The Bridgwater Carnival is the largest of several carnivals which tour towns in central Somerset,…read moreto celebrate the anniversary of the 1605 gunpowder plot, when Guy Fawkes failed to blow up the English Houses of Parliament. The Carnival is a dramatic, illuminated procession of about 100 floats, each lit by thousands of light bulbs. Each float is built (in great secrecy) by a Carnival club representing a town, pub or place of work in the area, with widely varying themes. It claims to be the largest illuminated carnival in the world, attracting over 150,000 visitors. A unique feature of the Bridgwater Carnival is the tradition of 'squibbing', which takes place after the procession. Squibs are huge hand-held fireworks, and about 100 are lit at once in a dramatic (and slightly scary!) display. (The practice gives its name to the English expression of 'a damp squib', which refers to a non-event.) The entire event is organised by volunteers and raises money for charity. This also gives a rather attractive 'homely' feel, as entries vary from fabulous floats to individual children dressed up in odd constumes.. The web-site gives full details of how to watch the procession (early arrival is essential as many main roads are closed for the event) and alternative venues in the different towns of the circuit - Burnham-on-Sea, Wells, Glastonbury and Weston-super-Mare. The web-site also has a photograph gallery from previous processions and video clips of squibbing. Wikipedia has an excellent review of the history of the Carnival with some great photographs at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Country_Carnival

The Bridgwater Carnival has a long history in Bridgwater. Its always held on the Thursday nearest 5…read moreNovember in celebration of Guy Fawkes Day. Loads of the residents of Bridgwater and the surrounding towns and villages are involved with the carnival clubs and spend the year raising money and creating the carnival floats. Most of the floats now-a-days are technically quite impressive with loads of light bulbs and moving parts. A lot of effort is made with the floats and some of the tableus are very impressive. It is funny that there are the same themes every year, you can always bet on seeing carnival carts with the following themes; cowboys and indians, pirates, jesters, disney charactors and grown men dressed as babies! After the carnival is the Squibbing, a squib is a very large firework with a long wooden handle and 100 of these are lit and carried in a parade through the town centre, by Squibbers in old fashioned costumes.

I visited the Haynes International Motor Museum whilst on my holidays with the family and I was…read moreamazed at what Mr Haynes and is gang of volanteers had put together over the years. There are about 8 or 9 different halls just packed with vintage cars and motor cycles. It is worth anybodys money to pay it a visit if they are ever over that way. They also hire there cars out for special occasions at a very resonable price. If you were looking for something different for your wedding they also hold civil cerimomies there. It is also a very good venue for your birthday parties.

If I ever see Will Smith at a game, I'll be like "Yo, will!" I think someone must have said that a…read morelittle too loud to him at one of these games because then they renamed the entire town and team after it. Ah well. If you don't love my sense of humour yet... Yeo Vil. First-Hand Experience: I saw Yeovil play live at the Kassam in Oxford once... they were pretty good. I loved that their travelling fans were so loud and into it. Very nice people too. I've been to their home stadium as well but haven't yet seen them play there. In Yeoman's terms, this is a club that has no business being in League One, it's amazing that they are so high, and were even higher recently. Such a tiny little town in the middle of nowhere. Really punching above their weight, so good for them! Yay! They once played in front of more than 81,000 against Manchester United at Maine Road, temporarily shared with local rival Manchester City following the bombing of Old Trafford in the Second World War. Wtf? I didn't even know Old Trafford was bombed. Anyway, they play to less than 10k people, in lovely green and white with yellow away kits. Sort of like Celtic hoops. They were a non league side until the new millennium, at which point they jumped up 3 divisions in the course of 10 years, which is amazing. They've dropped back down one, now, though. But there's a real romance with this team doing so well, so good on them!

Art to Art is a place where you can go to decorate your own pottery items as gifts for others…read more There are loads of items to choose from e.g. mugs, plates, vases, coasters, pottery animals and, at Christmas, baubles. They provide the paint, you decorate and then come back at a later date when the items have been fired. This is particularly good for people with babies as you can make items with their hand or foot prints on them.

Usually the first week of Sept for 5 days. When I first…read moreapproached the site it was so huge it looked like a town on the hillside. Huge camp sites too. It has steam engines, tractors, heavy horses, rural games, hundreds of stalls, 3 craft marques, food areas, about 5 entertainment tents with differing music, a huge modern funfair, an auto jumble, a circus, a cinema, steam rollers, threshing, Veteran, Vintage & Classic Cars and Caravans, Vintage and Veteran Motorcycles, military vehicles, Bygons exhibition, The Sheep Show, can-can girls, and moremoremore. THE highlight of The Great Dorset Steam Fair is the old time steam Funfair. Annually, over 60 Showman's Engines with their gleaming, twisted, brass appear generating the light and power for the old roundabouts and swing-boats, and with 70 organs playing. Pure magic for any age!!!

Everyone in the area should visit the steam fair at least once in their life. It manages to bring…read moretogether stem engines, farm displays and the biggest fair ground as well as craft stalls and many food and drink tents. Parking is in the surrounding fields and there is plenty of it including camping facilities. There is a lot of traffic heading to the event so leave some extra time to add on to your journey. There really is something for everyone at the event and I am yet to find someone who hasn't enjoyed at least some part of it. Due to its enormous size be prepared for a lot of walking and some jolly old mud if the wether hasnt been that great.

I prefer The Brewhouse as they have better productions, but here they don't use adults for staff,…read moreso they employ the students at the school next to it. Most of the productions are not very good, and most are school productions. I would recommend The Brewgous eover here.

The Tacchi-Morris Arts Centre is a vibrant, multi-purpose, community based Arts Centre. We employ a…read moresmall full-time team and are very lucky to have loyal support from a dedicated army of volunteers (adults and young people) without whom we would not be able to keep our ticket prices and community class costs so low.

A tourist attraction and a camp site. Essentially, a place for a walk in the woods, with some basic…read morechildrens' play areas, a small lake to walk around and a small children's train. Also some picnic and BBQ locations. There's a small café on site. Cheap entry and fresh air are the main attractions, but it's a simple site which may not meet the expectations of modern youngsters. Roads leading to it sometimes drop to single lane so not for drivers who aren't comfortable with the idea of reversing down a country lane.

I really like this place, a must stop if your visiting the area. Great cider with free tastings…read morelocated in shop. Museum was full of old agricultural artifacts and there is also a cafe on site.

The museum is not worth the tour, it is just a nice free addition to the main attraction. Which is…read morethe shop with its free tasting of their amazing cider and local specialities. It is fabolous! Well worth a trip!