I enjoyed a lovely, sunny trip to Cadbury Castle recently. It’s like a mini Maiden Castle (in Dorset) for those who have been. If you’re taking little people it’s no more than a 10 minute ascent, which is fine for little legs, although you will likely need to explain that there is no chocolate and…
Category: Local history
Somerset space walk!
Somerset space walk is a great day out, essentially a scenic walk along the Taunton and Bridgwater canal with to scale models of the solar system. I have to say it was absolutely brilliant for helping me understand how big everything is in relation to each other and the distance between planets. Particularly brilliant for…
The mysterious Somerset Levels
The Somerset Levels is a vast, flat watery landscape that covers 170,000 acres. It reaches from Clevedon near Bristol in the north, to Ilchester in the south. Its western boundary is formed from Bridgwater Bay and the Bristol Channel beyond. The landscape is magical and evocative of ancient times. It is against this backdrop that…
Ten fantastic facts about Yeovil
If you’re from Yeovil or know Yeovil a bit here are some facts that may surprise you! How many of them did you know about? And if you don’t know Yeovil (you haven’t lived 😂) but please read on to find out a little more about this sparkling gem of a town in South Somerset!…
Sutton Bingham
Sutton Bingham sounds like a rather refined character from a Jane Austen novel. In fact, it’s the site of a reservoir in South Somerset, just beyond the village of East Coker. According to ancestory.com ‘Sut’ is from the Old English word for South and ‘ton’ means enclosure or settlement. ‘Bing’ means hollow and ‘ham’ homestead….
A trip back to East Coker
I borrowed the book “Footsteps from East Coker”, written by journalist David Foot, from Yeovil Library. David was born in 1929 and grew up in Verandah Cottage, opposite the Helyar Arms (then the New Inn). East Coker is a small village in Somerset, close to the Dorset border so I imagine the following reflections of…
The story of Ninesprings
How many towns do you know that have a country park right at their heart? Yeovil Country Park is 127 acres, it has five main areas, with Ninesprings being the most popular and accessible part. Ninesprings includes a woodland hillside, grassy area and water. Within Ninesprings there is a large Victorian pleasure gardens (according to…
The mystery of primrose cottages
Do you ever wonder what mysteries might be surrounding the places that you know and love? This story concerns Ilchester Road, the road that runs adjacent to Yeovil College off the Fiveways Roundabout (aka College Roundabout). The bottom of Ilchester Road was the site of a small terrace of six cottages set high up on…
Cream teas and chasing waterfalls
These days (lockdown aside!) you can get a really great cup of coffee in the beautifully furbished and family friendly cafe at Ninesprings near to Goldenstones swimming pool. Visitors to Ninesprings have been accustomed to treating themselves, there was once a thatched cottage where the inhabitants served cream teas. It was located in a tranquil…
Best quotes about where I live
How would you describe the place you live? I have stumbled across a few quotes recently that described Somerset and specifically Yeovil. The first one evokes the mood of Somerset so beautifully and makes me think of how connected I have always felt to the countryside specifically here. 1. The prolific American writer John Steinbeck…
Local legend – William Dampier
Who was William Dampier? If I asked the question who was the first English explorer to set foot in Australia you may well say James Cook. Well, you’d be wrong. It was actually William Dampier 80 years before Cook, who was born in the South Somerset village of East Coker in 1651. William Dampier was…
Somerset Soul 