New path makes hill walking safer

The new path will take hill walkers off the busy A39

A new footpath has opened on the Quantock Hills in Somerset, providing a safer off-road route for walkers.

It runs above West Quantoxhead and drops down from the hills to the A39 at High Bridge.

Three local landowners have agreed to give up their land to allow the path to be created.

County council spokeswoman Sarah Littler said: "The A39 is a busy and dangerous road and this is obviously a much safer route for walkers to use."

The footpath is part of a network which the council aims to join together eventually, to form a new long distance walking route linking the Quantocks Greenway and Coleridge Way with Williton and Watchet.