Accommodation and restaurants – and cider – are covered, too: as Longley himself says, he often spends weekends ‘roaming the Somerset countryside in search of exciting and/or novel things to do – or at the very least, hunting down good food and drink.’

Divided into seven easy-to-explore geographical regions, from Bath and north Somerset through Wells and the Mendips to Exmoor National Park and International Dark Sky Reserve, this is an indispensable companion for everyone from culture devotees to outdoor adventurers, birders to beach lovers, transport enthusiasts to event-goers, families to foodies.

The Somerset Levels are covered, and so too are Quantock and Blackdown Hills, the coast, and east and south Somerset.

Somerset is consistently seductive: windswept marshes and wild moorland, enchanting upland areas, iron-flat lowland terrain, limestone gorges, and a forty-mile long stretch of coast with rocky coves, fossil-filled cliffs and a tiny offshore island.

And, of course, there’s the UNESCO World Heritage city of Bath, with its beautifully preserved Roman baths, graceful Georgian architecture and enticing gastronomic possibilities.

Bradt’s Somerset covers all this and more, from the Glastonbury Festival to the American Museum and Gardens, carnivals to quirky local customs, the longest heritage railway in Britain to England’s first designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and a good dash of legend and myth too, from King Arthur at Avalon and Camelot, to the country’s third largest complex of standing stones at Stanton Drew.

1 BATH & AROUND
Getting there & around, Bath, South of Bath

2 WELLS & THE MENDIPS
Getting there & around, Wells & around, The Mendips & surrounding area

3 GLASTONBURY & THE SOMERSET LEVELS
Getting there & around, Glastonbury, The Somerset Levels

4 FROM THE QUANTOCKS TO THE BLACKDOWN HILLS
Getting there & around, The Quantock Hills, Bridgwater & around, Taunton & around, The Blackdown Hills

5 THE COAST
Getting there & around, From Clevedon to Bridgwater Bay, From Cleeve Abbey to Minehead

6 SOUTH SOMERSET
Getting there & around, Bruton to Cadbury Castle, Somerton & around, Yeovil & around, From East Lambrook to Ilminster

7 EXMOOR national park
Getting there & around, Coastal Exmoor, Inland Exmoor