That’s the Somerset in England, by the way. I don’t know if there are Somersets in other places, but, if there are, they are safe. It’s only the one in England that’s threatened by impending calamity.
Anyway. My cousin Rachael, in addition to being a novel by Daphne du Maurier, is a real person, who is getting married next week, in Taunton. Pretty much all of my family has been invited. All the ones with no outstanding warrants in the UK will be going. So, sometime around next Thursday, the tone in the Taunton area is going to be seriously lowered. (In fact, next Thursday is when I check in to the “guest house in Taunton whose name I can’t remember”, so I think it’s safe to say that’s when the tone hits rock bottom. I can lower the tone of a sewer, folks.)
So… I remember seeing the odd Doper with Somerset, or even Taunton, given as a location, But I’m blowed if I can remember their screen names. Mind like a sieve. Would forget my own head if it wasn’t…
(pauses, pats stump of neck, gets up, retrieves head from kitchen counter, replaces it on neck, continues)
So I put this out as a general warning and/or appeal. Anybody in the Taunton area? With any ideas about what to do, see, or avoid in this area? (I may have some time to myself, in between attending the service and the reception, and just generally preventing my relatives from savaging sheep.)
if your in oxford? you should know something about somerset. other ideas are; goto bath, drink cider, go to galastonbury (oops couple of weeks to late for that) drink more cider, return to taunton, drink more cider, leave and pray you don’t remember the weekend.
<------- Look! I know it only says Somerset at the moment But I’m actually just outside Taunton. Norton Fitzwarren to be precise.
You’re gonna lower the Tone? That should solve the flooding problems at least. (The Tone is the river that runs through the town, and we really do get a lot of flooding round here. I made a funny.)
Anyway, I’ll add a ‘me too’ to the cider drinking idea and um… er… drink more cider?
What church? I could come and hassle you for an autograph. I’m fairly sure you’re not the Steve Wright but frankly I don’t care.
The wedding is planned to take place at an Elizabethan manor house somewhere in the area. (I know I don’t sound very well organised about this… I’ve got all the details written down somewhere…) I have a map, produced by my cousin’s fiancé in the style of Tolkien’s maps of Middle Earth (he’s a professional illustrator). Given the mediaevalist/fantastical elements, I’m not sure what to expect… perhaps I should go in my Celtic warrior’s garb from my re-enacting days. (Or, since my Celtic warrior’s garb hasn’t been washed since 1998, perhaps not.) I’ll be happy to provide autographs, if anyone wants them (if you plan to use my signature to empty my bank account - you’re too late.)
ost, I’ll try not to detonate your mother. But it’s going to be a tough enough job keeping mine from going off…
For a start, everyone’s pronouncing it incorrectly. Here in Zummerzet, oi be drinkin’* zoiderrr*, not ‘cider’.
You’re going to the great glistening metropolis that is Taunton?
I wouldn’t bother with Bath. It’s pretty but small and fairly boring, and the Roman Baths are overpriced and usually overcrowded during the summer.
Glastonbury is actually worth a visit, as long as your idea of fun is laughing at hippies. The place is packed with acid casualties who came for the festival and never left.
If the weather remains clement (highly doubtful), your best bet is probably a quick zoom up the M5 to Bristol, and take a boat trip along the Avon to Bath and back. Food/drinkage may be available depending on the boat, and some trips will stop at a riverside pub for a meal. It’s not too expensive, and there’s lots going on along the river this time of year. Even just a cruise around Bristol Harbour - it’s a very busy place with loads to see, including the wondrous and huge S.S Great Britain which usually has The Matthew moored alongside. Bristol has more restaurants per head than London, so grab a meal then get thee to a pub along the waterfront.
Other than that, it’s a tenner for a train across to Cardiff which only takes an hour, or head south to beaches at Exeter if it’s sunny.
Bath boring??? If you find tons of amazing Georgian architecture boring, yes. Otherwise,.see it.
I’m quite well acquainted with Nether Stowey - or I was a while back. Halfway between Bridgewater and Taunton. I can recommend Coleridge Cottage in Lime Street (the poet’s house), and opposite (if it’s still there), the First and Last pub. Good skittles alley.
Up the hill, are the Quantox. A wild moorland (a spillover from Exmoor, I guess), where you can see herds of deer majestically frolicking. Or whatever. And get a good view of the Bristol Channel and Hinkley Point power station on a clear day.
Great old church in Huish Episcopi, btw. And Cheddar Gorge. (Best in winter, out of season).
And, of course, cider. Treat with respect. Drink by the half pint, and don’t gulp it down too fast.
Boy I saw this thread and was worried for a minute. I live not to far from Somerset, Wisconson. Then I remembered that Ozfest is there this weekend and thought it was a joke. I read the post and realized my error and returned to my dull lifeless exsistance. Oh, hello eveyone. This is my first post by the way…
Aww, how disappointing…Somerset is right over the bridge, and Taunton is just down the road…in Massachusetts. For a second there I thought you’d be local.
Have fun anyway!
Rose
On the whole, you’ll have to go some way in order to impress someone from Oxford with pretty architecture, but YMMV. I grew up in Cambridge, got edjikated at Oxford, then spent a year and a half in Bath with my brain dribbling out of my ears from sheer boredom. Guess I’ve just been spoiled The problem with Bath is that the touristy areas are horrendously overcrowded in the summer and if you’ve only got a day, you’re not going to see much. If architecture is really your thang, Bristol has more Georgian architechture than anywhere else in the area (Bath included), as well as fascinating, beautiful modern structures around the waterfront. The Clifton and Montpelier areas of Bristol have the highest concentration of Georgian architecture in the city, and have the added benefit of a beautiful gorge next-door with a world-famous bridge spanning it, one which you can take a walk across for some fantastic sights.
(River Ay-von)
Oxford’s architecture is, of course… interesting. I think that’s definitely the word. Goes from Early Tudor to Early Gerry Anderson in the same street, without transition or apology.
I’ve visited Bath before, but not for long enough to get a good feel for the place. I haven’t been to Bristol since I was a wee nipper, but it looks like I’m going to be passing through it at least… there being, it seems, no direct bus routes from Oxford to Taunton. (Insert obligatory ten-page diatribe on “state of public transport in this country, don’t know what the world’s coming to, I didn’t die in two world wars so that I could spend four and a half hours getting to Somerset on the bus” and so forth.) It wouldn’t take me that much longer to get to Massachusetts…
Preparations move on apace. I’ve made the obligatory trek to the launderette, so at least I’ll have clean underwear. (Well, at the start of the proceedings, at least). The sound of aging female relatives flapping about like wet hens is dinning constantly in my ears… I may have to take the phone off the hook.
But there’s always cider to look forward to. In that respect, at least, I’m ready; I’ve been practicing serious cider drinking for more than twenty years. (What? You thought I was born like this?)
