We had another trip today – this time it was to Ilminster, “Ilminster is a market town and civil parish in the South Somerset district of Somerset, England, with a population of 5,808,” says Wikipedia. Husband had a gig there with WUPS, the Weston Ukulele Players, last Friday evening at the Warehouse Theatre and he told me it had seemed an interesting town, from the little he had seen of it, hence our trip.
It’s only about forty miles away, so it should have been forty-five minute journey – except that the motorway was closed because of an accident. So somewhat later than anticipated we drove into Ilminster, past the theatre, then had a circular tour in search of a carpark – as directed by a sign, and ended up parking on the street. In fact we parked opposite a pub – and in fact we went took some refreshment there, sitting in the sunshine under the pub name – The Dolphin! Our village pub, The Dolphin, is five minutes from the sea, this one was rather further away.
Ilminster – which is named from the River Isle, is a lovely town, but we only had time to amble up and down the main street, stopping to take photos and buy cheese from the cheese shop (Dorset Blue Vinny and Devon Red). Many of the buildings are constructed of hamstone (I think – quarried from Ham Hill near Yeoville) which has a soft gold colour giving the town a warm and friendly feel. There is a magnificent church, known as the Minster, dedicated to St Mary and dating from C15 – we will have to return so I can go inside and find out more about its history.
Fortunately, the roads and motorway had cleared of traffic and we had an easy run home. We couldn’t have stayed longer in pretty Ilminster, because husband had a rehearsal with WUPs – who had brought us to the town in the first place!
PS the roses in my featured image smelt as wonderful as they looked, and for some reasons the clouds look far more menacing than they actually were!
Lois Elsden 