We had quite a lot of press coverage of the festival. A report and some pictures are shown below

This year’s Festival of Walks organised by Mendip Group of the Ramblers’ Association was another phenomenal success. Centred on the parish of Westbury-sub-Mendip, between Wells and Cheddar, there was a record turnout of over 100 people. For the third consecutive year, the members arranged three days of walks to celebrate re-opening a series of public paths. Weather over the August Bank Holiday Weekend was good for rambling and a total of ten walks was laid on with a choice of distances between 5 and ten miles in length. Walkers came from Frome, Shepton Mallet, Wells Burnham and further afield to enjoy the countryside of the Somerset levels and the Mendip hills.

Over the last twelve months volunteers from the Mendip Group of the Ramblers Association have completed installation of 30 stiles, 66 finger posts, a kissing gate, board walk and a stone stile in and around the Westbury sub Mendip, Priddy and Cheddar area. Materials were provided by the district council with volunteers from the Ramblers’ Association doing the physical work. Three walks of various lengths were available for each of the three days of the Festival. Bob Berry, the Footpath Work Officer co-ordinated the work and arranged with the landowners and local authority which sites needed stiles and waymarks. He said, “ We have had excellent co-operation from the local farmers who are glad to see the network of public footpaths back in a usable condition.

The whole project could not have been completed without the support of the Rights of Way department at Mendip District Council” Publicity Officer Derek Baker commented, “the popularity of this year’s Festival of Walks showed how important it is for walkers to help with the re-opening of our blocked or impassable footpaths. People came from far and near to enjoy a country ramble along paths, many of which were unusable last year.

Our volunteers are going to take a break for a couple of weeks then re-start building stiles and bridges in another part of the Mendip district. We will be delighted to welcome more volunteers who have a few hours to spend on a Tuesday. Please contact for 01749 346023 for further information.”

We have been working on footpaths in our area for the past three years, organised and co-ordinated throughout by Bob Berry. His work and that of the work party group in general, has been recognised by the Ramblers' Association with a Footpath Work award.

Photographs of recent work parties are on our website.

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