The line was busy for nearly a hundred years before being closed as part of the ‘Beeching Cuts’. Several of its railway bridges where blown up, including the one at Sandford, but not the Woodborough bridge, which has still survived. After closure, in 1963-4, local residents used part of the route for unofficial walks. In 1978, some of these residents formed the Cheddar Valley Railway Walk Society, which persuaded Woodspring District Council to buy much of the line and lease it to the Society as a walk and nature reserve.
The ‘Strawberry Line’ is now a well used path for walkers, (both two and four legged), cyclists and joggers. Disabled access is available to the cycleway. There are many wild flowers, birds, butterflies and a whole host of other animals including glow worms.
Badgers, foxes and deer use the line as a nature corridor. One of the most interesting aspects of the railway is its tunnel, one of the few open in the country. If you take with you a torch, you can see cave spiders, calcite formations and Victorian brickwork. The Strawberry line certainly deserves its status as a local nature reserve and has preserved many old railway features. For more information contact: The Cheddar Valley Railway Walk, 67 The Lynch, Winscombe, B25 1AR