Winscombe

Winscombe and Sandford is a civil parish in Somerset, England. It includes the villages of Winscombe and Sandford. The parish has a population of 4,546.

Sidcot School is a British co-educational private school for boarding and day pupils, associated with the Religious Society of Friends. It is one of seven Quaker schools in England. The school is based in the Mendip Hills near the village of Winscombe, Somerset and caters for children between the ages of 3 and 18. Children aged from 3 to 11 are educated in Sidcot Junior School, which is located on its own site adjacent to the main campus. About 130 of the school's 525 pupils (2010) are in this junior school. In the senior school, nearly half of the 395 pupils are boarders. Over 29 different countries are represented making up 25% of the school. Boarders board in the grounds in one of the 6 boarding houses. The girls' houses are Newcombe, School House Girls and Meadowside, and the boys' are School House Boys and Wing House. Although a Quaker School, pupils come from a variety of different faiths and cultures. All pupils are expected to join in with a short Meeting for Worship every Friday morning instead of assembly. Prior to September 2013, Sidcot school operated a 3 house system named after explorers: Nansen, Shackleton and Rhodes. A new House system was introduced at the beginning of the 2013 Autumn term. There are four houses in the revised house system named after the cardinal points of the compass: North, East, South and West, each house has a colour: Blue, Yellow, Green and Red respectively. The houses are mainly used for sports days and house matches of sport. One of the principal aims behind the new system is to allow greater interaction between students in the Senior and Junior Schools. The introduction of House Assemblies at points in the term facilitates students to work together within their Houses. All staff are aligned to a House and given the opportunity to participate in its life as well as support House events. In addition to its sports centre that houses a 25m pool and equestrian facilities, Sidcot has built a new creative arts block, with extensive drama, art and music facilities, which opened in June 2009. It is open to the public for exhibitions, courses and workshops. Many past pupils and teachers are members of the Sidcotians (Alumni Network).

Winscombe railway station was a station on the Bristol and Exeter Railway's Cheddar Valley line in Winscombe, Somerset. The station was opened as "Woodborough" with the broad gauge line to Cheddar on 3 August 1869 as a single-platform station, it was renamed to "Winscombe" on 1 December 1869. The railway was extended to Wells in 1870, converted to standard gauge in the mid-1870s and then linked up to the East Somerset Railway to provide through services from Yatton to Witham in 1878. All the railways involved were absorbed into the Great Western Railway in the 1870s. Winscombe was originally a small wooden building, unlike the substantial Bristol and Exeter design stone buildings provided for other stations on the line. This was replaced in 1905 with a standard GWR building with a large canopy. The station had "Somerset" added to its name from 12 January 1906.The station was host to a GWR camp coach from 1935 to 1939. A camping coach was also positioned here by the Western Region from 1952 to 1960.The Yatton to Witham line closed to passengers in September 1963 and Yatton-Cheddar closed to goods in October 1964. Winscombe station was demolished, but in recent years the platform has been reinstated with GWR seats and railings as a feature on the Cheddar Valley Railway Walk.

Sandford is a village between Churchill and Banwell on the A368 in North Somerset, England. The Parish of Winscombe and Sandford, centred on the Parish Church of Saint James, includes the villages of Barton, Oakridge, Sandford, Sidcot and Woodborough. The Sandford Parish Church of All Saints was built in 1883–85 by Hans Price, and is a Grade II listed building. It was constructed as a Chappel of ease to St James the Great in Winscombe It is believed the name Sandford means 'The sand ford' from the Old English sand and ford.Sandford is home to one of the region's main cider producers, Thatchers Cider. Sandford once had its own railway station on the Cheddar Valley line, which ran from Yatton to Wells. The now-disused station is a Grade II listed building. It is the subject of some controversy in the village as developers submit plans for its redevelopment. The Railway Inn is the only public house in Sandford.

Shute Shelve Cavern is a natural cave system located in Shute Shelve Hill, Somerset, England, above Axbridge in the Mendip Hills not far from Cheddar. The phreatic cave contains fossils of speleothems over 350,000 years old.It was mined for its yellow ochre which was used as a dye in paint making, until the 1920s, which gave it its alternative name of Axbridge Ochre Mine. Access is controlled by the Axbridge Caving Group via a locked gate and completely closed during the bats' roosting season. Chamber 1 has taped areas shows scallops to the right and miners supports and a large geode up to the left. Chamber 2 is a large rift with taped off areas for conservation. Further areas are known as Box Tunnel and Elm Street. Carcass Cave dig is virtually feet away which used a monorail system, ladders and platforms.

All Saints Church is a Church of England church in Sandford, Somerset, England. Designed by Hans Price and William Wooler, it was built in 1883–84 and has been a Grade II listed building since 1983. Today the church is in a local ecumenical partnership with Sandford Methodist Church.

Axbridge Hill and Fry's Hill (grid reference ST433555) is a 64.8-hectare (160-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in the Mendip Hills, Somerset, notified in 1990. The hills are above the town of Axbridge, immediately to the east of Shute Shelve Hill. This is a nationally important botanical site, for both vascular and non-vascular plants, situated on the southern escarpment of the Mendip Hills. It also contains a roosting site for two nationally rare species of bat and a wide range of butterfly species. The very thin soils here support populations of one nationally rare species, Cheddar bedstraw (Galium fleurotii) and four nationally scarce species, pale St John's wort (Hypericum montanum), sea storksbill (Erodium maritimum), dwarf mouse-ear (Cerastium pumilum) and spring cinquefoil (Potentilla tabernaemontani). There is a roosting site for greater horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus ferrumequinum) and lesser horseshoe bat R. hipposideros, both of which are nationally rare. Dormice (Muscardinus avellanarius) are found in the woodland. Twenty-five species of butterfly have been recorded and these include: brown argus (Aricia agestis), green hairstreak (Callophrys rubi), dark green fritillary (Argynnis aglaja) and marbled white (Melanargia galathea).

Thatchers Cider is a family-owned cider maker in Sandford, North Somerset, England.

Sandford and Banwell railway station was a station on the Bristol and Exeter Railway's Cheddar Valley line in Sandford, Somerset, England. The station is a Grade II listed building.The station can be viewed from the Strawberry Line Trail, which runs adjacent to the site.

Banwell Camp is a univallate Iron Age hill fort in the North Somerset district of Somerset, England. The hill fort is situated approximately 1.6 miles (2.6 km) east from the Village of Banwell. Some artefacts found on the site dates back to the Bronze Age and the Stone Age. In places it is surrounded by a 4 metres (13 ft) high bank and ditch.In the late 1950s it was excavated by J.W. Hunt of the Banwell Society of Archaeology.

Max Bog is a 10.6 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in North Somerset, notified in 1988. The site is owned by North Somerset Council and managed by the Avon Wildlife Trust for the range of wetland plants that it supports. There is no access without a permit.

Axbridge railway station was a station on the Bristol and Exeter Railway's Cheddar Valley line in Axbridge, Somerset. Axbridge was one of the principal stations for the transport of strawberries, which led to the line's alternative name as The Strawberry Line. The station was opened with the broad gauge line to Cheddar in August 1869 as a two-platform station. The railway was extended to Wells in 1870, converted to standard gauge in the mid-1870s and then linked up to the East Somerset Railway to provide through services from Yatton to Witham in 1878. All the railways involved were absorbed into the Great Western Railway in the 1870s. This in turn was nationalised into the Western Region of British Railways on 1 January 1948.