom of the page list some, but not all, of the contributors) and some of it dates back to the 1970s.

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Credits

Last updated: 2007-06-27