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Velvet Bottom Nature Reserve – Beacon Batch summit trig point loop from Aveline's Hole

Routes

Hiking trails & Routes

Velvet Bottom Nature Reserve – Beacon Batch summit trig point loop from Aveline's Hole

Moderate

5.0

(2)

hikers

Velvet Bottom Nature Reserve – Beacon Batch summit trig point loop from Aveline's Hole

04:48

17.0km

360m

Hiking

Moderate hike. Good fitness required. Easily-accessible paths. Suitable for all skill levels. The starting point of the route is accessible with public transport.

Last updated: April 4, 2026

Tips

Your route passes through a protected area

Please check local regulations for:

Mendip Hills National Landscape

Waypoints

Start point

Bus stop

Get Directions

1.11 km

Burrington Ham Trail

Highlight • Trail

The maze of footpaths across Burrington Ham are great to explore. The mix of short limestone grassland, scrub and Bracon create an interesting habitat rich in birds, animals and plants.

Tip by

1.93 km

Burrington Ham, a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), is part of the largest area of common land in the AONB. As well as specialised limestone grassland and wildflowers, Burrington Ham features dramatic rocky outcrops with panoramic views of Blagdon Lake, Black Down and the Bristol Channel. You will often find cattle freely roaming around this site so please take extra care with dogs on leads.

Tip by

6.60 km

Velvet Bottom Nature Reserve

Highlight • Natural

Velvet Bottom is part of the wider Cheddar Complex Sites of Special Scientific Interest which is a network of nature reserves on the Mendip Hills. Each reserve has its own unique character and wildlife. All of the nature reserves are Sites of Special Scientific Interest, which provide protection to the plants and animals found there.

This nature reserve lies on the floor of a dry river valley and is long and narrow in shape. Most of the reserve can be seen from the main path. The 42-acre (17 ha) reserve is mostly rough grassland with small areas of woodland and scrub. The reserve has a long history of lead mining and there is still much evidence to be found of the site’s industrial heritage. Velvet Bottom has been managed by Somerset Wildlife Trust since 1975 and was purchased from the former owners, Bristol Water, in 1998.

Please clean up after your dog on sites on the Mendip Hills AONB to help protect the wildlife and stop grasslands becoming polluted.

Tip by

7.40 km

Velvet Bottom Nature Reserve

Nature Reserve

9.06 km

Long Wood

Forest

12.0 km

View Over the Severn Estuary

Highlight • Viewpoint

13.0 km

WWII bombing decoy complex

Archaeological Site

13.5 km

Beacon Batch summit trig point

Highlight • Viewpoint

This special site is designated as a Site of Special Scientific interest for its valuable wildlife habitats and is a nationally important site for its archaeology from the late Stone Age and Bronze Age through to the Second World War. Black Down provides the largest area of open access on the Mendip
Hills at over 400 ha.

Black Down, like most heathlands, is formed through a combination of factors– soil type, rainfall and human activity. The underlying Old Red Sandstone rock together with high rainfall created a waterlogged and acidic soil. The removal of tree cover by our Bronze Age ancestors 2,000 years ago helped to make sure that the soil stayed damp and acid. Only certain plants can survive in this type of ground. The key species include heather or ling, bell heather, bilberry, purple moor grass and European gorse, along with mosses and lichens.

Now the bracken is managed by harvesting and grazing by cattle and wild ponies to allow the heathers and grasses to flourish again. Black Down supports a wide variety of birds, mammals, reptiles and invertebrates.

Tip by

13.8 km

View of Black Down

Highlight • Viewpoint

16.1 km

Goatchurch Cavern

Highlight • Natural Monument

This popular cavern is set into limestone rock and is particularly beginner friendly. You can find some hand railings inside to help you, dating back from the early 20th century when it was being (unsuccessfully) turned into a show cave like the other Mendip caves of Wookey and Cheddar.

Goatchurch is a popular cave for beginners and school trips thanks to its general ease and its two entrances. Access is free, however, caving can be dangerous and you shouldn't attempt it without a capable guide if you're new to caving. This cave is considered relatively straightforward but still has technical areas, tight squeezes and shouldn't be undertaken lightly.

Tip by

16.8 km

Burrington Combe

Highlight • Gorge

Burrington Combe is one of the finest places in Mendip Hills to see one of it's most identifying special qualities - Visible Geology. Did you know the Mendip Hills are the birth place of geological mapping? In the early 1800's William Smith worked as a surveyor for the Somersetshire Coal Company, he realised that by studying fossils and the rock layers they were in he could predict other rock layers as they were laid down in a pattern.

Burrington Combe is a designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest for the
wildlife habitats. Today goats are on the steep slopes, with ponies and cattle roaming across the grasslands controlling the scrub. It is quite common to see the cows roaming in the combe.

Tip by

17.0 km

End point

Bus stop

Way Types & Surfaces

Way Types

8.13 km

4.14 km

3.14 km

1.52 km

Surfaces

4.21 km

4.20 km

4.17 km

4.16 km

113 m

< 100 m

Elevation

Nothing selected – click and drag below to see the stats for a specific part of the route.

Weather

Wednesday 8 July

31°C

15°C

0 %

Additional weather tips

Max wind speed: 12.0 km/h

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Velvet Bottom Nature Reserve – Beacon Batch summit trig point loop from Aveline's Hole

Burrington Ham Trail

Burrington Ham Viewpoint

Velvet Bottom Nature Reserve

View Over the Severn Estuary

Beacon Batch summit trig point

View of Black Down

Goatchurch Cavern

Burrington Combe

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