Somerset Villages

To the west, amidst a maze of narrow, hedgerow- lined lanes, rain-sodden fields and pastures, and picturesque rural villages and hamlets lay the ancient market town of Langport, a finalist in the village category of the Great British High Street competition 2016. Parking was easy, but as we walked up the high street, parked cars and large lorries forced traffic to one lane and into a mini traffic-jam. Langport was a quaint village, the shops independent and catering to locals, deserving of its short listing in the Best High Street competition. A quiet river walk (much of it still soft and muddy from the previous days of rain), led us to the Great Bow Bridge (1841) and the “Kitchen”, a great little coffee/bakery/lunch spot in an early 1800s warehouse at the old Great Bow wharf. Sadly, the rain set in with a vengeance for our last day of exploring Somerset and we spent an interesting but very wet day exploring the area around Langport. Our route took us first to the surprisingly lovely and quaint village of Lovington and St Thomas a Becket and All Angels Church, then Somerton with its ancient Buttercross (a gorgeous octagonal market cross), medieval St Michael and All Angels church, and other medieval and Georgian buildings. Had it not been raining and cold, we would have had our picnic lunch in the Buttercross but were confined by the rain to our car for lunch. After lunch, we continued on to Long Sutton, Long Load (with its 15 th century bridge), Muchelney, Huish Episcopi, and into Langport for a coffee and cake at the Kitchen on the old Wharf. After coffee, we were on to Low Ham, past the National Trust Stembridge Tower Mill (the only surviving thatch roof windmill but now sadly closed for the foreseeable future due to essential conservation work and is lacking one of its masts), on to High Ham, and Aller (where, purportedly, Guthrum, leader of the Danish Viking raiders was baptised after his defeat in 878 by Alfred the Great).