My Somerset Levels – learning to love life on the flat, by Becky Collier

Becky Collier is the Manager of CPRE Somerset.  Brought up in the hills, here she shares with us how she came to cherish the flat landscapes of the Somerset Levels.

I have always loved the hills.

I grew up in an East Lancashire mill town where the Pennine hills and moors loomed large.  Most holidays and trips right through until my thirties were spent climbing hills in the Lake District, Snowdonia and Scotland.  Of course, I moaned about the climb as a kid, but it always seemed like a walk without a hill wasn’t a proper walk.  A flat walk felt a bit.…well, pointless!

So, when I moved to Wells, just as I was starting my own little family, over twenty years ago, I instinctively looked north to the Mendip Hills.  We had a treat in store – steep slopes, limestone gorges, wooded coombes.  Proper job! Of course, we soon found that, looking from the Mendip Hills southwards, we had brilliant views across the flatlands, the edge of the Somerset Levels.  So, we went exploring…

Our timing was good, as the various nature reserves that make up the Avalon Marshes had fairly recently been opened up and we had lots of choices of new places to discover.  The flat, easy to follow trails of Ham Wall, Westhay Moor, and Shapwick Heath were perfect for our toddlers’ wobbly early walks and, later, the occasional even wobblier bike ride!

Everything seems to slow down a bit when you go for a walk in the wetlands and grasslands of the Levels.

Without even noticing you are doing it, you start to fine tune your senses – listening out for the chirping, buzzing, whirring and occasional sploshing of birds and insects.  Your gaze switches between big skies and long-range views, with the distant landmarks of the Mendips and Glastonbury Tor and – oh, look! – a shiny beetle walking across your path!  Children love tramping across the boardwalks, with their feet just inches above black, oily-looking peaty pools and marshes. The texture and colours of the swaying reedbeds, even on a grey, winter’s day, add to the feeling of a place lost in time and “away from it all”.

I still love the hills, but these flat, watery landscapes of the Somerset Levels do get under your skin.  It wasn’t love at first sight, but we got there in the end, and I feel so lucky to have all these amazing places so close to home.