Montacute House
S
outh Somerset is where you will find bustling towns and interesting villages. Historic houses, beautiful gardens, world- class museums, great golf links, fishing lakes, designated cycle tracks, horse riding bridleways and miles of footpaths.
Bruton is a picturesque little town of on the river Brue, with Jacobean Almshouses, abbey remains and the National Trust’s famous Dovecote standing on a hill above the town. There is a riverside walk to see the 15C Packhorse Bridge and magnificent twin-towered church. A small museum tells much of the town’s history. Attractions include the Sculpture Garden at Gants Mill and the Mill on the Brue outdoor activity centre at Teendle Farm.
All Weather Family Fun
Castle Cary is the main centre for a large area of South Somerset with a wide range of shops and services, and free parking. The old part of the town contains interesting buildings like the Market House, and the Round House.
Sparkford, Yeovil, Somerset, BA22 7LH 01963 440804
www.haynesmotormuseum.co.uk Educational Charitable Trust, No: 292048
Chard the spacious high streets are flanked by two streams and a wide variety of shops. Its history since the 13C is told in the Chard Museum, which also has the Stringfellow Collection celebrating the inventor
of powered flight. Nearby Chard Reservoir Nature Reserve has landscaped water gardens and a maze of maize. Hornsbury Mill has a working wheel. All of the attractions are open to visitors.
At nearby Wambrook, just a mile or so from Chard on the A30, the FERNE ANIMAL SANCTUARY is home to three hundred unwanted animals. Set in fifty one acres, there is a nature trail, picnic area, and animals to see from chipmunks to donkeys. The majority of the Sanctuary is wheelchair friendly. There are disabled toilets and baby changing facilities. The restaurant and tearoom is open during the summer, and in winter from 10am to 4pm (except Christmas and New Year’s Day). There is no entrance fee, but your donations help with the upkeep of the animals.
Ilchester has Georgian houses, a town hall containing a fascinating museum and a 13C church tower that changes from square to octagonal as it rises. Also, here are the 14C Lytes Cary Manor and gardens, and the hillside villages of Kingsdon and Limington are a short drive away.
When in this area a must visit is the famous HAYNES INTERNATIONAL MOTOR MUSEUM at Sparkford. To find this fascinating attraction take the A303 and come off at the Castle Cary junction, or take the A359 out of Yeovil travelling north to Sparkford.
Younger visitors will be able to test their driving skills at the awesome Haynes Motorland outdoor activity centre. Kids will have fun exploring the many realistic adventure play vehicles including a jeep, ice cream van and a camper van. The construction zone has a host of impressive looking, large scale adventure play JCB diggers in a giant sand pit, with the coin operated Super diggers where you can operate an actual digger bucket. There is a play petrol station, garage and realistic road layout where there’s a world of high octane fun for youngsters to discover.
Children can challenge themselves on ‘Haynes Hatch’ go-kart race circuit with its coin-operated electric vehicles, as well as two classic double-decker buses; one featuring a cinema and the other a soft play area for younger visitors. Other attractions within the museum itself include the ‘Supercar Display’ - a must-see attraction for petrol-heads. Spanning over 360 square metres, and accommodating up to 20 cars at any one time, it is dedicated to the very best in high powered, high performance sports cars through the ages. Among the vehicles currently on display are an iconic 1981 Lamborghini Countach 400s, a 1995 Jaguar XJ220 and a 1973 Porsche 911 RS Carrera.
The Motorcycle Mezzanine is a fascinating home for the museum’s two- wheeled collection of around 70 motorbikes including motorcycles from around the world and the Forshaw Speedway Collection, the world’s largest and most complete speedway display. Created with its very own banked track and filled with precious artefacts and information it brings the thrilling sights and sounds of speedway through the ages vividly to life.
66
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100