Things to do near Ditcheat

A visit to Ditcheat can fit neatly around lunch, or form the start of a day in Bruton. How much time you have matters more than the number of stops. The parish church is part of the immediate setting of the inn. Bruton’s town centre and Durslade Farm give you two quite different destinations further east.

A short visit in the village

Look back from Wraxall Road towards the garden wall. From one angle the tower of St Mary Magdalene’s Church rises just beyond the brick frontage of the pub. Seen from the churchyard, the building that stood behind the inn in your first view becomes the subject. Compare the two viewpoints in the dated photograph collection. If there is a service or a private occasion, leave the interior for another visit.

An hour on Bruton High Street

Bruton Museum occupies the Dovecote Building at 26 High Street. It brings the story of the abbey into the town centre and keeps an unexpected trace of an American visitor, the desk used by John Steinbeck during his Somerset stay. The museum has short opening sessions. Check the museum’s visitor page before deciding which end of the day to spend there.

A longer stop at Durslade Farm

Hauser & Wirth Somerset is on Dropping Lane on the edge of Bruton. Its farm buildings now house galleries. Behind them is Oudolf Field, a planted meadow designed by Piet Oudolf. Give the garden its own time in the itinerary. The seasonal planting makes it a different visit from a walk round a building, particularly if the weather changes halfway through the afternoon.

Consult the gallery’s Somerset page for current exhibitions, garden access and opening days. If you have reserved a meal back in Ditcheat, allow for the trip from Durslade Farm itself as well as time spent in town.