 The wooded bluffs above Minehead feature as the Hermit 's abode " in that wood which slopes down to the sea " , in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Romantic poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge . The poet lived nearby , at Nether Stowey ( between Bridgwater and Minehead ) . His statue can be seen at the nearby harbour at Watchet . He and Wordsworth ( who lived nearby at Alfoxton House ) would often roam the hills and coast on long night walks ; leading to local gossip that they were ' spies ' for the French . The Government sent an agent to investigate , but found they were , indeed , " mere poets " . Cecil Frances Alexander wrote the popular Anglican hymn All Things Bright And Beautiful in Minehead and in nearby Dunster the verse : 
