"England's West Country is Wonderful " a Somerset Travel Page by caminoreal

Just driving out from London, through Hampshire and the chalk-stream region, stopping to visit Winchester Cathedral, Bath, Stonehenge or the other sights along the way, is a most pleasant journey.
And once you get to the Somerset, Devon and Cornwall, you've arrived in one of the most peaceful places you'll find in the U.K.
The weather is milder than that in other parts of England, Scotland and Ireland. The scenery isn't grandiose, but is beautiful.
You can romp in the valleys where Lorna Doone was set, or prowl the moors of Exmoor National Park on a moonless night and imagine the Hound of the Baskervilles is stalking nearby.
Beautiful port cities, lots of streams teeming with sea-run trout and salmon, and many quaint villages without the traffic and problems of London or the more industrialized areas further north, are the reasons to visit this part of England.
Or at least that's one Yank's opinion.

I spent a week at that most unique of British institutions, the sporting hotel, while visiting Somerset.
The Carnarvon Arms, near Dulverton, has angling rights on the River Exe and, I believe, on the Barle as well.
My first trip there was the first time I had fished "beats" assigned by the day. I had thought, as a Yank accustomed to fishing when and where I pleased, that the beat system would make me feel restricted. However, I soon learned to love it. It was like owning a section of the stream for a day. I could fish my beat as I chose, at my leisure, throughout the day, without competition. It was wonderful.
The hotel caters to stag-hunting parties in season, and to flyfishermen throughout the summer. The manager was a very friendly and helpful gent and the other guests were, almost to a person, warm and friendly. I felt like an intruder at first, but within a couple of days I was dining and visiting with many of the regular English guests and passing the evenings playing snooker in the basement or searching the nearby towns for pubs.
The fishing wasn't as good as I've had at some other spots, but it was passable, and the experience at the Carnarvon Arms made up for any lulls in the angling action.
If you stay there and have a car, take a day-trip up through Exmoor National Park to the villages on the coast.

There are a number of streams that can be fished in the area. The Prince's Trust also has some waters nearby, in northern Cornwall I believe, where fishing is very inexpensive by the day.
There is also a private trout-farm near Dulverton, to which some guests repair if they get desperate to catch a few big rainbows for the dinner table.