Steep Holm

Getting to Steep Holm means a boat trip from Weston-super-Mare, about six miles out across the Bristol Channel, run by Bay Island Voyages on set dates from spring to autumn; nobody has lived permanently on this small limestone island for decades. An Iron Age settlement, a Roman lookout post and the remains of a medieval Augustinian priory have all been found here, evidence people have used the island for a very long time. Its more visible ruins are Victorian and 20th-century military work, built to guard the approach to Bristol and Cardiff — gun batteries, searchlight positions and underground magazines from both world wars, still standing among the undergrowth. Steep Holm is also known for the wild peony, a rare plant that flowers here in May and is thought to have been brought over by the priory’s monks; large colonies of gulls nest alongside it. The Kenneth Allsop Memorial Trust, named for the naturalist and broadcaster, bought the island in 1976 and has cared for it since. Back on the mainland, Brean Down has its own Victorian fort at the tip of a similar limestone headland.