Local attractions
Flanked by two streams and a wide variety of good shops, Chard’s history
is imaginatively recounted in the museum at Godworthy House, which also
houses the Stringfellow Collection, celebrating the inventor of powered
flight. Chard Reservoir Nature Reserve and Hornsbury Mill with its
working wheel and landscaped water garden are not far from the town and
also worth visiting.
Forde Abbey (4.5 miles) Chard
This magnificent Cistercian monastery is a great setting for a day out.
The buildings seen today were all in existence in the Middle Ages. They
formed the abbot's and monks' quarters, their kitchen, refectories, and
their chapter house. The abbey church has gone, together with the guest
wing and three sides of the cloisters. There is a plant centre, gift
shop and pottery exhibition.
Horn Park Gardens (9 miles) Beaminster
Horn Park is in a breathtaking setting. The house was built in 1910 by a
pupil of Lutyens and beautiful, extensive gardens surround the house
with sweeping views down to the sea. Explore the plantsman's garden full
of unusual trees, shrubs and plants in rock and water gardens, terraces
and herbaceous borders, woodland garden, bluebell woods and a wild
flower meadow with over 160 species including orchids.
