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Chard Accommodation
Family days out at Cricket St Thomas Wildlife ParkChard Hotels South Somerset Cricket St Thomas Wildlife Park Family Day Out
Chard is an historic town that has been the birthplace of several innovative and influential people. The excellent Chard Museum has a fantastic array of artefacts telling the story of its famous residents including John Stringfellow who was the first to invent powered flight, John Gillingham who designed artificial limbs and Margaret Bondfield who was Britain's first women cabinet minister.
You can follow the Heritage Plague Trail around the town to find out more about its historic buildings or take the Lace Riot Audio Tour and listen to a re-enactment of this troubled period in Chard's history. Nearby Chard Reservoir has some pleasant country walk and Cricket St Thomas Wildlife Park is a great family day out.
Chard Tourist Information
Chard was formerly a cloth making market town. Chard is also famous as the "birthplace of powered flight" due to John Stringfellow's invention of steam-powered aeroplanes.
The main centre lies around High Street and Fore Street. Buildings in the town date from the twelfth century, although a fire destroyed a lot of the Elizabethan and medieval architecture. The Manor Court on Fore Street was one of the few buildings to survive.
Chard has a Tourist Information office next to the Guildhall where you can obtain local information and the Lace Riot audio tour mentioned below.
Chard Tourist Information Centre, Guildhall, Fore Street, TA20 Wessex. Tel: 01460 65710. Email: chardtic@chard.gov.uk
Chard Museum and Town Tours
At the top of High Street is Chard Museum, housed in the sixteenth century Godworthy House. Here you can see John Stringfellow's early steam-powered aeroplanes. Stringfellow lived at No 121 High Street, marked by a blue plaque. You can follow a Historic Plaque Trail around Chard taking in sixteen historic sights.
There is also an audio tour about the Chard Lace Riots available from the Tourist Information Office. In August 1842 workers in Chard's lace factories revolted against the harsh working conditions and lack of pay, many were on the point of starvation. The tour takes you through the social pressures of the time and tells of the mill strikes and the owners and authorities attempts to stamp out the protesters. You can download the accompanying leaflet using the link to the right.
Chard Museum also has an excellent collection from the Victorian shoemaker, John Gillingham. He pioneered the production of artificial limbs after an accident in 1863 when a local man was left with only one arm after a celebratory cannon badly injured him. Gillingham's work was so well regarded it was sought all over the country. Other local celebrities are honoured such as Margaret Grace Bondfield who was Britain's first women cabinet minister in 1943. You can hear a recording of one of her speeches. The museum also has a varied collection of machinery including a lace making machine that was used at a mill locally, a blacksmith's forge and a 1940s garage.
The Museum is open May-late October Mon-Fri: 10.30am-4.30pm. Sat: 10am-12.30pm. Jul-Aug Sat: 11am-3pm, Also open on Sundays in Jul-Aug. Chard Museum, Godworthy House, High Street, TA20 1QL. Tel: 01460 65091.
South Somerset Countryside Walks Nature Reserves Chard Reservoir
If you want to explore the South Somerset countryside there is handy leaflet available from Tourist Information Centres "Explore South Somerset Countryside" which gives you lots of details of the wildlife and geology of South Somerset as well as lists of nature reserves, walks, viewpoints, country parks and woodland trails.
North east of the centre of Chard is Chard Reservoir. The reservoir was originally built in 1842 to provide water for the Chard Canal which was abandoned when the railway arrived. After years of it being used for shooting and fishing the council took it on as a Local Nature Reserve in 1990. Today Chard Reservoir is managed as a nature reserve with waterside walks, bird hides and a waymarked circular trail. Habitats here include woodland, meadows, reedbed and of course the open water which attracts great crested grebe, little egret, common sandpiper, cormorants, swallows and house martins.
Certain areas of the reservoir are reserved for angling. Tickets should be obtained from Chard Angling Club before getting to the bank. Contact: Chard Angling Centre, The Old Bakehouse, 2 Holyrood Street, Chard, Somerset TA20 2AH. Tel: 01460 63771.
There are car parks north and south of the reservoir. The northern one is near the angling area.
Cricket St Thomas Wildlife Park
Just to the east of Chard is the popular family day out - Cricket St Thomas Wildlife Park. The Park is most renowned for its wildlife park but it was also the location for the filming of "To The Manor Born" with Penelope Keith. The eighteenth century Manor House is now open as a hotel
The Park has a whole host of exotic animals including lemurs, meerkats, marmosets, hunting dogs, zebras, deer and Przewalski Horse. A wide range of birds are also on display like parrots, cockatoos, macaws, lovebirds, ostrich and emus and flamingos.
You can tour the park on your own or book on to behind the scenes tours like the "Walk on the Wild Side" three hour guided tour. Alternatively you can become a "Keeper for a Day" to find out what looking after all these animals takes. Check the weblink right for more information.
The park is open all year round. 10am-6pm (4.30pm in winter). Last admission at 4pm (3pm winter). The Wildlife Park at Cricket St Thomas, Chard, Somerset TA20 4DD. Tel: 01460 30111. Email: wildlifepark.cst@bourne-leisure.co.uk
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