Most visitors to the West Country will use the M5 to access it. This motorway is well maintained although it does get busy in peak holiday seasons, especially around the Bristol area, so please allow plenty of time for your journey.
For Minehead,
M5 Southbound
Leave the M5 at Junction 23 (Bridgwater) and follow the A38 to Bridgwater. Here pick up the A39 signposted to Minehead and follow this road for approximately 25 miles until you reach Minehead - then follow the local directions below.
If you miss Junction 23, then you can easily back-track to Bridgwater from Junction 24
Alternatively, you can carry on to Junction 25 (Taunton) and again following signs to Minehead pick up the A358 to Williton (c.15 miles) where you will join the A39 as above.
M5 Northbound
Leave the M5 at Junction 27 (Tiverton). Follow the A361 towards Tiverton, for 7 miles, but do not enter the town centre, instead take the A396 northwards. Follow the A396 for 27 miles through beautiful scenery to Dunster. Just after Dunster village pick up the A39 for the short drive (2 miles) into Minehead - then follow the local directions below.
From North Devon
Pick up the A39 wherever suitable and follow eastwards until you approach Minehead - then take Porlock Road as described in option 2 below (though you are approaching from the opposite direction such that it is a left turn into Porlock Road).
Local directions
Entering Minehead from the East, at the first roundabout go straight over, you will then come to a second roundabout with some shops on the right. Here you have two options:
Option 1) Turn right down Alcombe Road. This becomes Townsend Road and then Friday Street. At the end of Friday Street you are in Minehead town centre. Here the road bears round to the left becoming Park Street. Follow this road, as it bends right and then left it becomes The Parks. “Perrycroft” is number 32 The Parks on the right hand side. The pull-in for your car is just after the property on the right. The side gate leads off from the pull-in.
Option 2) Take the first exit at the roundabout (effectively straight on) up Hopcott Road. After a while this road becomes Periton Road. Keep on it until you see a major road on your right (preceded by hatched areas on the road) signposted “Minehead”. Turn right into this road (Porlock Road) and follow it. As the road sweeps to the right (with a lane to the left to Bratton) this road becomes The Parks. Follow this road until you see “Parks Lane” on your left. The pull-in for “Perrycroft” is just a few yards further on on the left. The side gate leads off from the pull-in.
A note about roads in North Somerset !
Whichever direction you approach Minehead you will use either the A39 or A396. Both of these roads run through very attractive countryside, the A396 in particular is a beautiful route.
However, neither of these roads are designed for high speed travel. They are both single carriageway, and have very few places for overtaking. In the summertime the A39 can become quite busy with holiday traffic, and being a rural area, farm vehicles and animals may impede traffic on any of the local roads. So, always allow plenty of time for any journeys, especially if these involve any of the minor country roads which are often single-track and very twisty. Also if you venture into Exmoor or westwards along the A39 towards Devon, be prepared for some pretty fearsome hills (1 in 4 is quite common !) and hairpin bends. You can avoid the notorious Porlock Hill however, should you wish, by taking a very attractive private toll road (£2.50 I think) which takes a gentler route up onto Exmoor from Porlock.
Having said all that, driving in both Somerset and Devon is highly pleasurable with constantly changing views, charming villages and beautiful scenery and the likelihood of seeing wildlife such as deer and Exmoor ponies.