Description

Immediate dispatch from Somerset. Nice book in great condition. Signed copy. Pages in excellent condition. No notes or highlighting. See images. Fantastic book.

About the book >.>.> CASUAL visitors to the lovely Exmoor village of Simonsbath can be forgiven for assuming that the near perfect balance of luxuriant trees and fine pastures around it with the river and open moorland beyond was always so but in reality much of the beauty in the eye of the beholder has been wrought by the hand of man and that only within the last 175 years. The village lies at a height of about 1050 feet above sea level and is situated at the very heart of what was once the Royal Forest of Exmoor now the parish of Exmoor but more usually referred to as Exmoor Proper. Although Exmoor is by far the largest parish in Somerset it has to some extent lost its identity since the creation of the National Park of Exmoor in 1952 of which it is but a small though still a very significant part. By comparison with other moorland villages within the National Park Simonsbath is a modern village with only one house-built in 1654-predating the Inclosure of the Royal Forest in 1818 when after Parliament on behalf of the Crown sold the largest part of the Forest to John Knight-an ironmaster from Worcestershire-the foundations of the village we see today were laid down and trees planted around it for shelter and to enhance the beauty of this lonely ‘spot.