Rodney Stoke

Rodney Stoke makes a peaceful base for exploring the Mendip Hills without the crowds that build up around Cheddar Gorge a few miles away. The village itself has little hotel accommodation, but a handful of farmhouse bed and breakfasts and self-catering cottages in the parish offer a genuinely rural stay, often with views up towards the nature reserve's wooded scarp or out across the Somerset Levels. These tend to be small, family-run operations rather than chain hotels, so book ahead in the busier summer months and around school holidays.

For a wider range of hotels, from budget stopovers to more characterful country properties, Wells and Cheddar are both only a few minutes away by car and offer considerably more choice, including options close to Wells Cathedral and the show caves at Cheddar Gorge. Staying in or near Rodney Stoke itself works particularly well for walkers heading up onto the Mendip plateau, birdwatchers drawn to the Somerset Levels, and anyone keen to explore the rare wildflowers of the Rodney Stoke and Draycott Sleights nature reserves at a gentle pace, with the Rodney Stoke Inn on hand for an evening meal without having to drive anywhere afterwards. Families touring the wider Mendips or Cheddar Gorge often use Rodney Stoke as a quieter overnight base, combining the practicality of the A371 location with a much calmer setting than the honeypot villages nearby.

Rodney Stoke rewards walkers and nature lovers more than sightseers, but there is plenty within easy reach to fill a few days.

• Rodney Stoke National Nature Reserve — Designated in 1957, this 123-acre reserve of ash and lime woodland and calcareous grassland clings to the steep, south-facing scarp of the Mendips right beside the village. It is renowned for rare wildflowers including bird's nest orchid, meadow saffron and purple gromwell, alongside carpets of bluebells and wood anemones in spring. There is no dedicated car park and the lanes are narrow, so it is best explored on foot from the village.
• Draycott Sleights — Just along the scarp from Rodney Stoke, this Somerset Wildlife Trust reserve shares the same limestone grassland habitat and is one of the best places in the Mendips for butterflies and orchids through the summer months.
• Church of St Leonard — A Grade I listed church dating to around 1175, with an intricately carved 1624 rood screen and a series of striking Rodney family memorial sculptures inside. Well worth a quiet half hour.
• Westbury Camp — An Iron Age hillfort enclosure and Scheduled Ancient Monument on the Mendip plateau above the village, with far-reaching views south over the Levels.
• Cheddar Gorge and Caves — England's largest gorge is only a few miles up the road, with dramatic limestone cliffs, show caves, cheese shops and a testing clifftop walk with views across to Wales on a clear day.
• Mendip Hills AONB — Rodney Stoke sits right on the edge of this designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, offering miles of quiet lanes, bridleways and open grassland ideal for walking, cycling and horse riding.
• Somerset Levels — To the south, the flat, drained wetlands of the Levels are a birdwatcher's favourite, with reed beds, drainage rhynes and wide skies that are especially good for starling murmurations in winter.

The Rodney Stoke Inn is the village's traditional pub, serving as the natural hub for locals and visiting walkers alike. A little further along the A371, the villages and towns around Cheddar and Wells add plenty of choice, from farm shops and cider makers taking advantage of the orchards on the Levels, to cheese producers trading on Cheddar's dairying heritage. Wells itself, a short drive away, has a good spread of cafes, pubs and restaurants around its cathedral and market place for those wanting more variety after a day on the hills.

Camping around Rodney Stoke means making the most of the Mendip Hills' steep scarp slopes and the flat green expanse of the Somerset Levels below, two very different landscapes within a few minutes of each other. As with anywhere in England, wild camping is illegal without the landowner's permission, so pitching up on the nature reserve, Westbury Camp or open access land without asking first is not an option, however tempting the views. Instead, a number of farm-based campsites and small glamping sites in the parish and surrounding villages offer a legal, comfortable way to sleep out under Mendip skies, ranging from simple grass pitches for tents and campervans to furnished bell tents, shepherd's huts and static glamping pods for those who would rather not put up a tent at all.

The terrain here is a real draw for campers who like to walk or cycle straight from their pitch: the ground rises quickly from the Levels up through ancient woodland and calcareous grassland to the open Mendip plateau, so even a short stay can take in wildflower-rich reserves, quiet bridleways and long views south across the Levels towards Glastonbury Tor on a clear day. Cheddar Gorge, with its own cliff-top walks and show caves, is close enough for a day trip without needing to move sites.

Late spring through early autumn is the most popular and most comfortable window, when the reserve's bluebells and rare orchids are at their best in May and June, days are long enough for proper hill walking, and the ground is drier underfoot on the steeper Mendip paths. Autumn brings good colour in the ancient woodland and thinner crowds, while winter camping here is a cold, wet-underfoot prospect better suited to hardier campers, though it does come with the reward of Somerset Levels starling murmurations and cosy pub fires nearby. Whatever the season, booking ahead is wise, since genuine camping and glamping capacity around this small village is limited compared with the bigger sites further into Cheddar or Wells.