The slopes behind the village rise to the height of 1,200 feet (366 m), over which a small stream falls down to the sea.

[1] The South West Coast Path goes through the village, parts of which were closed and diverted in February 2007 following landslips in the woods.

[6] The name "Culbone" is thought to derive from the Celtic cil beun' for "Church of St Beuno".

[10] The woods were once the site of a major charcoal burning industry, the original burners for which were reputed to be a colony of lepers.

[16] The "person on business from Porlock" is believed to have disturbed Samuel Taylor Coleridge during his composition of the oriental poem Kubla Khan.

[17][18] It is also possible that Coleridge composed the poem at the Culbone parsonage near Ash Farm, now a collection of holiday cottages.