You can see it from the beach - the long green ridge closing off the south end of the bay. It is about twenty-five minutes by car, and it is the walk to do if you only do one.
Getting there
Follow the coast south through Uphill and Bleadon towards Brean. There is a National Trust car park at the foot of the Down with a cafe and toilets - free to members, and a few pounds if you are not one.
The climb
There are two ways up. The steps from the car park are steep and get it over with quickly. The track that curves round the landward side is longer, gentler, and the one to take with children or anyone who would rather not do the steps in one go.
The top
Flat, grassy, and completely exposed - the Down stands about 97 metres above the sea. On a clear day you can see across to Wales one way and back over the whole of the bay the other. It is always windier than it looked from the car park.
The fort
A Palmerston fort, built in the 1860s against a French invasion that never came, and in use again through the second war. What is left is open to walk around - gun emplacements, magazines, and a lot of concrete going quietly back to the sea.
Afterwards
Brean beach runs seven miles south from the foot of the Down to Burnham-on-Sea, and Uphill on the way back has a boatyard and a ruined church on the hill.