New car-free section added to popular route

The Strawberry Line runs between Yatton railway station and Station Road in Cheddar

A new off-road section of a popular cycle route is set to open in the Mendip Hills in Somerset by the end of November.

The Strawberry Line runs between Yatton railway station and Station Road in Cheddar and provides cyclists and walkers with a link to numerous small towns and villages.

Most of the route is car-free but some sections are on busy roads and narrow, country lanes with no pavements.

The new stretch of path, created near the villages of Sandford and Winscombe, will be car-free and aims to stop people having to use busier roads including Drove Way, Nye Road and the A368.

The Strawberry Line attracts cyclists and walkers from across Bristol and North Somerset

The new 1km section, which will be known as the Sandford Link, will follow the former track of the Cheddar Valley railway line, which closed in the mid-1960s, before rejoining the existing path at the crossing over the A368 Station Road.

It has been funded by National Grid as part of the construction of a 400,000-volt substation, which will be handling power generated by the nuclear reactors at the Hinkley Point C power station on the west Somerset coast.

The substation will deliver power to local homes via underground cables, reducing the number of overhead electricity pylons which could damage the appearance of the Mendip Hills area of outstanding natural beauty (AONB).

North Somerset Council will be responsible for the path's upkeep.

The Strawberry Line Association said the path would open to the public on 25 November, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.