After exploring the castle and its grounds we followed the paths which led us down to the unique medieval village of Dunster, with a good selection of shops, museums, galleries, restaurants, pubs and tearooms offering a wide range of local produce, artwork and interesting things to see. We stopped off at The Stags Head Inn for a bite to eat and if your after a hearty taste of British food then I would recommend the ploughman's lunch, consisting of local Somerset cheese (or ham, or both), a surprisingly yummy rhubarb chutney, mixed salad, pickled onions, gherkins, freshly sliced apple along with crusty bread and warm melted butter. Perfect midday snack served and enjoyed anywhere across the Southwest of England.
Afterwards we walked on further into the village towards the centre and came across The Parish and Priory Church of St George dating back to 1097. Although founded as a priory church, as the town of Dunster grew in size and prosperity as result of the wool trade, pressure increased for the townsfolk to have their own (parish) church which led to a dispute between the town and the priory but was later resolved. Hence why it is now called The Parish 'and' The Priory. On exiting (or entering) the church there is a visitors book where you can record your visit and add little notes along with a donation box, perfect opportunity to get rid of your loose change and support the community.
The last stop of our visit was at the Dunster Dolls Museum where there was a collection of over 800 dolls from around the world, based on the collection of the late Mollie Hardwick who started the collection in 1957. Following her death in 1970, the collection was given to the Memorial Hall Committee who turned the doll family into its very own museum. It was quite interesting seeing dolls from different cultures and categorised into periods of time, I particularly liked the Tudor dolls of King Henry Vlll and Queen Elizabeth l.
Did you know??!!
- The hymn 'All Things Bright and Beautiful' was written by Cecil Alexander while visiting Dunster. She took inspiration from the surrounding area. Dunster castle is mentioned in the hymn and the lyrics 'purple headed mountain, The river running by' refers to Grabbist Hill and the River Avill which runs through the village.
