Gateway to the Southwest

There are two main highways to the south west from the rest of England. Holiday makers from the Midlands and the North will head southwards on the M5, while folk from the South and East will either take the M4 westwards, joining up with the M5, or else take the southern route via the A303, joining the M5 at Exeter, and then taking either the A38 or the A30 to Devon and Cornwall.

The M5 corridor through Somerset can rightly be termed a “Gateway to the Southwest”. As the M5 descends to the Clevedon exit, the “land of Summer” stretches out its welcoming vista to holiday makers. The Mendip Hills rise like a natural barrier, stretching to the sea at Brean Down, and as you pass Crook’s peak on your left and Brent Knoll to your right, the flatness of the Somerset Levels shows how it was once the seabed and marshes, and the hills were islands. As the waters receded, through a falling sea level and drainage of the levels, so Bridgwater became a natural gateway from the north to the rest of Somerset with a bridge across the River Parrett. The A39 leads westwards to the Quantocks, Exmoor and North Devon, while the A38 and the M5 continue south-westwards into the Valley of Taunton Deane.

At Chilton Trinity you are at the gateway to all that the beautiful Southwest has to offer. Through this gateway you can access the woods and meadows, the hills and valleys, the rivers, marshes and coastline, the cliffs and the beaches, the history and the mystery of south-west England.

Read more about Bridgwater History click here