Local restaurants
The Garden Café in Frome is a lovely spot for Sunday breakfast (especially alfresco, in summer), specialising in natural, organic food. Its cakes are rib-stickingly good (+44 (0)1373 454178). Not far away, in Mells, The Talbot Inn is a 15th-century coaching inn, serving a hearty menu of British game and seafood (+44 (0)1373 812254). Plump for Cornish mussels, a Somerset ploughman’s, or pitch up on a Sunday afternoon for a classic roast. The Tythe Barn bar has casks of real ale and 600-year-old oak beams (+44 (0)1373 812254).
Worth getting out of bed for
Hop on a bike (the hotel has several stately cycles to borrow) and set off for the rolling Somerset countryside. Rural pursuits, such as horse riding and clay shooting can be arranged at the Wellow Trekking Centre (01225 834376) and there’s a golf club, Orchardleigh, in Frome (01373 454200). Longleat stately home, butterfly house, and safari park is a 20-minute drive (01985 844328; www.longleat.co.uk).
Diary
August Up, up and away for the Bristol International Balloon Fiesta (0117 953 5884; www.bristolfiesta.co.uk). Glastonbury Classical Festival offers the more sedate side of the musical spectrum (01458 832020; www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk/classical).
Join us – it's free!
Sign up now for exclusive hotel offers, money back on every booking, and Smith extras (like the one below) whenever you book with us.
Smith extra at Babington House
A bottle of Cowshed's Horny Cow Seductive Bath & Massage Oil
From the Guestbook…
There had been so much hype around Babington House that we were worried that it wouldn't live up to our expectations. However, the minute we walked in, we could tell that it would ...
more
