district, administrative and historic county of Somerset, southwestern England, on the southern shore of the Bristol Channel. West Somerset district is an elevated area of moors and wooded hills including the Quantock Hills, the Brendon Hills, and Exmoor, except for a small section of the low-lying Sedgemoor Basin in the extreme east. The western two-thirds of the district, including the Brendon Hills and Exmoor, lies within Exmoor National Park, which was described in Richard Doddridge Blackmore's 19th-century novel, Lorna Doone. The park is covered principally with heath or coarse grass, affording sustenance for the native red deer and ponies. The coastal region, popular with tourists, has exceptional rugged headlands interspersed with narrow wooded valleys.