Last Friday was Somerset Day and so, officially, the day to celebrate everything that is so wonderful about our county. To mark the occasion the County Council ran the ‘World Cup of Somerset’ in which people would vote via polls on Twitter for their favourite things about our county.
Our part of Somerset did very well indeed. The Cathedral, Glastonbury Tor and Cheddar Gorge might have lost out in very tight heats but Glastonbury Festival, Hot Fuzz and Rebels Speedway all featured prominently in the finals and semi-finals. The eventual winner was Hot Fuzz.
This of course means nothing - it was just a bit of fun on Twitter - but some of the responses people were posting were really Illuminating. Our county is loved by so many living elsewhere. Again and again, people were asking about Cheddar or Wookey Hole caves recalling amazing visits from their schooldays. People were talking about the beaches at Burnham, Berrow and Brean, their favourite cider farm, the most picturesque village, the incredible nature reserves or the splendour of the Mendip Hills and the Levels.
I think we know that we live in a pretty breathtaking part of the world. I love so much about our county but the thing I always stop for is when very early in the morning, there’s a fog hanging low over the levels and from the road running between Axbridge and Wells you’ve enough elevation to look out and see a sea of white with just trees, church towers, hills and the Tor rising above. It is truly spectacular.
So may I belatedly wish you a happy Somerset Day and in so doing offer my thanks and congratulations to all who make our county such an incredible place to visit. They have plenty of stunning natural landscape to work with but the stewardship of our countryside, the maintenance of our historical buildings, the production of amazing food and drink, and the warmth of a Somerset welcome are all man made and make our county so loved by so many.