Edford Woods and Meadows

Cook's Wood Quarry also known as Holcombe Quarry (grid reference ST669479) is a 0.8-hectare (2.0-acre) geological Site of Special Scientific Interest near Stoke St Michael on the Mendip Hills in Somerset, notified in 1988. This is a Geological Conservation Review Site. This site partially overlaps with St. Dunstan's Well Catchment SSSI. The main exposures are cut in very steeply-dipping Carboniferous Limestone. This was the original locality for the type section of the proposed ‘Cookswoodian Stage’. 9 species of Bat, Dormice and four species of Newts including the rare Great Crested Newt reside in Cooks Wood Quarry.Planning permission for the disused quarry has been granted to turn it into a holiday retreat.

St. Dunstan's Well Catchment (grid reference ST668475) is a Site of Special Scientific Interest, covering 39.8 hectares (98.3 acres) near Stoke St Michael in the Mendip Hills, Somerset, England. The site was notified in 1967. It is of both geological and biological significance. Formerly known as Stoke St Michael Slocker, it contains nine SSSI units consisting of rock and calcareous grassland.

Stoke Lane Slocker (grid reference ST66874745) is a cave near Stoke St Michael, in the Carboniferous Limestone of the Mendip Hills, in the English county of Somerset. It is 2.18 km in length and reaches a depth of 30m.It was previously known as Stoke Lane Swallet, but now the local name is preferred. The origin of the word "Slocker" is obscure, possibly from "slock" meaning to entice or lure away although the Gaelic word for swallow hole is "sluighaire".

W/L Cave is part of the Fairy Cave Quarry group of caves between Stoke St Michael and Oakhill in the limestone of the Mendip Hills, in Somerset, England. It is named after the initials of its discoverers, Bob Whitaker and Jerry Lavis, was first entered in the summer of 1967. It was the first significant cave to be discovered after the destruction of Balch Cave in the same (Fairy Cave) quarry. Although short it was extremely well decorated with calcite formations and ended in a large chamber with a magnificent side grotto dubbed Pink Pool Chamber. It is almost certainly part of the Balch Cave system and is the link between Balch Cave and the other systems in Fairy Cave Quarry namely Shatter Cave and Withyhill Cave. The link was proved by a digging project conducted by Pete Rose and Nick Chipchase of the Cerberus Spelaeological Society, the HQ of which club used to lie adjacent to the quarry in cottages owned by the quarry company. Pink Pool Chamber is linked to the first chamber in Shatter Cave by a narrow passage opened by blasting by the above named cavers.

The Anglican Church of St Michael in Stoke St Michael, Somerset, England was built around 1400. It is a Grade II* listed building.

Fairy Cave Quarry (grid reference ST65734753) is between Stoke St Michael and Oakhill in the limestone of the Mendip Hills, in Somerset, England. Quarrying was first started on the site in the early 1920s. In 1963 the quarry was acquired by Hobbs (Quarries) Ltd., and production on a much larger scale began. Excavations cut back into the hillside above St Dunstan's Well Rising, a Bristol Water abstraction point (long since abandoned); various caves were intercepted. The quarry ceased production in 1977.The caves in Fairy Cave Quarry include: Balch Cave Conning Tower Cave Fairy Cave Fernhill Cave Hillier's Cave Hillwithy Cave Shatter Cave W/L Cave Withyhill CaveThe caves in the quarry were formed by water from an unknown source. Withybrook Slocker is an active swallet to the south of the quarry and although the water sinking here presently flows through the quarry caves the stream is misfit. Withybrook Slocker, however, gives access to the upstream continuation of the quarry caves and digging activities by the Cerberus Spelaeological Society will hopefully lead to the discovery of the original source of the system. The quarry has also been used extensively for climbing, with 172 named routes. Although this was previously without permission of the landowners, in July 2010 access for climbers was agreed.

Shatter Cave is a cave in Fairy Cave Quarry, near Stoke St Michael in the limestone of the Mendip Hills, in Somerset, England. It falls within the St. Dunstan's Well Catchment Site of Special Scientific Interest.The name commemorates the damage, done by blasting in the quarry, to some of the decoration within the cave.

Balch Cave (grid reference ST65734753) is a cave in Fairy Cave Quarry, near Stoke St Michael in the limestone of the Mendip Hills, in Somerset, England. The cave is part of the complex of passages feeding to St. Dunstan's Well Catchment Site of Special Scientific Interest and an abandoned Bristol Water abstraction point. It is named in honour of Herbert E. Balch who was famous for his exploration of the Caves of the Mendip Hills.The cave was broken into by quarry blasting in November 1961. Much of the cave has since been quarried away and by the end of the 1960s, major sections were destroyed.An exploration in December 1961 found a series of decorated rifts, mainly of sparkling flowstone, with a grotto fillet with pure white stalactites and pillars and a set of "organ pipes" about 10 feet (3 m) wide and 15 feet (5 m) high.A further visit in January 1962 explored the fourth chamber which is richly ornamented with white and cream flowstone, several narrow curtains, and miscellaneous white stalactites, and the fifth and sixth chambers with multiple Stalagmite formations.In the subsequent years continued blasting from the quarry breached the central chambers of the cave destroying some 425 feet (130 m) of passages, with rockfalls destroying many of the remaining formations, and rendering other sections of the cave inaccessible. Stabilisation work at the end of the quarry's life resulted in the destruction of a further 300 feet (91 m) of passage, including the original entrance series and Great Chamber.The Fairy Caves Management Committee administers the access to this cave on behalf of the quarry owners. The cave is closed from 1 October to 30 April to protect the hibernating bats.

Hillier's Cave (grid reference ST65734753) is a cave in Fairy Cave Quarry, near Stoke St Michael in the limestone of the Mendip Hills, in Somerset, England.It falls within the St. Dunstan's Well Catchment Site of Special Scientific Interest. The cave was discovered on 13 February 1954, when blasting at one of the working faces opened up a cave passage, and is now choked with sludge waste from the quarry. It was first explored by John Anthony Quinn and boys from Midsomer Norton Grammar School (now Norton Hill School) who named it in honour of Gordon Hillier who was headmaster of the school from 1926 to 1958.The Fairy Caves Management Committee administers the access to this cave on behalf of the quarry owners.

Stoke St Michael is a village and civil parish on the Mendip Hills 4 miles (6.4 km) north east of Shepton Mallet, and 8 miles (12.9 km) west of Frome, in the Mendip district of Somerset, England.

Holcombe is a small village and civil parish (population 936) in the Mendip local government district of Somerset, England. The parish contains the hamlets of Barlake and Edford. It is within easy commuting distance of both Bristol and Bath.

The Church of St. Andrew close to Downside Abbey in Holcombe, Somerset, England has late Saxon-early Norman origins and was rebuilt in the 16th century. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building, and is a redundant church in the care of the Churches Conservation Trust. It was vested in the Trust on 1 August 1987.The old church on the site was consecrated by Archbishop Wrotard of York in 928.The church has a two-stage tower and two-bay nave.The interior includes late Georgian box pews and a Jacobean pulpit. In the graveyard is a memorial to the family of Robert Falcon Scott whose father managed the brewery in the village. There is also a yew tree that is thought to be about 1500 years old.The original medieval village was buried at the time of the plague and St Andrews is surrounded by the mounds that bear testimony to this burial. It is suggested that the rhyme 'Ring a Ring o' Roses' began there as a result. An alternative explanation relates to the drowning of five children from the village in an icy pond in 1899.The parish is part of the benefice of Coleford with Holcombe within the Midsomer Norton deanery.