The secret life of Somerset

From Cheddar Gorge to Glastonbury, this ancient county’s splendour bounces off every page of a lusciously illustrated book

Say ‘Somerset’ and the chances are someone else will come straight back with ‘It’s all a bit Notting Hill these days, isn’t it?’ With plenty of celebrity second-homers and more restaurants than you can shake an artisanal bread stick at, it’s easy to imagine the county as nothing more than a picture-perfect rural playground for the rich and famous. But as Fanny Charles and Gay Pirrie-Weir (right) show in this lusciously illustrated deep-dive into one of Britain’s most ancient counties, there’s a lot more to Somerset than Glastonbury.

Right through the 20th Century, Somerset has drawn internationally renowned artists including Bernard Leach, the most famous potter of post-war Britain, whose studio continues to produce the hand-thrown, woodfired pots and pans that have pride of place in kitchens around the world. Then there is the Coates family, who for generations have run a willow farm near Taunton. Not only do they harvest the willows from the waterlogged moor, but they craft them into a range of goods, from traditional baskets to coffins for ‘green’ funerals. And they make the frames on which the British Army’s bearskins keep their shape when not in use.

Perhaps most famously, Clarks shoes was set up by Somerset Quakers in the early 1800s. Their first invention was furry slippers, made from offcuts of sheepskin. Since then there’s been everything from school shoes to the iconic Desert Boot, created in 1950 by Nathan Clark. Less well known is the fact that Somerset produces some of the finest machine lace in the world. Sixty-five bobbinet operators produce two million square metres of material a year. It’s not just for wedding dresses and high couture, either. The fabric is also used to make parachutes, wig webbing and medical dressings.

What of the food? Somerset is synonymous with cider and cheddar, and in recent years both have gone global. The authors interview James Keen, a fifth-generation cheddarmaker at the 16th Century Moorhayes family farm. The secret to his international, award-winning clothbound cheddar – which takes its name from the village at the edge of Cheddar Gorge – is unpasteurised milk, which gives it a complex, nutty flavour that qualifies it as what the authors call ‘one of the world’s great artisan foods’. Other makers have branched out into soft cheeses, while one, a former music industry pro, has invented a new cheese called Renegade Monk, based on techniques practised by medieval monks in France and Belgium (clue: it involves adding beer).

Then there is the landscape itself, which has never looked lovelier than in the beautiful photographs in this book. You’ll find everything here, from the famously lush Somerset Levels to the heathlands of the Quantocks, where the Romantic poets Wordsworth and Coleridge met and learned to love nature, and not forgetting Glastonbury Tor, the conical hill whose origins remain mysterious. The coastline veers from the dramatic cliffs

of Exmoor at Porlock Weir to the holiday sands of Weston-super-Mare.

Deepest Somerset is crammed with interviews from local people explaining what the county means to them (there’s even an introduction from the Prince of Wales, lauding those in the county committed to traditional farming practices), and their love and enthusiasm bounces off every page.