Wigtwizzle - Norman Smith's Travel Blog.: Somerset Holiday

Just two places to visit today and they were both on Sal's "to do" list. Our first port of call was a very quaint old village called Selworthy which was owned by The National Trust and reached via a narrow country lane leading off the A39. The name of the village means "enclosure or settlement near sallows or willows" and is recorded in The Doomsday Book.

Selworthy was rebuilt in 1828 by Sir Thomas Acland as a model village to provide housing for the aged and infirm of the Holnicote estate. One of the cottages houses Periwinkle Tearoom where we both had a coffee and shared a slice of their delicious carrot cake. It really is a must for any visitor as the tearoom garden gives a great view over the cottage roofs to a distant Exmoor. Once we were fed and watered Sal paid her obligatory visit to the gift shop where she bought a couple of mementos.

Many of the other cottages, whose walls were painted with lime wash that had been tinted creamy yellow with ochre, are now rented out and are still thatched and obviously listed. The village and the surrounding Holnicote estate was given to the National Trust in 1944 by Sir Richard Acland, having been passed down through the Acland family for nearly 200 years and the whole area is immaculately maintained by them. It really did feel like we had been transported back to a by-gone era.

Before heading off, we popped into All Saints Church which dates right back to the 15th-century and, because it is perched on the side of a hill, its porch gives a superb view out across the valley to Dunkery Beacon which is the highest point of Exmoor.

We eventually dragged ourselves away and headed a few miles down the road to Dunster and it's Castle. Things didn't start too well with parking problems which I wont go in to here, but after winning the 'man over car technology battle' we headed off for an explore of the town and Castle. It calls itself a village and claims to be "the largest and most intact medieval village in England" and from what I saw, I don't think they are far wrong with that.

Seemingly it has a wealth of history to discover, including the Castle, the octagonal Yarn Market (which goes back to Dunster's once thriving cloth-trade), the remains of a Benedictine priory, a Working Watermill, Packhorse Bridge and Iron Age settlements. We went to the watermill for coffee, looked at the priory from the pub beer garden and saw the Yarn Market but missed out on the settlements and packhorse bridge which is a shame because it looks rather pretty.

We did more than could be expect of us on the castle front as we made two trips there, one either side of a snifter in The Dunster Castle Hotel. The Castle was pretty much complete and had very attractive gardens but, at the end of the day, a castle is a castle to me and they all look the bloody same inside. Dunster Castle's saving grace was a 1940's loo and kitchen built slap bang in the middle of all its other ancient history which raised eyebrows and a smile. I've posted a photo of the loo at the end of the blog.

Another thing to note was the Security at the Castle entrance. This consisted of a mouse which had become so used to visitors that it unashamedly sat outside the ticket office tucking into the grub which someone had put down for it. If I'm being honest, apart from Periwinkle Tearooms, the mouse was the visitor attraction of the day! Sal then did one of her disappearing acts which I've gotten used to now. She found another quaint section of the town which we penned in to visit on our next trip there.

We then wearily headed back to the car and made our way back to base. After a few hours rest and some food, we walked down to Watchet harbour and then enjoyed a couple of pints of cider each in Pebbles Tavern. A smashing way to end a long and tiring day.