Beautiful Somerset
Portrait of a County
A photographic tour around the county of Somerset and the adjoining city of Bristol
Beautiful Somerset is a book that is strongly led by its photography, a series of photo essays about this varied region, and including a section on the adjoining city of Bristol. The photography in Beautiful Somerset aims to capture many of the region’s most beautiful and interesting places, as well as some of the most popular annual events. It is intended as a photographic celebration of Somerset, a photographic memento for anyone who loves the region, whether resident or visitor. It is also of great value to any lover of evocative travel photography.
An Outline of Beautiful Somerset
Consisting of 80 glossy pages, the book is divided into six chapters, summarised as:
Chapter 1: All About the Region. Beautiful Somerset’s only text-led chapter, this is an overview of the region, covering its landscape, wildlife, economy and tourism. Although text-led, the pages are nevertheless illustrated with a series of photos.
The remaining five chapters are all photo essays covering different parts of the region.
Chapter 2: The Mendips. A photo essay about the rugged hills that run across the northern part of the county, including Cheddar Gorge, the Blagdon and Chew Valley Lakes, and the historic city of Wells.
Chapter 3: The Levels. A photo essay that covers the extensive low-lying and often marshy flat lands that are the heart of the county, and including some of its low-lying coastline.
Chapter 4: Exmoor. A photo essay about Somerset’s only national park, covering its high moorland hills, its deep valleys, remote coastline, and some of its characteristic villages.
Chapter 5: The South and Southwest. Th is photo essay covers southernmost parts of Somerset, covering an area stretching from the Quantock Hills and reaching across to the Dorset and Devon borders. As such, it takes in such places as Yeovil, Wellington, Taunton and Chard, as well as the Somerset section of the Blackdown Hills.
Chapter 6: Bristol and Bath. The urban heart of this otherwise largely rural region, this is a photo essay that covers the best of these two very historic, but nevertheless quite different cities. Images range from the likes of the Georgian architecture of Bath to the engineering of Bristol’s SS Great Britain and the Clifton Suspension Bridge.
Resources: A list of websites and contacts for a range of Somerset resources.
Beautiful Somerset sample pages
See a page-flip sampler of the book, including nearly half of the book’s pages, by clicking on the page-flip below.
Aquaterra Publishing
As with Nigel’s earlier books, Wild Southwest, Beautiful Devon and Beautiful Cornwall, Beautiful Somerset is produced by his own publishing company, Aquaterra Publishing, making this the company’s fourth book.
Beautiful Somerset is part of the Portrait of a County series of books, covering southwest England, and joining Beautiful Devon, Beautiful Dorset and Beautiful Cornwall.
These four books also sit alongside Wild Southwest, a more detailed look at the wildlife and natural landscapes of southwest England, which can also be seen on and bought from this website.
Some Beautiful Somerset information
Contents
| Chapter 1 | All About the Region |
| Chapter 2 | The Mendips |
| Chapter 3 | The Levels |
| Chapter 4 | Exmoor |
| Chapter 5 | The South and Southwest |
| Chapter 6 | Bristol and Bath |
Basic data
| No of pages | 80 |
| Dimensions | 260 x 210 mm |
| Cover type | Paperback |
| No of words | Approx 15,000 |
| No of photos | Approx 200 |
| ISBN | 9780992797041 |
| Publisher | Aquaterra Publishing |