The Mendip Hills, overlooking the Somerset Levels to the south and the Avon Valley to the north, bear traces of human civilization dating back to the Mesolithic era. This evocative landscape, an area of outstanding natural beauty, also boasts an important series of mediaeval ecclesiastical monuments.

Our course will open with a visit to the most imposing of the Mendip hill-forts, Dolebury, surrounded by a massive limestone rampart. In addition to its Iron Age fortifications, Dolebury contains a mediaeval rabbit warren and enjoys extensive views across the Somerset Levels and Bristol Channel. Nearby Burrington Coombe is a dramatic limestone gorge dotted with caves that have yielded evidence of Neolithic human activity. Mineral extraction played a significant role in the formation of the Mendip Hills, with the key mining settlement at Charterhouse stretching back at least to the Roman occupation. By contrast, the Priddy Circles is a cluster of Neolithic henge monuments, and Deer Leap, perched on the southern scarp of the Mendips, is a deserted mediaeval farmstead.

We will devote our final day to the mediaeval church: Glastonbury Abbey, where the extant buildings, dating from circa 1200, stand on one of Britain’s earliest Christian sites; the majestic 13th century Bishop’s Palace in Wells, set in a delightful mediaeval close and still surrounded by a moat; and Wells Cathedral, where the present edifice, commenced in 1180, replaced a long sequence of churches dating back to the 8th century.

Our base will be the Swan Hotel in Wells, beautifully located in the shadow of Wells Cathedral.