Find your Christmas calm!

How do you maintain a sense of peace and calm at Christmas time? I must admit I usually prefer Halloween or Easter as they are much more low key celebrations. But there is no denying that Christmas is a magical time with the scent of pine needles in the air, spiced mulled wine, the kids…

Best rural play parks in South Somerset

It seems that we will be needing to avoid contact with people just a little longer and with that in mind we have been nipping out in the car to find rural, village play parks that are much quieter than some of the play parks in Yeovil where we live. Many times we have been…

Jess talks art!

Jess Egan is an artist based in South Somerset, who has been reunited with her love for art in recent years, and takes inspiration from local landscapes and seascapes. Here she talks about the importance of family, her connection with the local area and her brave leap into embracing a new life as an artist…

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…

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….

Katy talks cakes!

Have you ever wondered what flavour a hummingbird cake is? Well, here’s a lady who can create all of your favourite, traditional flavours and introduce you to a few new ones! In this interview Katy talks about her love of baking from a young age, and the magic ingredients of time and patience needed to…

Life in the slow lane

We’ve been living a very simple, local existence in lockdown. At the weekends we go exploring in the country lanes that I probably would never have explored. Here’s a few country walks we’ve discovered in Yeovil, off the beaten track. 1. Placket Lane. Just before Yeovil Road turns into Sandhurst Road there’s a country lane…

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…

Schools out! holiday activities for kids

I hope you enjoy my list of things to do in South Somerset for kids – it all takes a bit of research to find activities, especially budget friendly ones and some indoor ones for when it’s raining, here goes! Ham Hill events There are some really fun events for kids, run from the ‘rangers…

Esther talks art!

I was lucky enough to interview the incredibly talented artist, Esther Jeanes who lives in South Somerset and works from a studio in Dorset. Esther paints local beauty spots, both well known and undiscovered. Where did you grow up and what are your favourite memories of it? I grew up in Crewkerne and Rampisham, I still…

An American flavour in Yeovil!

Yeo Leisure Park is a thriving part of Yeovil. It’s great to see so many people enjoying this part of town, particularly as the high street is doing less well with many closures. When I was growing up I’d have loved to come here to the bowling or the multi screen cinema. This corner of…