Fair Skies & Fowl on the Levels, 6 miles

Directions

1. To the right of The Sexeys Arms front door a path helps you into the village. It's a few strides beyond the front door - you'll soon see a left hand turn, a path onto a residential lane into the village.
2. As you emerge onto Church Road, you'll see Holy Trinity Church to your left. This strange looking church was opened as a 'chapel of ease' to take pressure off the fast growing congregation in Wedmore. It didn't have an organ initially, only a harmonium!
3. Turn right to walk through the village 'High Street'. Continue around the S bend, and onward until a right hand junction. There's a house with a semi-circular roof on the corner.
4. Take this right hand turn and eventually pass the Vets on your right, before coming up to the junction with the main road, the B3139. The Sexeys School is across the road. Take the lane across the road (Wells Way), past the school car park.
5. You'll soon pick up a footpath to the right, walking between hedges hedge. Follow this, so the school playing fields are over to your right. Follow this well marked footpath until it reaches a 90 degree left turn onto a track. You'll see a house at the end, and the road - Hozzard Lane.
6. Turn right on this lane, and follow it to its end. At the junction, turn left onto Keyton Hill. Eventually you'll reach a staggered junction. Cross over onto Castle Lane. It's tarmac initially, then becomes a track, and looks like you're going into someone's private driveway. It's actually a public right of way.
7. Pass in front of the house straight on. The hedge into the field is on your right. This is still Castle Lane, and on a footpath now through the garden of the house! (I felt a little uncomfortable doing this so navigated into the field and rejoined the path by vaulting a gate further up, past the house).
8. You rejoin Wells Way at the end of this lane. Tur right, and after 100m, just before the entrance to Sand Hall, follow the footpath sign to he right down a driveway. This finally leads you down onto the Moor.
9. Continue downhill. You're now on The Somerset Levels! The stony farm track starts to become less stony, but still a well marked track. It gets pretty wet along here, so you'll find your self walking on the margins of the path.
10. When you reach one of the first waterways - rhynes - take the path alongside it to your right. These paths/tracks are known as 'droves', and you're now following one called Allermoor Drove.
11. This is the half way point for the walk. You're going to follow this drove track along the rhyne for 1.5 miles! But this is where patience kicks in. Take your time and who knows what you might see.
12. You'll eventually reach a tarmac road - dry land! You'll see that it takes you back, to your right, in the direction of civilisation, and slightly uphill, off the Levels. The community of houses you can see is called West Ham!
13. At West Ham, continue ahead on the lane for another 0.5 miles. You'll see a house on your right, as you approach the main road back into Blackford. There's a public footpath across the fields before this house, a better option than following the main road, which doesn't have a pavement.
14. You'll see the kiss gate into woodland at the other side of the field. Once you reach that gate, it's just a very short finish, emerging from the path opposite The Sexeys Arms!

Notes - The Hugh Sexey Legacy

• An Early Trust Fund (1600s‑style)
Hugh Sexey left his estate in the hands of local trustees — effectively creating one of Somerset’s earliest charitable trusts. The income was used to support education and welfare long before the state existed.

• Sexey’s School, Blackford
Endowed through his estate to educate local children. A direct line from his philanthropy to the village today.

• Sexey’s School, Bruton
Grew from the same charitable endowment. Still a major educational institution carrying his name.

• Sexey’s Hospital, Bruton (1630)
Almshouses founded using his funds, providing care for the elderly poor. Remarkably, they’re still operating four centuries later.

• The Sexey Trust
The charitable foundation created from his estate continues to support education and welfare across Somerset — a living legacy of a man who rose from these fields to the financial heart of England

The best pub walks are meant to be shared.

If you’ve followed this route, found a better path, got lost, uncovered a standout pint somewhere else, or simply have a story to tell, I’d be delighted to hear from you.

This site is as much about shared discoveries as it is about the walks themselves.