A lengthy stretch of Somerset's "forgotten railway" has reopened to the public as a stunning walking and cycling route, connecting Shepton Mallet to the neighbouring villages.

The Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway ran both passenger and freight services between Bath and Bournemouth via Shepton Mallet for more than 100 years, with a branch line providing services out to Glastonbury and on to Highbridge and Burnham-on-Sea.

Nicknamed variously the 'Slow and Dirty' (due to its smoky locomotives), the 'Slow and Doubtful' (due to its often unreliable services) or the 'Serene and Delightful' (due to its picturesque nature), the line was a casualty of the infamous Beeching cuts of the mid-1960s which saw Somerset lose huge swathes of its railway stations and services.

In recent years, Greenways and Cycle Routes has been working with local councils, contractors and volunteers to deliver the Windsor Hill Greenway, reopening a large section of the former trackbed to pedestrians and cyclists as part of the wider 'Somerset Circle' initiative.

The initial section of the greenway begins near the A37 Whitstone Hall on the eastern edge of Shepton Mallet, following the trackbed on top of the existing Bath Road and Ham Wood viadicts and passing through the majestic Windsor Hill tunnel.

Following an intensive work camp in September, the newest extension to the greenway has now been opened, taking the route as far as Thrupe Lane – making it much easier to travel on to Chilcompton, Midsomer Norton and Radstock.

A ceremony to open the route was held at the Ham Wood viaduct on October 17, attended by dozens of local volunteers and representatives from Somerset Council, local landowners the Dinder Estate, Greenway and Cycle Routes, and contractors MP & KM Golding Ltd. (which are based in Rodney Stoke, near Cheddar).

Christopher Somerville, representing the Dinder Estate, composed a poem entirely in iambic pentameter to commemorate the opening the route – which was subsequently published on Greenways and Cycle Routes' official website.

The poem reads as follows:

Ladies and gents, some 60 years have passed 

Since this forgotten railway breathed its last;

The Somerset & Dorset's rural route,

Where ancient engines puffed and belched out soot, 

And slowly climbed the trackbed's gentle bank 

To Maesbury, with many a wheeze and clank.

In summer droughts, the grass, as dry as tinder, 

Would catch ablaze with every fiery cinder.

In winter, when the Mendip blizzards blow, 

Whole trains were buried deep beneath the snow.

This railway holds a thousand stirring stories, 

But time takes no account of former glories.

The Beeching Axe chopped all such tales away 

And left our line to silence and decay.

The railway died; the birds and bees came back;

Wild flowers and creatures colonised the track.

But all the while, as nature's stronghold grew, 

Walkers and cyclists dreamed of passing through.

This great achievement sprang from mixed-up seeds;

The project had to meet the farmer's needs.

Plans bit the dust, and tempers nearly blew;

A lot of folk have had to think anew.

At times it seemed we'd never see this day;

But here we are at last – Hip-hip-hooray!

Sean Cowling and John Grimshaw, you've been wise.

With flexibility and compromise

You've forged a way for all to co-exist – 

Cyclist and walker, farmer and naturalist.

For everything you've done, great thanks to you, 

And here's to all who made this dream come true!

Councillor Ros Wyke (who represents the neighbouring Mendip West division on Somerset Council) gave a literal stump speech to mark the occasion, standing on a tree stump near the viaduct to address the crowds.

She said: "Rural paths are something we all believe in – and I'm delighted that we actually have someone here from the Department for Transport who can actually see in the flesh how even a path 'in the middle of nowhere' is actually really being supported.

The Windsor Hill Greenway, Looking Towards Shepton Mallet. CREDIT

"This is a really important section of the Somerset Circle. This continuous route of 76 miles is rapidly becoming a reality – already 50 miles of it have been completed and people are using it.

"The Camel Trail [in Cornwall] and the Tarka Trail [in north Devon] show the impact these routes can have on the rural economy, to say nothing of what it means for the local people.

"This section will move us towards Chilcompton – the gaps are being closed."

When completed, the Somerset Circle will form a 76-mile traffic-free circuit linking Bristol, Bath, the Mendip Hills and the Somerset Levels – including the entirety of the Strawberry Line, which will eventually run uninterrupted between Yatton and Shepton Mallet.

Ms Wyke, who served as the final leader of Mendip District Council before its abolition in April 2023, urged the government to provide additional funding for active travel in rural areas.

She said: "As we all know, there is no money from Active Travel England for non-urban activity – so we have to be really ingenious and self-sufficient.

"We rely on landowners' generosity and vision to enable us to have these permissive paths – the Dinder Estate has been very helpful.

"I'm really impressed by the skills and enthusiasm of our volunteers, and their willingness to travel to other parts of Somerset – I've seen people from Shepton Mallet working on the new bridge in Cheddar, for instance.

"We also need political leadership, to ensure funding and support for these schemes. Even with considerable volunteer labour and ingenious engineering solutions, these paths do still cost money.

"49 per cent of Somerset's population live outside of the main urban areas, and we need to recognise and respect their needs."

Greenways and Cycle Routes is currently working with local landowners to complete the link to the A37 (which forms part of the East Mendip Way long-distance footpath), with aspirations to run the route over the nearby Charlton Viaduct down to the A361 Charlton Road.

Founder John Grimshaw said that he was eager to begin work on a small section of path which would provide access to the Windsor Hill greenway near the town's burial ground.

He said: "We are hoping to build a path down to the cemetery to give a link to the town centre.

"We agreed a price with the Duchy of Cornwall in January, but they still haven't let us start work – so if any of you know Prince William, can you please ring him up and ask him to get going on that?

"We're also looking to signpost minor roads to Chilcompton, and in the spring we'll be organising a ride around the whole of the Somerset Circle as it stands at the moment."

Somerset Council recently accepted just over £2m from Active Travel England for work to be delivered over the next 18 months – of which just over £1.6m will go on capital projects (e.g. delivering new routes) and more than £473,000 will be revenue spending (e.g. on maintenance of existing paths).

Officers have indicated that it would be spending some of the revenue grant on "maintenance improvements in Chard", while the capital fund will be directed towards "the detailed design and construction of improvements in Glastonbury, Highbridge and Burnham-on-Sea, Yeovil and Wells."

The council's executive committee is expected to make a separate decision in the coming months on "grant funding to support the Strawberry Line and Somerset Circle cycle routes", according to its forward plan.