20 Attractions to Explore Near Sherborne Old Castle

Sherborne Abbey is a Church of England church in Sherborne in the English county of Dorset. It has been a Saxon cathedral (705–1075), a Benedictine abbey church (998–1539), and since 1539, a parish church. It is one of the county's finest medieval buildings. The first church here was established in the 8th century as part of a Saxon abbey. Of that Saxon building little remains beyond a doorway. It was one of the main religious buildings and also a tourist attraction too.

The Yeovil Railway Centre is a small railway museum at Yeovil Junction on the L&SWR West of England Main Line between Salisbury and Exeter in the U.K. It was created in 1993, in response to British Rail's decision to remove the turntable from Yeovil Junction. Approximately ¼ mile of track along the Clifton Maybank spur is used for demonstration trains.

Cadbury Castle is Somerset's largest hill fort, from which the Barony of North Cadbury takes its name. Cadbury Castle also known as Camelot Castle, is a bronze and iron age hillfort in the civil parish of South Cadbury. The hillfort is formed by a 7.28 hectares plateau surrounded by ramparts on the surrounding slopes of the limestone Cadbury Hill. The site has been excavated in the late 19th and early 20th century by James Bennett and Harold St George Gray.

Ninesprings is a country park situated in the South East of Yeovil, Somerset, the United Kingdom. It is the largest country park in South Somerset, spanning over 20 acres. is believed to have been developed as an ornamental park, for the Aldon Estate, in the early nineteenth century and now forms a broad-leaved woodland with coniferous trees forming less than 10% of the total.

Yeovil Country Park is a 127 acre countryside site that wraps itself around the southern and eastern sides of the busy market towns of Yeovil. The Country Park is comprised of five main areas all of which have very different characteristics and land features. Explore these beautiful areas and discover lakes, meadows, woodland, rose gardens, wildlife and much more.

Haynes International Motor Museum, at Sparkford in Somerset offers an excellent day out for everyone. It contains over 400 cars and motorcycles and a collection of other automobilia. The museum also has an outdoor children's play area, Autogame Experience including penny arcade games of the 1950s and 1960s, retro 1980s classics and 1990s favourites such as 'Sega Rally'.

Fleet Air Arm Museum is one of the largest regional aviation museums in NSW, containing over 30 aircraft and numerous aviation artefacts tell the story of Australian Naval Aviation and the development of the Royal Australian Navy's Fleet Air Arm. At the entrance to the museum are anchors from HMS Ark Royal and HMS Eagle, fleet carriers which served the Royal Navy until the 1970s. It is located 7 miles north of Yeovil, and 40 miles south of Bristol.

Wincanton Racecourse is a thoroughbred horse racing venue located in Wincanton, Somerset, England. The steeplechase fences are large, making it a good test of a chaser. Three fences in quick succession in the second half of the home-straight make for exciting racing and often change the complexion of a finish dramatically; resulting in a great many close finishes.

Tintinhull Garden, located in Tintinhull, near Yeovil in the English county of Somerset, is a small 20th century Arts and Crafts garden surrounding a 17th-century Grade I listed house. The Arts and Crafts style garden is modeled on that at Hidcote Manor Garden in Gloucestershire. It was originally laid out by Phyllis Reiss and developed by Penelope Hobhouse. The house started as a small farmhouse in 1630 but was enlarged into its current form in the 18th century.

The National Trust's Montacute House, Somerset, is a beautiful Elizabethan mansion with surrounding gardens. The house was built in about 1598 and inhabited by the Phelips family until 1911. This Grade I listed building is one of the few houses to have remained virtually unchanged since Elizabethan times. The stunning east front with its large mullioned windows gives the impression that the whole façade is made of glass.

Lytes Cary Manor is an intimate medieval manor house with a beautiful Arts and Crafts garden where you can imagine living. Originally the family home of Henry Lyte, where he translated the unique Niewe Herbal book on herbal remedies, Lytes Cary was then lovingly restored in the 20th century by Sir Walter Jenner.

Cerne Abbas Giant, a 180-foot-tall chalk drawing of a nude man wielding a club, dates to 1694. the giant geoglyph is carved in solid lines into the chalk bedrock and stands an impressive 180 feet, making it especially visible from up high. In fact, during WWII, the figure was disguised to prevent Germans from using it as an aerial landmark.

Ham Hill is a 390 acre open access Country Park with superb countryside and Iron Age earthworks. Ham Hill has amazing panoramic views of Somerset. It is also a Green Flag Award winner too. There are suitable walks and trails for all levels of walkers. The geology supports a wide range of fauna including mammals, birds, invertebrates, reptiles and amphibians living on lichens, fungi, ferns and flowering plants.

A beautiful 390 acre open access Country Park, superb countryside and Iron Age earthworks. Ham Hill has amazing panoramic views of Somerset. Ham Hill Country Park is now more accessible for all than ever before. There are suitable walks and trails for all levels of walkers.

Hauser & Wirth Somerset is a pioneering world-class gallery and multi-purpose arts center which acts as a destination for experiencing art, architecture, and so more. It has a meadow, hedged enclosures and a cloister-like courtyard. Grasses, including miscanthus varieties and the purple moor-grass 'Moorhexe', make it an easily recognisable Oudolf garden design. Landscape architect Luis Laplace produced a plan for the historic farm which became the gallery.

King Alfred’s Tower is a 160ft high folly, designed by Henry Flitcroft for Henry Hoare II in 1772. It is believed to mark the site where King Alfred the Great rallied his troops in 878. The tower commemorates the accession of George III to the throne in 1760 and the end of the Seven Years War. The 49-metre-high triangular tower has a hollow centre and is climbed by means of a spiral staircase in one of the corner projections. It includes a statue of King Alfred and dedication inscription.

This circular temple was built in 1765, by the architect Henry Flitcroft, to outdo William Chamber’s earlier Temple of the Sun at Kew. It is dedicated to Apollo, the sun god. Nestled on a hilltop, the temple has delightful views over the lake.

Stourhead is the best example of a garden inspired by the great landscape painters of the seveneeenth century. Ernst Gombrich suggests it should bear the signature of an Italianized French painter: Claude Lorrain. The estate is about 4 km northwest of the town of Mere and includes a Grade I listed 18th-century Palladian mansion, the village of Stourton, gardens, farmland, and woodland. Stourhead has been part-owned by the National Trust since 1946.

East Lambrook Manor Gardens is the iconic and quintessentially English cottage garden created by the celebrated 20th-century plantswoman and gardening writer Margery Fish. The Grade 1 listed garden has been restored by new owners and is full of rare and unusual plants. Very strong on herbaceous it also contains one of the best collection of hardy geraniums in the country.

Gold Hill is a very steep and short climb – iconic for its famous views, entering into the national consciousness through the 1973 Hovis Bread advert. At the top of the street is the 14th-century St Peter's Church, one of the few buildings remaining in Shaftesbury from before the 18th century. Adjacent to the church is the former Priest's House, which is still part of the Gold Hill Museum building but now houses a shop.