01 / Guide
Visiting the Manor House Inn
Find the Manor House Inn on Wraxall Road, Ditcheat, plan an arrival from Castle Cary station and contact the pub about access, tables or overnight stays.
Somerset & the village
In the village of Ditcheat
Explore Ditcheat through its parish church, the buildings around Wraxall Road and a cheesemaking tradition that began at Maryland Farm in 1833.
Enter Ditcheat from the direction of Shepton Mallet or Castle Cary and a cluster of buildings gives the village centre its shape. The most prominent landmark is the church tower. At street level, the inn’s red-brick frontage and the windows of the houses nearby tell a different story about materials, workmanship and changing tastes.
Finding the centre of the church
Many English churches have their tower at the western end. At St Mary Magdalene the tower rises over the crossing, where the nave meets the transepts. Walk far enough around the outside to see how its position relates to the rest of the roof. Look up for the pinnacles at its corners and the clock on its southern side. The substantial porch also has a floor above its entrance.
Historic England identifies work from the twelfth through to the fifteenth centuries and a restoration in the nineteenth. Its entry records a medieval painting of St Christopher in the north aisle and fan vaulting beneath the tower. If the church is open to visitors, those details reward a closer look. For current parish information, consult the parish council.
Two buildings with similar names
A search for the manor can lead you to two different listings. The Manor House Inn, the pub on Wraxall Road, has pointed arches in its older frontage and stone window divisions in the nineteenth-century addition. A separate property is recorded as Ditcheat House or Ditcheat Manor. Historic England dates its core to the early seventeenth century and describes its conversion into flats. Use the inn’s name and address for directions. The manor house entry is a record of a domestic building and offers no visitor access arrangements.
A village that makes cheese
The Barber family traces its cheesemaking at Maryland Farm to Daniel Barber in 1833. What started as cheddar made for a household and its farm workers grew to draw milk from neighbouring farms. It is one reason the name Ditcheat appears on food counters well beyond Somerset. Read the cheesemaker’s account for the story of the dairy, or use the food and drink guide to find the inn’s current menus.
For a sense of the land around these buildings, compare the views in the photographic archive before choosing a second stop from the nearby places guide.