The hills of Exmoor surround Porlock on three sides, with the heather covered moors cut by deep, often wooded combes with clear sparkling streams at their base.

The spectacular beauty of Exmoor is protected by the Exmoor National Park Authority and the National Trust, with the flora and fauna on the moor helped by the award-winning purity of the air. In addition, Porlock Bay has received EU awards for the cleanliness of the sea-water. Its unique situation allows Porlock to enjoy a wonderful, warm and soft climate.

Porlock is a traditional Exmoor Village with a long history of settlements existing on or near the site of the existing village, with stone-age remains only a short distance away. It is also a working village with shops supplying all that you need, to be found in the High Street. You will certainly be sure of a friendly Exmoor welcome in them all. This will be echoed in the pubs, hotels and restaurants to be found here.

Porlock Weir, only 2 miles away, is a quaint little harbour with a unique charm that has to be experienced. It also boasts the remains of a prehistoric forest, small parts of which are occasionally visible still at a very low tide, and it was here that some remains of an Aurochs were found. These are now on display in the Visitor Centre in Porlock.

The poets Wordsworth and Coleridge found Porlock very much to their liking and indeed Coleridge was interrupted by “a man from Porlock” whilst writing “Kubla Khan”; the consequence of which was that he lost his inspiration and never completed it. In 1798 their friend Robert Southey stayed at "The Ship Inn" at the bottom of Porlock Hill. To commemorate the association with Coleridge, Porlock is the western end of The Coleridge Way, the newly established walk from Nether Stowey in the Quantocks to Exmoor.