East Mendips Castle & Ducks, 3 miles
The countryside south of Bath is yet another gorgeous bit of Somerset.
There’s money around — at least it gets enthusiastically redistributed into places like The Pig and Babington House. I felt underdressed just driving past.
Nunney has its own quiet charm. There’s a hint of France about it — not the baguette‑under‑the‑arm image, but something subtler.
The moated castle in the middle of the village helps. It looks like someone took the Bastille, shrank it in the wash, and plonked it down in Somerset.
The village houses, many of them several centuries old, have been restored with that enviable combination of sensitivity and expense that makes you mutter “must be nice inside” under your breath.
This circular walk is a gentle affair, following Nunney Brook for half its length before looping back along the field edges to the northeast. As you leave the village it offers little glimpses of the village’s medieval past.
The highlight of my last wander was a pair of hares boxing in the March sunshine. Naturally, they scarpered the moment I reached for my camera.
The Pub: The George Inn, Nunney
Last visit: March 2026
The inn stands directly opposite Nunney Castle—a 14th-century moated fortress that dominates the old village.
It sits on the other side of Nunney Brook to The George and makes a distinctive backdrop to the beer garden. You can sit with a drink looking across at a medieval ruin reflected in a moat. Surely few pubs have such a theatrical setting.
The George at Nunney must have been an old coaching Inn when it opened a few hundred years ago. You can imagine the horses, traps & carriages heading down Church Street, turning through its arch into what is now the pub car park.
I've never seen a pub sign straddling a street as it does here, like something out of a Western movie. This metal beam is one of the most striking and unusual features of The George.
Today it simply holds the pub sign—but in the 18th century, it served a far darker purpose.
According to local lore, this was the “hanging beam” used to dispatch the condemned after travelling judges held court inside the inn. The beam is real, listed, and part of the building’s official heritage.
Regardless of your criminal record, they still offer rooms today, at reasonable rates, and reasonably priced food too. There's a modern feel inside, although all the old features are there such as exposed stone walls, wooden floors, beamed ceilings and open fires. But it's almost entirely set up for diners rather than drinkers.
I liked it, and loved the village. The highlight was those hares!
Pub Information
| WEBSITE | https://www.thegeorgeinnnunney.com/ |
| ADDRESS | Church Street, Nunney, BA11 4LW |
| PHONE | 01373 836458 |
| WHAT3WORDS | ///cleansed.caravan.skillet |
| PARKING | Pub car park is Through the archway a little way along from the pub's front door. Street parking beyond the Church, and on the other side of Nunney Brook for the Castle. |
| LOCATION | Just West of Frome. Easy access from the A361 Frome to Shepton Mallet road. |
| HANDY FOR | East Mendip Way. The route follows a section of the Macmillan Way. |
The Walk: Quick View
There are multiple ways to consume the route described below.
- Either follow the online instructions, or download and print a copy of the route.
- If you have the OS Maps app, you can follow a saved route directly in the App.
- Or download the GPX file for use on your chosen GPS-based navigation application.
Walk Information
| START/FINISH | The George, Church Street, Nunney, BA11 4LW. 01373 836458 |
| PARKING | Pub car park is through the archway a little way along from the pub's front door. Street parking beyond the Church, and on the other side of Nunney Brook for the Castle. |
| GRID REFERNCE | ST 737 457 |
| WHAT3WORDS | ///cleansed.caravan.skillet |
| DISTANCE/TIME | 3 miles / 5 km; approx 1 1/4 hours |
| ASCENT | 200 feet / 60 metres |
| PATHS/TERRAIN | The route is mainly grassy & sticky/muddy after rain, initially following the course of Nunney Brook, where tree roots are exposed, then onto paths along field margins on the way back to the village. |
| DIFFICULTY | Easy |
| PUBLIC TRANSPORT | 162 service between Frome & Shepton Mallett calls at Nunney Monday to Friday. Runs every couple of hours. |
| TOILETS | The George |
| OTHER PUBS TO VISIT | The White Hart Inn, Trudoxhill; The Talbot Inn, Mells; Seymour Arms, Witham Friary is a historic gem. Plenty of options in Frome. |
Overview
This peaceful, 3-mile route takes in some of the highlights of the village of Nunney, including the Market Cross, Nunney Castle, and Nunney Brook where ducks frequent the sloping stone banks that once served as the washing location for the clothiers in the village.
I witnessed the remarkable sight of Hares boxing in the March sunshine on this walk, an absolute privilege.
It's a simple walk in two parts: the first half follows the bank of Nunney Brook, returning to the village via fields for the second half.
Directions
- Looking at The George, turn left down Church Street. You’ll soon pass the 13th Century All Saints Church, and a squadron of Mallards parked on the bank of Nunney Brook on the opposite side of the road. Study the Market Cross.
- Turn left signposted Donkey Lane and continue until this tarmac lane approaches Combe Farm. You’ll pick up a public footpath to the right-hand side, heading into a grassy area amongst trees.
- This leads to a path that follows Nunney Brook away from the village through its wooded valley. It’s been a dry few days as I walk this path and it’s still ‘sticky’ under foot. After heavy rain it would be very muddy, but I can see alternative paths created further away from the bank for such times.
- This path continues to its first crossing point over the Nunney Brook. Take this left hand turn over the little bridge and you’ll quickly spy a public footpath signposted to your right, now on the other side of the Brook. Take this path.
- Continue through this wooded valley. Eventually, the path takes you up a slope to an old stone bridge over the Brook. Follow this path over the bridge, then round to your right, uphill to some gates. You’re leaving the valley now and heading into fields to start the return journey to the village.
- You’ll see the footpath through a gate to your left. Follow the field boundary by the right-hand hedge/edge to the gate at the other end of this field #1.
- Through the gate into field #2 you cross to the left-hand hedge and continue a short way slightly uphill to a kissing gate through to the field #3.
- Bear right through this gate – the footpath is clearly visible – to the top of the field, then turning left to follow the hedge line across this field. You come to a boundary of multiple fields. You’re turning right in front of the tree stump in the picture, slightly downhill, following the hedge line of field #4.
- At the bottom of this field, cross a drainage ditch to bear right following a clearly marked path across the next field #5, now slightly uphill. Cross into field #6. Continue to the top end of this field.
- There are two gates here. You need the one on the left-hand side. Go straight on with the hedge on your right now, in penultimate field #7.
- Use a pair of kiss gates as you cross a farm driveway into field #8, the last field! You’ll soon see that the footpath enters a wooded passage between the fields.
- Follow this eventually turning right. Continue to the end of this section, exiting through a metal kiss gate to your right. This leads eventually back onto a tarmac drive to signal the arrival back in the village. Follow this Fulwell Lane as it rejoins Donkey Lane, then back onto Church Street.
- Finish the walk with a visit to Nunney Castle.
Notes
Somerset was a strategically important but bitterly divided county during the English Civil War, witnessing major battles, shifting allegiances, and heavy military occupation.
Nunney’s role centres on the 1645 siege of Nunney Castle, when Parliamentarian forces destroyed the Delamare stronghold as part of their campaign to break Royalist resistance in the West.
Somerset sat at a crossroads—geographically, politically, and emotionally.
Its towns and gentry were split between King and Parliament, and the county became a corridor for armies moving between the South West, Wales, and the Midlands.
Much of the Somerset gentry supported the Crown.
In fact, Somerset’s experience was one of fractured loyalties, scorched-earth tactics, and the destruction of many manor houses and small castles, Nunney among them.
Nunney was not a major military centre, but it was home to a fortified residence – Nunney Castle - that mattered symbolically and strategically.
- Built in the 1370s by Sir John de la Mare, Nunney Castle was a compact but sophisticated moated tower-house.
- By the 1640s it had been modernised and was in Royalist hands.
- Its design: French-influenced, symmetrical, and more elegant than martial—was not intended for heavy artillery warfare.
- In 1645, Parliamentarian forces besieged Nunney Castle as part of their sweep to eliminate remaining Royalist garrisons in Somerset.
- The castle was bombarded by artillery, which it was never designed to withstand. One wall was breached, forcing the garrison to surrender.
- This damage is still visible today: the missing section of the great tower is the direct result of the Civil War bombardment.
Why the Castle was Targeted:
- It sat on a route between Frome and the Royalist centres further west.
- It represented a pocket of Royalist resistance in a region Parliament was determined to pacify.
- Destroying it sent a message: no Royalist stronghold, however small, would be tolerated.
Aftermath:
- The castle was never repaired.
- It fell into picturesque ruin—its moat intact, its walls standing like a broken tooth in the centre of the village.
- Today it remains one of the most atmospheric Civil War scars in Somerset.
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.
Add comment
Comments