Somerset Day | Flying the Flag for Somerset (original) (raw)
Join us to celebrate Somerset Day 2025
We thrive on inspiring and empowering communities and businesses and all who live and work in Somerset to share a passion for Somerset and to encourage them to celebrate all the county has to offer.
Celebrate Somerset Day 2025 over the weekend of 10th & 11th May
Join in the Big Somerset Picnic and fly the flag for Somerset !
In the lead up to, and over, the second weekend in May we celebrate the economy, history, heritage, beauty and culture of Somerset.
Our 2024 celebrations were the biggest yet, with the Association of British Counties saying "Somerset Day is now rivalling Yorkshire Day and Lancashire Day for its reach across the county"
Watch this space for details of our exciting plans for 2025 to be announced later in the summer !
© visions of Somerset
Show your support with our official merchandise
Show your pride in our County and join us in turning Somerset into a sea of Somerset flags and more on and around May 11th.
Championing Somerset locally, nationally and internationlly
Find out more about how we inspire and empower communities and businesses and foster aspirations in our beautiful county
Just click the button below and enter the details of your event on the form - and we will publish it for free on our interactive events map.
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Enjoy exclusive benefits, insider updates and unique opportunities that celebrate and support the local community, all while contributing to the ongoing celebration of Somerset's rich heritage and vibrant culture. Find out more about Passion for Somerset on our website.
The latest news from around the county
See what some of Somerset’s ‘champions’ have to say about our great county
Somerset is the story of my wonderful life. Born 84 years ago here in Pilton, surrounded by dairy cows from the start. Chapel twice a week and the highlights of the summer were trips to Burnham on the train through the beautiful Somerset levels, where thousands of wading birds would rise from the water to the sound of the oncoming steam-train. In Burnham we played our hot summer days on the beach, riding donkeys and watching Punch and Judy. Pretty Somerset girls to take to Bridgwater fair every year and the one I chose to marry, I married in Burnham Methodist chapel. So, you can see why I love Somerset so much!
Michael Eavis CBE
Glastonbury Festival
I love Somerset above all other counties in England. In particular, it has the best National Park in the whole world – Exmoor – where I have spent the happiest days of my life.
Sir Ranulph Fiennes
Explorer
I love Somerset because it’s where I feel most myself
James Purefoy
Actor
I have lived in Somerset for thirty-four years, longer than I lived in Yorkshire. Somerset has everything that I left behind when I moved here (or else I would never have been tempted away from Yorkshire). Somerset is so beautiful: it has hills, moors, a gorge, caves and a coastline. It has castles, cathedrals, grand estates and cottages. It has a wealth of wildlife in the woods, waterways and wetlands. I never tire of its beauty, there is always something to see throughout every season. Most of all what I like about Somerset is that the people made us welcome and continue to do so. As a head teacher I was always supported by my lovely parents as together we looked after their children.
Valerie Stones
GBBO contestant
Somerset is my birthplace, my home, it is part of my soul. Murmurations of starlings; sunrise behind the silhouette of Glastonbury Tor; the glow on the evening horizon from a trillion Carnival-float light bulbs or the throbbing heartbeat of the headline Festival act on a still summers night – these are the essence of my Somerset.
Roger Saul
Owner of Kilver Court
Everything about the word ‘Somerset’ conjures up images that cheer and inspire, that melt the heart and ease the mind. For once, it’s a word and a county that doesn’t disappoint.
Martin Roberts
TV presenter, Property Expert and Journalist
I’m very proud to live in Somerset and wholeheartedly recommend the quality of life it has to offer. Somerset Day is a fitting tribute to celebrate this big and beautiful county, so come along on 11th May and find out for yourself.
Kevin McCloud
MBE
“Somerset is full of such amazing traditions, such as the Wassail Ceremony, which reminds people today of the county’s cider making heritage and how lucky we are to have such a wealth of apple orchards across the county. I am Somerset born and bred, my Great Grandfather was a farmer on the very same Myrtle Farm where we still make our cider today. I’m so proud of the heritage of our family that we’re now carrying on into our fifth generation, we can honestly say we are living our heritage.
We’re looking forward to once again being part of this year’s Somerset Day celebrations, and joining with groups, organisations, businesses and individuals across the county in flying the flag for Somerset.”
Martin Thatcher
Fourth generation cider maker
It’s an honour and a privilege to be patron of Somerset Day and I have great admiration for it’s foundation and for those who run it each year. It is a celebration of this unique and wonderful county, the like of which exists nowhere else in the world, and of the marvellous people who live here.
Her Majesty's Lord Lieutenant of Somerset, Mrs Annie Maw
Somerset is a county of stunning contrasts. The Levels or Wetlands often take on a mystical, medieval aspect, especially in a soft autumn mist. The Quantocks grip you with an austere and rugged beauty, offering walkers fabulous views to the east and west, and north across the Bristol channel to Wales. Exmoor, the land of RD Blackmore’s Lorna Doone, oozes romance with its dramatic seascapes, its stark moorland, hidden coombs, rushing streams and leafy woodlands. And then there are the beech-clad Blackdown Hills, the quieter, gentler uplands of our county.
Kit Chapman MBE
Proprietor of the Castle Hotel Taunton
I was deeply honoured to be asked to be a patron of Somerset Day. I’ve always felt it was an inspired idea to promote our beautiful county which, in my opinion, is too often under-sold. Somerset truly is a great county to live, work and play and anything I can do to shout about that I will!
Clinton Rogers DL
former BBC Points West Correspondent
Our Patrons
We are fortunate to have amazing Patrons who are as passionate about our County as we are
Mr Mohammed Saddiq, His Majesty's Lord Lieutenant of Somerset; Mrs Anne Maw, CVO; His Grace the Duke of Somerset DL; The Rt Revd Michael Beasley, Bishop of Bath and Wells; The Rt Revd Ruth Worsley, Bishop of Taunton; Sir Michael Eavis CBE, founder of Glastonbury Festival; Clinton Rogers DL; Edward Bayntun-Coward DL.
