Holidaying in Crewkerne

 Needing to pick up some of Tim's work from an exhibition at the Arts Centre in Bridport on 20 August, we had a 3 night stay in Crewkerne before picking up the work. Why Crewkerne? Well it was the nearest place to Bridport with availability when I looked 2 weeks prior to the visit, everywhere was booked up anywhere near the coast. I have the feeling that there's always lots to see and do wherever you go, so this was a good opportunity to test that out.

It's obviously quite a prosperous town with some fine stone built houses in the town, this is what the tourist board say about it:

'An historic and attractive stone built country Market Town in the South Somerset Hills, Crewkerne has its origins in Saxon times. The name derives from cruc - a hill, and aern - a house or storehouse. Coins were minted here in the reign of King Ethelred (978-1016). The 15^th Century parish church, St Bartholomew's, overlooking Bincombe Valley, was built with the wealth of the flourishing medieval wool industry. The Town Centre is a Conservation Area with some fine examples of 19^th Century Georgian houses'. There are lots of pubs, restaurants and a swimming pool and gym, the population is around 8000. 

On the first night of our stay , we walked to the east of Crewkerne where there seemed to be a matrix of footpaths, the OS map bisects Crewkerne and although we tried to walk on the area covered by the map, quickly found we had walked north and were off the map and a bit lost, although we got back fairly easily. Eating places were booked up that first night, so we had very good takeaway fish and chips and made sure we booked a table the following night. We ate at Oscars Wine Bar where the food was excellent, and the service brilliant.

There are some great floral displays in Crewkerne and lovely touches like this bicycle, there are baskets of plants attached to behind the seat and the handlebars, being watered with a couple with a bowser on wheels:

The next day we decided to go for a walk anywhere in the region, so drove to Drimpton and walked along the Monarch's Way, past the stunning Blackdown House seen here through the gate

which itself was rather lovely:

from there we discovered Blackdown Hills and walked along the ridge. A beautiful day out, making it back to Drimpton in time to visit Forde Abbey on the way back to Crewkerne.