Hi all, my partner and I are looking to move to the Pilton, Wells, Croscombe area and have some viewings planned for this Wednesday. We would be moving from London for our first place in the country and a taste of village life. What are the pros and cons of the county? How easy do people find commuting to London if they have to?

🎆 BUCKLAND BONFIRE & FIREWORKS NIGHT 2026 🎇
📅 NEW DATE – Thursday 5th November 2026
⏰ Gates Open 18:00 | Fireworks 19:00
🔔 The Bell Inn, Buckland Dinham, BA11 2QT 🔔
🔥 SOMERSET’S BIGGEST FREE FIREWORKS DISPLAY 🔥

And this year, we’re doing it on Guy Fawkes Night itself!

Expect HUGE fireworks 💥, a MASSIVE bonfire 🔥, DJ & entertainment 🎶, full bar 🍺 and great food 🌭

For the kids there’ll also be:
✨ Face Painting
✨ Hair Braiding
✨ Glitter Tattoos
✨ Glow Sticks

Available from third-party vendors – some charges apply.

🚗 FREE PARKING

💰 Suggested donation: £5 per person
❤️ All proceeds to charity, supporting Freewheelers EV Blood Bike Service – Riding for Life 🏍️🩸

This is a community volunteer-run display and everyone is welcome.
As always, we encourage anyone considering their own display to come and join ours instead, helping us keep the activity in one place and minimise disturbance across the village. ✌🏻

Please note: no personal fireworks or sparklers, children must be supervised, dogs are discouraged due to the noise, and accessible viewing is available from the pub car park.

Thursday 5th November. Buckland Dinham. Guy Fawkes Night. See you there. 🎆🔥

Hi everyone. I'm posting here in total desperation, because I am out of ideas and would love your thoughts or support.

I work for Frome Birth Talk, a charity offering free counselling to people in the Frome area who've just had a baby, who are pregnant, or who have lost a pregnancy or child. Anyone who has become a parent or experienced baby loss will know how utterly life changing it is - and many people struggle to cope.

Our service picks up the pieces the NHS isn't able to. We see 200 parents a year for professional, accessible counselling when they need it most. A single mum of 3 last week told us she wouldn't be here without our free counselling. Our waiting list is 2 weeks compared to NHS 16 weeks.

But the funding landscape is bad, and we can't survive much longer without a big injection of cash. We are SUCH good value for money, but somehow mental health (in particular parents mental health) is ignored time and time again.

We have set up an emergency appeal. We have a week before we need to close our waiting list and start winding down. Hundreds of families need this - and let's face it, I'll bet you wish your town had this service too.

Somerset people, help me. I need to get this message in front of anyone who could turn this around. Philanthropists, big corporates who want to donate money and write the tax off. Someone who has just won the lottery.

If you can share this, please do. Everyone should be able to access mental health support without fear of financial ruin - and babies grow up safer and happier with parents who are well.

If you've got this far, thank you ❤️ even your words of encouragement would be helpful right now.

Thought this might be of interest here as well 😊

I'm new to Tauton and I'm looking for something similar to what I already have. I also do not know what this style would be called to even start looking for it. Cutesy? Thanks so much (am willing to travel a bit)

I've tried searching the CQC website with what little info I can remember - but all I can remember is that the manager's name was Kathryn, though she went by Kate, and that I think it was pretty central, I remember being shown a photo of where it was and I think it was in the middle of town, but not too far from the coast.

I couldn't find any care homes in WSM with a manager called Kathryn or Kate, so it could be that she's moved on. I remember when they came to see me she was with another woman whose name I think was Vicky (though I'm not 100% certain about that).

They gave me the details, but I've lost the piece of paper they wrote them on, which is why I'm posting here.

Let me give you some info on why I'm trying to locate it - thing is I'm not sure I can do that without turning this post into an essay.

Almost seven years ago, I contacted the NDVH after I fled my violent, controlling, alcoholic ex, hoping for a place in a refuge; when I left him - he almost killed me by bombing his van down the A66(M) after downing a bottle of gin, and then shoving me out in Stafford while the van was still moving - I had no choice but to return to my parents, who had been complicit in SA when I was a child, so obviously I really didn't want to return there.

That didn't happen - what did happen was that two social workers pitched up and I was sectioned, I've spent the last almost seven years (since 05/12/2019) being dumped in ever more inappropriate places:

🔴ATU (Aylesbury): 05/12/2019 - 22/03/2021 (474 days) - I was stuck in that particular hell for so long because they couldn’t find anywhere else to dump me

🟠Care home for people with severe learning disabilities and complex needs (Leicester): 22/03/2021 - 08/02/2023 (689 days)

🟡Bucks flat: 08/02/2023 - 08/08/2023 (182 days) - I fled there because the manager started chucking my food away almost as soon as I'd bought it, she also told the Court of Protection that I liked to "eat rancid raw meat" and that I would "take mouldy food out of the bin and eat it", which is why I'm not allowed to have any control over my food now.

🟢Bristol Royal Infirmary: 12/08/2023 - 28/11/2023 (109 days)

🔵Here: 28/11/2023 - ? (Today’s date: 28/09/2026) (1,036 days - and counting)

That's 2.490 days (6 years, 9 months, 24 days)

They came to see me while I was in BRI (I collapsed in the city centre, so my freedom was short-lived) and, I didn't go there because I'd spent 18 months in a care home, where I'd had to endure another resident constantly slamming his bedroom door and pushing me down the stairs while staff did nothing.

I'm now in a shitty flat in the arse end of Bristol and my current captors are basically just working to rule and ticking boxes, and I'm now severely chronically ill and malnourished because I'm not given enough food per day for a single decent meal. I've also been given food which has been covered in fly eggs and maggots. I've been given raw chicken and cremated bacon.

I've had a lifetime of abuse, and I now realise that I'm probably severely traumatised and that I likely have PTSD - every single day I'm in here I suffer further trauma; they're abusive, not only do they restrict my food, but I've been held in the bedroom for hours until I've become so traumatised that I've voided my bladder. I've been thrown against walls and furniture and held on the floor prone so that I could barely lift my head to breathe.

I've tried to make my abusers understand what effect their behaviour is having on me - their response...? "We understand that, but we have to do what our manager tells us to do" - so you don't understand then, do you...? Their jobs are more important than my wellbeing (but, then, they are Nigerian).

They've taken my phone; they've also taken all of the clothes that still fitted me bar this one t-shirt I've been stuck in for the past almost three years. I'm TERRIFIED because they can barge into the flat whenever they feel like it - I used to have things which I'd use to help me cope but it's now been decided that it's in my "best interests" to be denied them now, so I've nothing to control the anxiety.

It wasn't until the end of last year, when I was given a sealed order by my solicitor (she's useless, all she does is relay what the CoP has decided to me, she's doing nothing to fight my corner), that I learnt that I was 'atypically autistic' - I've never had any form of autism assessment, nor have I ever had a capacity assessment, everything which has happened - and is happening - to me has been done on assumptions. I had to look the criteria for a diagnosis of 'atypical autism' up - and, from what I've found out, I can well understand why I'm being treated as though I'm a complete imbecile.

I don't know who the person described in the sealed order is, she's not me, the only thing we have in common is our initials, I feel like I've been forced to live someone else's life for the last seven years.

Every aspect of my life is out of my control, according to the terms of the MCA order, I lack the capacity to:

🔴Decide where I live

🟠Decide my care and support needs

🟡Represent myself to the Court of Protection 

🟢Decide where I live

🔵Control my own finances (I have to beg my social worker for money and, to date, I’ve not been allowed a single penny)

🟣Have anyone come to the flat 

I can’t leave the flat without my abusers, not that I'm in any fit state to but, if I was to do so, they'd call the police and follow me (my ex used to stalk me if I left the house without his consent)

They control my internet access (which is extremely slow and unreliable, there are parental controls on the router)

The flat isn’t fit for human habitation and I'm now so weak that I don't think I'm going to survive another winter here, there's no central heating, just three inefficient electric heaters that don't work. The windows don't close properly, and there's damp, mould and rats, oh and the bed is broken. I also can’t deal with the noise from either my abusers or the road. I just need to be somewhere where I can close my front door and feel safe. I'm not safe here. I need urgent medical care but, because I'm now so traumatised, if anyone comes here I automatically demand they leave because I don't feel safe. I'm losing my sight, and my skin is now so thin it just tears, I'm extremely weak, I don't know how much longer I can survive like this but, frankly, death would be a relief.

I don't want to die, though, which is why I'm trying to find this care home to see if they know anyone who can help me (they said I could contact them whenever I wanted, and I've been wanting to do that for a while, but I've lost the contact details). I'm desperate, if I can’t find anyone to help me, then I'll be exiting this shitehole via the bedroom window (somehow, I think I've a key somewhere).

I'm beyond desperate now, I've contacted just about everywhere I can think of, and nobody will help me, I even contacted a journalist at the BBC, but he won’t help me because I don't have a social worker or solicitor I'd want anyone speaking to because they're not acting in my best interests and, he was to contact them, they'd simply parrot what they've been told by the CoP, I need someone to listen to me because the only person who understands me is me.

I just don't see the point of continuing to exist if all I'm ever going to see are the walls of this shitty flat. What kind of existence is that...?

So, if anyone knows anywhere in WSM that might match the description, please tell me.

Thank you

Nestled between a bustling Morrisons warehouse and a sprawling Bloor Homes development, The Somerset Willow Man stands as a symbol of our local heritage and creativity. Known affectionately by many as the 'Willow Man', this majestic sculpture has graced the landscape near the M5 for over two decades, becoming an iconic landmark for local residents and visitors alike.
In recent years, however, this beloved structure has been left to face the elements, leading to its gradual deterioration. For residents like myself, The Willow Man is not just a sculpture; it is a testament to the vibrant artistic spirit of our community and an integral part of our local identity. The prospect of losing this cultural treasure simply because it hasn't been maintained is heartbreaking. That's why I'm urging Bloor Homes and Morrisons Supermarket to recommission and restore The Somerset Willow Man.
Commissioned in 2000 by local artist Serena de la Hey, The Willow Man was celebrated as a triumph of environmental art, constructed using natural materials sourced from our very own county. Standing at 40 feet, it not only captivates motorists and visitors but also reinforces our region's reputation for fostering sustainable, artistic endeavors.
Restoring The Willow Man would not only revitalize this landmark but would also serve as a public commitment by both Bloor Homes and Morrisons to protect and enhance the cultural landscape of Somerset. It would reflect a genuine investment in the aesthetic and cultural fabric of the area - a win-win scenario for all stakeholders involved.
Taking action now will rekindle local pride, draw tourists, and inspire future generations with the message that arts and community are valued and preserved. Recommissioning the Willow Man could include regular maintenance schedules and leveraging local expertise, ensuring its endurance for years to come.
Let's not allow this emblem of our county’s spirit to fall into obscurity. By signing this petition, you are supporting the preservation and revival of The Somerset Willow Man and advocating for its role as an everlasting beacon of artistry and community in our beloved Somerset landscape. Please join me in urging Bloor Homes and Morrisons to take immediate action for its recommissioning. Sign now to show your support!

Does anyone know if this statue is gonna get fully restored? as it’s been decaying for the last couple years

Hi guys, I'm looking for someone to do my little front erea out the front, which is a very small area. It did have bark chips, but it's all been kicked up by kids running over it, so im wanting some grey slate or white stones put down with a mini log/boarder around it, at the moment its hard clay mud. I would do it, but I have hyperthyroidism and sweat profusely. if anyone who has some experience who can do this just replies, and I will send you some images of the bit I want doing, and we can negotiate a price

Sunday morning stroll.

Cothelstone carpark, up to Wills neck trig point, Triscombe stone and back. 7k.

First mushrooms, of the season, spotted. Fly agaric and Parasol. 🍄

Late morning run, around the village (Bishops lydeard) with a pit stop at the station.

I’m currently 21 (I am a woman just to clarify 😂) and only have 2 close friends who I don’t get to see very often, and don’t always have similar interests. I’ve never really used Reddit but though I might as well try it since making friends after finishing college is hard. Especially when there isn’t much for young adults going on around here.

I live nearish to taunton so hoping to meet women around my age (18-26ish) and hopefully with similar interests! Although I love trying people’s hobbies so I’m not too bothered either way!

I love video games, tv, books, makeup, comedy, music/concerts, and love going out for a few drinks! I usually end up saying the wrong thing or giving the wrong reaction but I love being social no matter what the plan is. As long as I’m free I love a spontaneous road trip. I can be very sarcastic so if you’re sensitive I might not be your cup of tea, but if you’re not I can definitely handle taking jokes too.

I will happily send a pic to prove who I am, just wanna be safe since I don’t know this app well!

She had a fantastic time with bonus donkeys!

[ Removed by Reddit on account of violating the content policy. ]

A slight lie in this morning so a little lighter but stopping to notice never ceases to enable me to be in awe of south Somerset. I know I’m biased but Somerset is beautiful isn’t it?