Thirst-slaying cider and super-tasty Cheddar cheese. Glastonbury Festival and world-famous Carnival. And anyone for cricket? When you think of Somerset, a few of these will immediately spring to mind. But there’s so much more to our special county.

Beautiful stretches of sandy coastline, caves, moors, the unique Somerset Levels, get-away-from it-all areas of outstanding natural beauty, cool-list towns, internationally renowned art galleries and great food. And yes, cider. It’s all here. You’ll find historic villages and bustling market towns, rich heritage and history, sitting side-by-side with buzzing nightlife, great shopping and more family-friendly things-to-do than you can shake Merlin’s legendary staff at.

Culture

Somerset is alive with music, literature and art, from Glastonbury Festival and the much-loved Wurzels, to landscapes that have been inspiring famous authors and poets for generations – not to mention cave art dating as far back as 7000 BC.

Glastonbury Festival is the Big One. Attracting more than 170,000 people each year, it’s the UK’s most famous festival and has seen some of the world’s largest performers grace its iconic Pyramid Stage. But it’s not Somerset’s only headliner. Other must-sees include Bath Literature Festival, Frome Festival and the Trowbridge Village Pump Festival.

Somerset is home to a staggering 11,500 listed buildings and 532 scheduled monuments, and a further 36 English Heritage Sites and 19 National Trust sites. You’ll also find a variety of museums, including the Jane Austen Centre, the Roman Baths and the American Museum in Bath.

Transport links

So much to do is surprisingly easy to get to. Somerset enjoys a good road, rail and air travel network.

Travelling by car, the M5 provides good access to the county, as do the A303, A37, A38 and A39. Trains run from destinations such as Reading, Basingstoke and Weymouth, to Taunton, Yeovil and Bristol. You’ll also find national and international flights fly from and to both Bristol and Exeter Airports, which are both easily accessible from the M5.

Somerset has easy access routes to the rest of the country:

• London is less than 2 hours away by train.
• Exeter is just over half an hour by car.
• Bristol is just under 30 minutes away by train.

To find out more, head to http://www.visitsomerset.co.uk/visitor-information/somerset-travel-information

House prices

In 2019, the most property sales in Somerset involved:

• Detached properties: average price of £419,195
• Semi-detached properties: average price of £271,937
• Terraced properties: average price of £245,981

Somerset, with an overall average price of £299,229, was similar in terms of sold prices to nearby Wiltshire (£293,981) but was cheaper than Bristol (£321,183) and Dorset (£329,063).

Data provided by RightMove.co.uk (2019)

House rent

In 2019, the most typical rental properties in Somerset included:

• Rooms: average rent of £557 per month
• Flat: average rent of £905 per month
• House: average rent of £1,289 per month

Data provided by Home.co.uk (2019)

Education in Somerset

There are 242 state primary schools in Somerset, and 44 state secondary schools in Somerset. More than 90% of schools in Somerset are judged to be good or better, higher than the south west average of 89 per cent, and the national average of 84 per cent. (Figures from April 2018).

Somerset also has four FE colleges and plans to create a university centre. We also have wealth of universities on our doorstep, with Bournemouth University, University of Plymouth, University of Exeter, University of Bristol and UWE Bristol all within easy reach.