The nearest village is Backwell, which lies south of Nailsea on the opposite side of the Bristol to Exeter railway line.

The surrounding North Somerset Levels has wildlife habitats including the Tickenham, Nailsea and Kenn Moors biological Site of Special Scientific Interest and Bucklands Pool/Backwell Lake local nature reserve.

[5] Little is known of the area occupied by Nailsea before the coal mining industry began, although it was used as a quarry in Roman times from which pennant sandstone was extracted.

Around this time Nailsea was visited by the social reformer Hannah More who founded a Sunday school for the workers.

[10] Remains of the old pits, most of which had closed down by the late 19th century as mining capital migrated to the richer seams of South Wales, are still visible around the town.

[13] The site of the glass works has been covered by a Tesco supermarket car park, leaving it relatively accessible for future archaeological digs.

Other parts of the site have been cleared and filled with sand to ensure that the remains of the old glass works are preserved.

[18] Four electoral wards exist in Nailsea: It is in the North Somerset constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

[21] Tickenham, Nailsea and Kenn Moors SSSI is a 129.4 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest.

The soils in the area include clays of the Allerton and Wentloog Series[22] and peat soils of the Sedgemoor and Godney Series,[22] which are drained by a network of large rhynes and smaller field ditches, which support exceptionally rich plant and invertebrate fauna communities.

The Bucklands Pool/Backwell Lake local nature reserve, southeast of the town centre and close to the Nailsea and Backwell railway station, was constructed as a balancing pond in the mid-1970s, and has since become home to various wildfowl and dragonflies and a foraging area for bats.

Bird species seen on the reserve include gadwall, northern shoveler, pochard, tufted duck, grey heron and mute swans.

[24] In summer the Azores high pressure affects the south-west of England, although convective cloud sometimes forms inland and reduces the number of hours of sunshine.

In summer, a large proportion of the rainfall is caused by the Sun heating the ground leading to convection and to showers and thunderstorms.

[28] Nailsea's shopping area includes Somerset Square, Crown Glass Place, Colliers Walk, and a high street.

There are four supermarket chains in the town (Tesco, Waitrose, Co-op and Iceland) and some national banks and estate agents.

The site of the old factory is now called 'Coates Estate' and is home to a diverse range of both local and national businesses.

There are three children's play parks and smaller areas of green land in the town's housing estates.

Noah's Ark Zoo Farm has displays of exotic, agricultural and domestic animals including rhinoceros, camels, monkeys, reptiles and most recently a giraffe.

It also holds a very popular beer & cider festival also held annually, usually during the weekend on the second or third week of July at Nailsea and Backwell Rugby Football Club, which started in 2004.

Another link to the A370 at Backwell offers a route south and west for traffic to other local towns such as Weston-super-Mare.

It is managed by Great Western Railway, who run all services from the station, but is only staffed for a few hours on busy mornings.

[57] The Scotch Horn Centre provides both an aerobic exercise and a free weights gym, as well as squash courts, and room for other indoor sports.

[58] Other leisure facilities in the area include a swimming pool in nearby Backwell and a golf club in Tickenham.

[59][60] One of Nailsea's best known celebrities was Adge Cutler, the Somerset folk singer, whose backing band was The Wurzels.