Crewkerne

Crewkerne is a small town in south Somerset, nine miles south-west of Yeovil and seven miles east of Chard. At the 2021 census the parish held 7,333 people. The town stands on the main headwater of the River Parrett, and its earliest written record is in Alfred the Great’s will of 899, which makes it older than most places in the county.

St Bartholomew’s Church is the building to see. It is a Grade I listed Perpendicular church, built of golden Ham Hill stone quarried nearby. That same warm stone gives the surrounding villages their look. Hinton St George, three miles outside Crewkerne, has a wide main street lined with hamstone cottages, some of them thatched. Its Church of St George has a four-stage tower dated to 1485-95, and the village cross, 8 feet 2 inches high, is a scheduled monument.

The A30 runs straight through town as West Street and East Street, the old road towards Exeter in one direction and Yeovil and Salisbury in the other. Crewkerne railway station is in nearby Misterton rather than in the town, opened on 19 July 1860, so check how you will reach your cottage before you travel. The town works well as a base for quiet south Somerset villages and walks across stone-built country.