WithamCamp

There are some big-hitting attractions to explore locally, starting perhaps with a day of animal encounters and driving safaris at Longleat (20 minutes by car), where you can get impressively close to lions, tigers and elephants. You can also easily spend a day touring the National Trust’s Stourhead (15 minutes), a splendid Palladian mansion with Henry Hoare-designed water gardens and a myriad of woodland glades to stroll. The micro-city of Wells (35 minutes) also has much to offer in the shape of a flamboyant Gothic-era cathedral and the moated 13th-century Bishop’s Palace, while lovers of architecture will can tour ancient Roman baths and sweeping crescents of Georgian-era mansions in handsome Bath (45 minutes). Happy to discover Somerset step by step? Walk up to Alfred’s Tower, a soaring folly built in 1722 and with sterling views stretching into Dorset and Wiltshire. You can also have a nose around The Deverills, a string of pretty villages set on quiet lanes surrounded by open farmland and wooded valleys.