iKnow Somerset
Around Yeovil South Somerset Ichester Montacute Fleet Air Arm Museum Montacute House
There are a lot of family attractions around Yeovil. Some of the most popular are the National Trust Montacute House and Gardens, The Fleet Air Arm Museum and Montacute TV, Radio and Toy Museum.
If it's the countryside you want to explore you can climb up Ham Hill to the Iron Age hill fort and where the local honey coloured stone has been quarried for centuries.
Fleet Air Arm Museum Ilchester South Somerset
One of the biggest attractions near Yeovil is the Fleet Air Arm Museum at Yeovilton near Ilchester. The museum is based on an operational air station and houses the largest collection of naval aircraft in Europe as well as being one part of the National Museum of the Royal Navy.
You can board the first British built Concorde and check out the cockpit or try the Aircraft Carrier Experience that (via the art of cinema) whisks you by helicopter to the flight deck of HMS Ark Royal. Here you can explore the different aircraft and even a nuclear bomb!
Outside, there is a children's adventure playground, the licensed Swordfish restaurant and a shop. There is plenty of free parking and excellent disabled access. If you have any interest in naval aircraft this is the ultimate day out for all the family.
The Fleet Air Arm Museum is open daily in summer: 10am-5.30pm. Last admission: 4pm. Last entrance to the Carrier Exhibition: 4.15pm. In Winter: Weds-Sun 10am-4.30pm. Last admission: 3pm. Last entrance to the Carrier Exhibition: 3.15pm. Fleet Air Arm Museum, Box D6, RNAS Yeovilton, Near Ilchester, Somerset BA22 8HT. Tel: 01935 840565. Fax: 01935 842630. Email: info@fleetairarm.com
Montacute House amd Gardens Montacute South Somerset
Four miles west of Yeovil is the village of Montacute - almost entirely made out of Ham stone. It was used as a location in the filming of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility. Montacute is most famous for being the location of Montacute House, a National Trust owned property believed to be the finest Elizabethan country house in Britain.
Montacute house is a late sixteenth century mansion built for Sir Edward Phelips. The building sports renaissance architectural features such as the tall chimneys, carved parapets and heraldic glass. Inside you can see a collection of Tudor and Elizabethan paintings from the National Portrait Collection in the Long Gallery, the longest of its kind in Europe. You can take a tour around Montacute to see the other stately rooms and historic treasures.
Outside are waymarked paths through the formal gardens and the wider estate including St Michael's Hill, the site of a Norman castle. An eighteenth century lookout tower can also be found on the hill.
Check the link right for more information and opening times. Montacute House, Montacute, Somerset TA15 6XP. Tel: 01935 823289.
Montacute Museum - TV Radio Toy Museum
Also in Montacute is the Montacute Museum. This houses a large collection of memorabilia from TV and Radio as well as over five hundred old radios, radiograms and television sets. There is also a toy museum.
Montacute Museum also has a tearoom and shop and if you really can't tear yourself away they also have bed and breakfast accommodation.
From Easter to end of October they are open Weds-Sat and Bank Holiday Mondays 12:30-5pm. Sun 2-5pm. From 28th From Oct to 23rd December: Weds-Saturday 12-4pm. Sun 1-4pm. Check the weblink right for more information.
Montacute Museum, No 1, South Street, Montacute, Somerset TA15 6XD. Tel: 01935 823024. E-mail: info@montacutemuseum.co.uk
Ham Hill Country Park
Ham Hill is covered in quarries from which the honey coloured Ham stone is cut which you see in the traditional cottages and houses all over South Somerset.
Ham Hill is regarded as a country park centred around the two hundred acre Iron Age hill fort - the largest found in Europe. A whole range of historic artefacts have been excavated here, some of which are on display in the Somerset County Museum in Taunton. The Iron Age ramparts stretch for 5km over which are pathways for you explore. The Romans later occupied the site leaving remains of a villa and what is likely to have been a military camp.
Ham Hill is also a nationally protected wildlife site, mainly for its geology which is an important insight into how southern England developed in the Jurassic period. The habitats on Ham Hill are also important for its species rich chalk grassland with interesting species such as quaking grass, cowslip, burnet-saxifrage, salad burnet, bellflower, autumn gentian, horseshoe vetch, squinancywort and eight species of orchids including frog orchid, musk orchid, fragrant and pyramidal orchids. Butterflies are abundant on the site and a scarce species that is known to survive here is the Duke of Burgundy along with dingy skipper, green hairstreak and dark green fritillary.
Check the Ham Hill website link right for downloadable leaflets on Ham Hill Country Park including children friendly leaflets.
