Staple Fitzpaine, Taunton, Somerset
Drive over the Blackdown Hills on what the locals call ‘the back road to Taunton’ and you’ll go through the quiet village of Staple Fitzpaine. Even when you slow down to sensible speeds it still appears much like any other village you drive through – a cluster of old cottages, a manor house and church, and a pub, The Greyhound Inn, which is well worth stopping at for a pint of the local brew or for very good pub food.
Just up the road is the perfect place to stretch your legs – the Staple Fitzpaine Herepath; waymarked off road trails you can actually cycle, walk or ride horses on, and the most astounding panoramic views over the Somerset countryside. Walk, pub, it all makes sense.
What we love about our neck of the woods is the folklore, the old stories that are still passed down from generation to generation. At Staple Fitzpaine legend has it that the huge sandstone boulders at the crossroads came to be there because Old Nick, sitting up on the hill at Castle Neroche, threw them at the church – but he missed, and there they stand, unmoved and solemn. ‘Tis said that if you prick them with a pin they bleed.
All information correct at the time of writing