A popular cycle and walking route through the North Somerset countryside is to get a make over.
Work is due to start next week on a project to resurface an eight mile section of the Strawberry Line between Congresbury and Sandford.
The work comes as the number of cyclists using the line during lockdown has increased by nearly 50 per cent.
North Somerset Council counts the number of people using its cycleways across the district.
Since the beginning of April the number of cyclists using the Strawberry Line has jumped by 48 per cent.
The work will see the stretch between Station Road in Congresbury and Nye Road in Sandford resurfaced.
The section between Honey Hall Lane and Nye Road will be closed on June 29 and 30 for path improvements.
These will include widening the path and laying a completely new limestone dust surface.
There will be a signposted diversion via Honey Hall Lane, Brinsea Batch, King Road, Church Lane, Churchill Green and Sandmead Road, re-joining Nye Road.
During the rest of the week there will be pothole repairs from Honey Hall Lane north to the A370.
The section will remain open for use, but users are asked to follow signs and contractors’ instructions for personal safety.
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The council has been able to extend the works following the assistance and co-operation of Thatcher’s Cider which owns part of the section that will be widened and improved during the closure.
The Strawberry Line takes its name from the cargo this former railway line carried from the strawberry fields of Cheddar.
The line was well used for nearly a century until its closure in 1965 and since then a wealth of wildlife habitats have been allowed to flourish.
Volunteers from the Cheddar Valley Railway Walk Society began converting the line into a walking and cycling route in 1983.
This ride is mainly traffic-free with no steep gradients and takes in a variety of landscapes from the flat marshes and cider apple orchards around Yatton, steep wooded valleys and a tunnel through the Mendips, to historic Axbridge and the spectacular Cheddar Gorge.
