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Around Weston Super Mare Accommodation
The Helicopter Museum is just outside Weston-super-Mare. Photo credit: Helicopter Museum
A great family day out at The Helicopter Museum in Somerset. Photo credit: Helicopter Museum
See complete helicopters, restored models and memorabilia. Photo credit: Helicopter Museum
The West Mendip Way - walks through the beautiful Mendip countryside
Brean Down south of Weston-super-Mare - great views and walksAround Weston-super-Mare Family Holidays Walking Tourist Guide
Just outside Weston-super-Mare is The Helicopter Museum, the largest of its kind in the country. This makes a great day out for all aviation enthusiasts whatever age.
Once you set out around Weston-super-Mare you start to enter the Mendips countryside. There are several walks like the long distance West Mendip Way or shorter walks to some of the special wildlife reserves such as at Purn Hill from Bleadon.
The Helicopter Museum
The Helicopter Museum is the world's largest museum solely dedicated to helicopters. It is just off the M5 on the A371 just outside the main town of Weston-super-Mare. It makes a good day out for all the family particularly as it's undercover for those rainy days! The Museum houses over 80 helicopters from all over the world.
The collection was started by aviation writer/historian Elfan ap Rees when he started collecting a variety of rotorcraft documentation and artefacts in 1958. Soon he acquired his first complete helicopter, a Bristol Sycamore MK3, and the museum has continued to acquire parts and whole helicopters that it has conserved since.
The majority of the restored helicopters are displayed in the main display building where you can find out about their history. There is also a wealth of associated literature, manuals and artefacts relating to rotary powered craft. There is also a coffee shop, children's play area and Heliworld gift shop that is also the largest stockist of helicopter model kits.
The Helicopter Museum is open Weds-Sun all year round and open daily from Easter through the Summer period. The Helicopter Museum, Locking Moor Road, Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, BS24 8PP. Tel: 01934 635227. Fax: 01934 645230. Email: helimuseum@btconnect.com. Groups are welcomed but you will need to book in advance if you number more than twelve. The Helicopter Museum can also help organise children's and adults parties and functions. Check their website, link right, for much more detail or visit in person.
West Mendip Way
The West Mendip Way is a long distance walking route starting in Uphill near Weston-super-Mare, taking you through the southern scarp of the Mendip Hills overlooking the Somerset Levels, through Cheddar Gorge, down to Wookey Hole and ending in Wells.
The route is 28 miles long taking you through some of Somerset's most stunning landscapes. Some people base their holiday around completing the whole walk over a period of days or you can just pick different sections to complete during your stay in the Mendips. You sure to find comfortable holiday accommodation along the way.
You can download a guide to the West Mendip Way from the AONB publications website, link right, as well as walking guides for other walks in the Mendips.
There are plenty of other shorter walks through the Mendips, many start off from around the Charterhouse Centre - an outdoor centre and the base for the AONB Service near Blagdon. These take you through Blackmoor and Longwood Nature Reserve and up to the highest point in the Mendips, Beacon Bath on Blackdown. Again leaflet can be downloaded from the AONB website.
Purn Hill Nature Reserve, Bleadon
One kilometre west of Bleadon, if you walk towards the A370, you'll see Purn Hill in front of you. This is a nationally protected site and nature reserve managed by Avon Wildlife Trust. The reserve contains extremely species-rich unimproved limestone grassland and scrub. Several rare plant species can be found here including Homewort and white rock rose - only found at three locations in the UK including Brean Down.
The grassland and scrub are excellent for butterflies including small, large and grizzled skippers, grayling, brown argus, Chalkhill and Small Blues.
Brean Down National Trust
Just below Weston-super-Mare and before you get into Brean is the Brean Down promontory. It's something of a focal point for walks and views as it's the highest point here rising to 320 feet. It is made out of limestone and is an outlier of the Mendip Hills.
It is managed by the National Trust and there is a downloadable leaflet from their website, link right, detailing the circular walks you can take on Brean Down.
The plants that grow on Brean Down are extremely rare and include white rock rose which is only found in three other localities in the UK including Purn Hill near Bleadon. Yellow-wort, scabious, fairy flax, sea pinks and sea campions all grow here. Broomrapes are also found here that are thought to have come from the Oxford Broomrape which is believed to be extinct.
There is also some archaeological interest and what is believed to be a pagan shrine has been discovered here dating from pre-Roman times. There is also evidence of an Iron Age hill fort, field systems and burial mounds. At the most seaward point of Brean down you can see more recent history at Palmerston Fort which was built in 1865. It was re-armed in the Second World War.
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