On 4 March 2022, the Lord Lieutenant of Somerset, Annie Maw, opened the Dulcote LInk. This new section of the Strawberry Line links the route out of Wells to Dulcote Quarry. The route is ideal for leisure and commuting – it offers spectacular views of Wells Cathedral, and provides a commuter link between Wells and Charlie Bigham’s Quarry Kitchen.
See more photos of the opening day here.
The route was designed and the construction supervised by John Grimshaw, Greenways and Cycleroutes engineer, and built by local firm MP and KM Golding Limited, with the support of officers and members of Mendip District Council, who provided the funding. The new route was the dream of a group of local volunteers, who made it possible by an impressive combination of dogged determination and sheer hard work. Without them, it would not exist. The Leader of Mendip Council presented the volunteers with tools to mark Mendip’s gratitude and enable them to keep up the hard work. A hornbeam tree was planted beside the route by John Grimshaw and Richard Jones, leader of the volunteers. The tree was one of fifty being planted to mark fifty years of the Mendip Area of Outstanding National Beauty – and was grown in the AONB.
The existing route from Wells to the start of the new route has been refurbished using section 106 funding associated with the Dulcote Quarry, and Charlie Bigham welcomed attendees to warming soup at the Quarry Kitchen after the opening.
Greenways continues to work with Mendip Council and many, many volunteers on further extensions to the Strawberry Line between Cheddar and Wells and between Wells and Shepton Mallet, as well as on the route around Shepton Mallet as part of the planned Somerset Circle.
Greenways and Cycleroutes 