Chard

Chard makes an unhurried, well-placed base for a Somerset stay, sitting at the meeting point of Somerset, Devon and Dorset and giving easy access to the Blackdown Hills, the Jurassic Coast and the countryside around Forde Abbey without the premium prices of the coast itself. As the highest town in Somerset, it has a slightly cooler, breezier feel than the Somerset Levels below, and its wide Georgian high street is lined with independent shops, cafés and traditional inns, several of which offer comfortable rooms above a good bar and restaurant. This is a practical, unpretentious town rather than a chocolate-box tourist stop, which tends to mean better value and a warmer welcome for visitors who want to explore rather than just sightsee.

Hotel and inn accommodation in Chard tends towards small, independently run establishments — think converted coaching inns and Georgian townhouses rather than large chain hotels — along with bed and breakfasts in the surrounding villages. Nearby Hornsbury Mill offers rooms in a converted watermill setting a short drive from the centre, while the Bath House Hotel in town combines comfortable rooms with a well-regarded restaurant using locally sourced ingredients. Further out towards the Blackdown ridge, country inns such as The Windwhistle Inn pair rooms with sweeping views over the Somerset and Devon countryside.

Wherever you base yourself, Chard puts you within easy striking distance of Forde Abbey's gardens, the Iron Age hillfort at Castle Neroche, the East Devon coast around Axminster and Lyme Regis, and the wider Blackdown Hills National Landscape — making it a sensible, central choice for touring this corner of the South West.

Chard rewards a slow explore, and its surrounding countryside adds walking, gardens and history in equal measure. Highlights include:

• Chard Museum — housed in a row of 16th-century listed cottages, this community-run museum tells the story of the town's lace industry, its inventors including John Stringfellow, and the Chard Canal, alongside changing local history displays.
• John Stringfellow and the birthplace of powered flight — look out for the plaques and memorials around town marking the site of Stringfellow's 1848 flying machine trial, a genuinely under-sung moment in aviation history.
• Forde Abbey and Gardens — a few miles south of town, this former 12th-century Cistercian monastery turned stately home sits within 30 acres of award-winning gardens, complete with a 160-foot gravity-fed fountain, a walled kitchen garden and a well-regarded café.
• St Mary's Church — a Grade I-listed parish church in the heart of Chard, notable for its 15th-century tower and richly carved stonework.
• Chard's Georgian and Victorian high street — one of the widest and longest in Somerset, lined with historic buildings, independent shops and the old lace-mill architecture that defines the town.
• Castle Neroche — an Iron Age hillfort later reworked into a Norman motte-and-bailey castle, set in Forestry England woodland on the edge of the Blackdown Hills with far-reaching views.
• The Blackdown Hills National Landscape — Chard sits right on the doorstep of this designated landscape of ridges, commons and quiet lanes, ideal for walking, cycling and picnicking.

Chard and its surrounding villages have a good spread of pubs and restaurants. The Bath House Hotel & Restaurant in town is known for locally sourced menus and a warm welcome, while Ye Olde Poppe Inn, one of the oldest pubs in England, serves up a traditional Sunday roast. Just outside town, Hornsbury Mill combines a converted watermill setting with a popular bar and restaurant, and The Windwhistle Inn on the Blackdown ridge is well loved for its views, gardens and carvery. For something different, A Lusitana brings authentic Portuguese cooking to the town centre, while The Squirrel Inn nearby serves a solid range of local ales and ciders alongside pub classics.

Chard sits on the edge of the Blackdown Hills, where rolling ridges, deep lanes and quiet farmland make for classic South Somerset camping country. As with anywhere in England, wild camping is not legal without the landowner's permission, so pitching up on open countryside or common land around Chard without first asking is best avoided — stick to licensed campsites and CL/CS sites, of which the wider Blackdown Hills and neighbouring West Dorset have a good spread, from simple farm fields to more established touring parks. Many of these are family-run affairs set within working farmland, offering a genuinely rural, unhurried alternative to the busier coastal sites further south.

The terrain around Chard is gently hilly rather than dramatic, with patchwork fields, hedgerows and pockets of ancient woodland such as that around Castle Neroche giving campers plenty of walking straight from the tent. The Blackdown Hills' network of quiet lanes and bridleways also makes the area well suited to cycling between pitches and villages, and its inland position means campsites here tend to be a little more sheltered than exposed coastal ground.

The best camping season runs from late spring through to early autumn, roughly May to September, when the days are longest and the countryside around Forde Abbey and the Blackdown ridge is at its most colourful; the ground can also stay heavy after wet Somerset winters, so shoulder-season pitching benefits from a site with good drainage. For those who would rather skip the tent pegs altogether, glamping has taken hold across this part of Somerset and Dorset, with shepherd's huts, safari tents and converted farm buildings increasingly available on the same farms that once ran purely as touring sites — a comfortable way to enjoy Chard's countryside setting without sacrificing a proper bed or bathroom.