The Mendip Hills (commonly called The Mendips) are a range of limestone hills situated to the south of Bristol and Bath in Somerset, England, United Kingdom. Running east to west between Weston-super-Mare and Frome, the hills overlook the Somerset Levels to the south and the Avon valley to the north. The hills give their name to the local government district of Mendip, which covers most of the area.

The hills are largely carboniferous limestone, which is quarried at several sites. The higher western part of the Hills have been designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), with an area of 200 km² (80 sq mi), which gives it the same level of protection as a national park. The Mendip Hills AONB Service and Somerset County Council's outdoor education centre is at the Charterhouse Centre near Blagdon.

The Mendips are home to a wide range of outdoor sports and leisure activities, many based on the particular geology of the area. It is recognised as a national centre for caving and cave diving. In addition to climbing and abseiling, the area is popular with hillwalkers and those interested in natural history. (Full article...)

Henry John Patch (17 June 1898 – 25 July 2009), dubbed in his later years "the Last Fighting Tommy", was an English supercentenarian, briefly the oldest man in Europe, and the last surviving trench combat soldier of the First World War from any country. Patch was not the longest-surviving soldier of the First World War, but he was the fifth-longest-surviving veteran of any sort from the First World War, behind British veterans Claude Choules and Florence Green, Frank Buckles of the United States and John Babcock of Canada. At the time of his death, aged 111 years and 38 days, Patch was the third-oldest man in the world, behind Walter Breuning and Jiroemon Kimura. (Full article...)

1. Somerset (Unitary)
2. North Somerset (Unitary)
3. Bath and North East Somerset (Unitary)

Radstock
Co-ordinates 51°17′34″N 2°26′52″W / 51.2927°N 2.4477°W / 51.2927; -2.4477

Radstock is a town 9 miles (14 km) south west of Bath, and 8 miles (13 km) north west of Frome. It is within the unitary authority of Bath and North East Somerset and has a population of 5,275 according to the 2001 Census. Together with neighbouring Midsomer Norton and the smaller settlements of Clandown, Westfield and Haydon, Radstock is part of the conurbation and civil parish of Norton Radstock.

Radstock has been settled since the Iron Age, and its importance grew after the construction of the Fosse Way, a Roman road. The growth of the town occurred after 1763, when coal was discovered in the area. Large numbers of mines opened during the 19th century including several owned by the Waldegrave family, who had been Lords of the Manor since the English Civil War. The spoil heap of Writhlington colliery is now the Writhlington Site of Special Scientific Interest, which includes 3,000 tons of Upper Carboniferous spoil from which more than 1,400 insect fossil specimens have been recovered. The complex geology and narrow seams made coal extraction difficult. Tonnage increased throughout the 19th century, reaching a peak around 1901, when there were 79 separate collieries and annual production was 1,250,000 tons per annum. However, due to local geological difficulties and manpower shortages output declined and the number of pits reduced from 30 at the beginning of the 20th century to 14 by the mid-thirties; the last two pits, Kilmersdon and Writhlington, closed in September 1973. The Great Western Railway and the Somerset and Dorset Railway both established stations and marshalling yards in the town. The last passenger train services to Radstock closed in 1966. Manufacturing industries such as printing, binding and packaging provide some local employment. In recent years, Radstock has increasingly become a commuter town for the nearby cities of Bath and Bristol.

Radstock is home to the Radstock Museum which is housed in a former market hall, and has a range of exhibits which offer an insight into north-east Somerset life since the 19th century. Many of the exhibits relate to local geology and the now disused Somerset coalfield and geology. The town is also home to Writhlington School, famous for its Orchid collection, and a range of educational, religious and cultural buildings and sporting clubs. (Full article...)

From Wikipedia's "Did You Know" archives:

• ... that medieval Perpendicular Gothic Somerset Towers typically feature pinnacles, lacy tracery windows and bell openings, gargoyles, arches, buttresses, merlons, and external stair turrets?
• ... that Gants Mill is an historic watermill now generating hydroelectric power from the River Brue?
• ... that the village of Selworthy was rebuilt by Sir Thomas Dyke Acland in 1828 as a Model village for the aged and infirm of his Holnicote Estate?
• ... that Midford Castle was built in the shape of the ace of clubs (♣)?
• ... that Porlock Bay in England contains a submerged forest?

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