The key characteristics of the Somerset Levels and Moors/Mid Somerset Hills are . . .

142/143. Somerset Levels and Moors/Mid Somerset Hills

The key characteristics of the Somerset Levels and Moors/Mid Somerset Hills are:

• Flat, open landscape of wet pasture, arable and wetland divided up by wet ditches or 'rhynes'. 

• Absence of dispersed farmsteads or any buildings on levels and moors. Nucleated settlements on ridges/islands.

• Surrounded, and divided up, by low hills, ridges and islands which form distinctive skylines.

• Peat working and nature reserves contrasting with the rectilinear planned landscape of the Moors.

• Dramatic and prominent hills such as Brent Knoll, the Isle of Avalon and Barrow Mump, rising above the Levels and Moors.

• Sparse tree cover on Levels and Moors contrasting with woodland, hedges and orchards of surrounding hills.

• Sparsely populated Moors but settlements common on hills, ridges and islands.

• Historic landscape strongly evident in features ranging from prehistoric trackways and lake villages to post-medieval enclosures and peat working.

• International nature-conservation significance for wetland, waders and waterfowl.

• Narrow dune belt fringing Bridgwater Bay.

• Raised rivers and lev'es, with main roads and causeways flanked by houses. Flooding in winter over large areas.

For further details on this character area and for an introduction to the region, please see the PDF documents in the box at the top right hand side of this page.