Somerset - 87 Attractions You Must Visit

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About Somerset

Somerset covers a vast area of land in the south-west of England, from the rolling Blackdown Hills on the Somerset-Devon border, to the Mendips and Quantocks south of Bristol, and finishing in the west with the Exmoor National Park. To the north is Bath and North-East Somerset, which although administered separately, nonetheless feel like part and parcel of this English county.

Types of Attractions in Somerset

Activities Around

List of Attractions in Somerset

Cheddar Reservoir

Cheddar Reservoir

Lake/ River/ Ponds

Cheddar Reservoir is an artificial reservoir in Somerset, England, operated by Bristol Water. It has a capacity of 135 million gallons. The reservoir is supplied with water taken from the Cheddar Yeo river in Cheddar Gorge. It is roughly circular in shape, and surrounded by large earth banks which are grazed by sheep.

Cleeve Abbey

Cleeve Abbey

Iconic Buildings

Cleeve Abbey was founded in 1198, and the first Circestircian monks arrived here from Revesby Abbey in Lincolnshire. Over its 350-year monastic history Cleeve was undistinguished amongst the abbeys of its order, frequently ill-governed and often financially troubled. The abbey remains include a gatehouse, cloister range, refectory with a superb angel roof, and a 'painted chamber' featuring medieval wall paintings.

Coates English Willow Visitor Centre

Its 300 acre farm includes 70 acres of withy beds and is found in the heart of the Somerset Levels, an area of huge environmental and conservation importance. The Somerset Levels is the most important wetland area in the UK and home to a wide range of wildlife. This unique landscape provides the perfect conditions for growing basket making willow, known locally as 'withies'.

Cossington park

Cossington Park is located in the pretty village of Cossington, on the edge of the Polden Hills and the Somerset Levels. It is a highly adaptable luxury holiday let, owned by my family for around 400 years. It is a lovingly cared-for home for your friends and family to come together for reunions, anniversaries, weddings and special occasions.

Cothay Manor & Gardens (Medieval Manor House & Gardens)

A beautiful medeival house surrounded by 12 acres of gardens. Different garden rooms are arranged along a yew walk. There is also a bog garden, cottage garden and a river walk. The manor is Grade I listed on the National Heritage List for England, and its gate piers and wall to the north entrance of the house are listed Grade II.

Dunkery Beacon

Dunkery Beacon

1 Day Treks

Mountain Peaks

Dunkery Beacon is a really tough climb from the village of Porlock towards the top of Exmoor. It has a chain of summits capped with Bronze Age barrows and is Exmoor's highest point at 1,705ft. An ideal site for school groups with amazing views overlooking Devon and Somerset and across to Wales.

Dunster Beach

Dunster beach is a sandy beach on the edge of the Exmoor National Park in Somerset. The site is a collection of charming historic beach huts, the first built nearly 100 years ago by Lady Luttrell who resided at Dunster Castle. The huts housed Coastal Defence Workers and the Home Guard during World War II with trenches, barbed wire and pillboxes, although now just the pillboxes remain as a reminder of those darker days.

Dunster National Park Centre

The National Park Centre at Dunster has been recently refurbished, and you will find interactive exhibits, a video microscope and new displays that introduce you to the special habitats that can be found on Exmoor. Visit the exhibition room and take the time to see our HD film introducing the National Park.

East Lambrook Manor Gardens

East Lambrook Manor Gardens

Iconic Buildings

Botanical Gardens

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.

East Somerset Railway - Cranmore Station

The East Somerset Railway is a 2+1⁄2-mile heritage railway in Somerset, running between Cranmore and Mendip Vale. Prior to the Beeching Axe, the railway was once part of the former Cheddar Valley line that ran from Witham to Yatton, meeting the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway at Wells. The railway has steam train rides, engine shed walk through, small museum, signal box. They also have a miniature railway, shop and cafe.

Ebbor Gorge National Nature Reserve

A heavily wooded gorge on the western edge of the Mendip Hills, Ebbor nature reserve offers excellent walks through ash woods and a superb view out over the Somerset Levels. The 41 ha reserve is cleft by two steep-sided valleys. The site was occupied by humans in the Neolithic Era and their tools and flint arrow heads have been discovered, along with pottery from the Bronze Age. There are also fossils of small mammals from the Late Devensian.

Farleigh Hungerford Castle

Farleigh Hungerford Castle was built to serve as a luxurious home for the Hungerford family. The castle was built to a quadrangular design, already slightly old-fashioned, on the site of an existing manor house overlooking the River Frome. A deer park was attached to the castle. One of the iconic attraction in this area and also you can spend some beautiful time here.

Fleet Air Arm Museum

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.

Glastonbury Abbey

Glastonbury Abbey, in Somerset, England, is still a powerfully evocative place, shrouded in history, religion, and mythology. The abbey was founded in the 7th century and enlarged in the 10th. It was destroyed by a major fire in 1184, but subsequently rebuilt and by the 14th century was one of the richest and most powerful monasteries in England. The abbey controlled large tracts of the surrounding land and was instrumental in major drainage projects on the Somerset Levels.

Glastonbury Tor

Glastonbury Tor

Outdoors- Other

Glastonbury Tor is one of the most famous landmarks in Somerset, if not the whole of the West Country. It's not just famous because it can be seen for miles and miles around, but also because it has huge spiritual significance for many people. The conical hill of clay and Blue Lias rises from the Somerset Levels. It was formed when surrounding softer deposits were eroded, leaving the hard cap of sandstone exposed. The slopes of the hill are terraced, but the method by which they were formed rem

Gough's Cave

Gough's Cave is located in Cheddar Gorge on the Mendip Hills, in Cheddar, Somerset, England. The cave is 115 m deep and is 3.405 km long, and contains a variety of large chambers and rock formations. It contains the Cheddar Yeo, the largest underground river system in Britain. Palaeolithic caves and rock shelters provide some of the earliest evidence of human activity in the period from about 400,000 to 10,000 years ago.

Ham Hill Country Park

Ham Hill Country Park

Outdoors- Other

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.

Ham Hill, Somerset

Ham Hill, Somerset

1 Day Treks

Mountain Peaks

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.

Hauser & Wirth Somerset

Hauser & Wirth Somerset

Art Centres

Botanical Gardens

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.

Haynes International Motor Museum

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'.

Map of attractions in Somerset

Comments

For more information about Somerset, visit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somerset