Somerset's Strawberry Line named Britain's favourite path

By Laura Linham 27th Aug 2026

Local News by Laura Linham 1 hour ago

Somerset's Strawberry Line has officially been crowned Britain's Favourite Path 2026, beating seven other routes from across England, Scotland and Wales in a nationwide public vote. The traffic-free route follows parts of the former railway through the Mendips, including sections around Wells and Shepton Mallet, before heading north towards the coast.

The win comes just weeks after the Strawberry Line was named as the South West finalist in the Ramblers competition. The search began during National Walking Month, with people invited to nominate paths they loved before a judging panel cut the entries down to eight for the final public vote.

For Somerset, it is recognition of a project that has taken decades rather than months to build. The Strawberry Line is a partnership involving volunteers, charities, community groups, councils, contractors, landowners and the Historic Railways Estate, with Somerset Council and the former Mendip District Council among those to have backed its development.

Councillor Ros Wyke, Somerset Council's Associate Lead Member for Active Travel and a long-standing supporter of the route, said: "I could not be prouder."

She said the Strawberry Line stood out because it remained a "live community project", supported by local authorities as well as hundreds of volunteers giving thousands of hours each year to develop, maintain and promote it.

More than 20 miles of the wider Strawberry Line project are already open, with sections running through and around Wells and Shepton Mallet as the route continues to grow. Somerset Council describes the project as a multi-user path through the Mendip Hills National Landscape and Cheddar Vale, following parts of the old Great Western Railway Cheddar Valley branch.

That railway heritage is where the path gets its name. The branch became known as the Strawberry Line because trains carried Cheddar's strawberries to markets around the country, while today its former trackbed is increasingly being put to rather different use by walkers, cyclists and mobility users.

The Strawberry Line also forms part of the wider Somerset Circle project, a planned network of mainly traffic-free routes. For Wells, existing sections include the route east towards Dulcote, while around Shepton Mallet stretches of the old railway are being brought back into use as part of the longer ambition to reconnect communities by safe off-road paths.

Cllr Wyke said the route was not simply somewhere to enjoy the countryside but an important everyday link for local residents.

She added: "The Strawberry Line represents a long term delivery of a vision held by many of us, a commitment by hundreds of volunteers over decades, overcoming numerous obstacles to create a path that is truly needed."

The winning nomination came from Amanda Jane Baldwin, who put forward a section near Winscombe. The Buttermere Circular Path in the Lake District finished second, while the Holy Island Causeway path in Northumberland took third place.

It is quite a journey for a railway line once best known for shifting strawberries. Nearly half a century after the first ideas for today's route began to take shape, the Strawberry Line can now add Britain's Favourite Path to the destination board.