Address: The Three Horseshoes, Batcombe, Shepton Mallet BA4 6HE; Manor House Inn, Wraxall Road, Ditcheat, Shepton Mallet BA4 6RB
Website: thethreehorseshoesbatcombe.co.uk; manorhouseinnditcheat.co.uk
Things to do in Bruton
A wine tasting at Wraxall Vineyard
Go wine tasting
Just over five miles west of Bruton is Wraxall Vineyard, where for over 50 years English wine has been made thanks to the mild south west climate and fertile soil. But under new ownership, there’s now a glass-fronted wine bar with views over the Mendip Hills serving sharing plates of West Country charcuterie and Somerset cheese. There’s a monthly guest chef series, pizza on the vines from Soul Dough on some Friday nights and ‘Summer Sundays’ with food trucks in situ to help wash down a glass of the vineyard’s sparkling rose.
Address: Wraxall Vineyard, Wraxall Road, Wraxall, Shepton Mallet BA4 6RQ
Website: wraxallvineyard.co.uk
Get your art fix
Weaving through each of the gallery spaces that spread across the farmstead at Hauser & Wirth is the ultimate corrector for any accusations of provinciality in the sticks: for over a decade, the farmstead has hosted a roster of boundary-breaking exhibitions from Martin Creed and Henry Moore to Allison Katz and Bharti Kher. Outside is landscape designer Piet Oudolf’s perennial meadow to explore and for the full immersion, book out the Durslade Farmhouse to stay in with its installations by Guillermo Kuitca and Pipilotti Rist and work by other Hauser & Wirth artists lining the walls. Before you leave, make a beeline for the Farm Shop across the courtyard to stock up on deliciously unessential supplies: bergamot and honey marmalade (made from the farm’s bees), foraged birch sap and tomato relish or nettle cordial, perhaps.
Address: Hauser & Wirth, Durslade Farm, Dropping Lane, Bruton BA10 0NL
Website: hauserwirth.com
Bruton High Street View, SomersetGetty Images
Shop the high street
Start slowly in the airy Smouk Interiors at the bottom of town, with its mismatch of giant kilim furniture, studded belts and wicker lampshades sourced from Morocco, before diving into Somerset’s natural soap brand Commune for a stock up. Nurse a coffee in the bookshop café the Stripy Duck; keep an eye on the workshops, exhibitions and retreats happening in Bruton local Natalie Jones’ understated The Space at Caro (Jones also has a perfectly crafted B&B in the centre of town); and at Rose & Lyons there’s denim from American Vintage, block print pyjamas and a good stock of Blundstone Boots for stomping through town and across the fields beyond.
