Dunster is one of the best-preserved medieval villages in England, nestling on the edge of Exmoor National Park, in west Somerset, a few kilometres from the sea. With fewer than a thousand inhabitants, a red castle on the hill, an old covered market and stone houses with slate roofs, it looks like a village that time forgot.
The castle
Dunster Castle dominates the village from a wooded hill. For more than six hundred years, from 1376 to 1976, it was the home of the Luttrell family, who turned it from a medieval fortress into an elegant country house, now run by the National Trust. You can visit the furnished rooms, with decorated ceilings, a grand 17th-century staircase of carved wood and painted leather hangings, and the terraced gardens, where subtropical plants grow thanks to the mild climate. In the grounds are an old watermill still working and grinding flour, and the medieval Gallox Bridge for packhorses.
The village
The heart of the village is the broad High Street, with the Yarn Market, an octagonal timber covered market of 1609, where the woollen cloth that made Dunster's fortune was sold. Along the street are old houses, tea rooms and shops. The church of St George, of medieval origin, has one of the longest wooden rood screens in England, and behind it hides a small garden with an old dovecote. On the hill opposite the castle stands Conygar Tower, an 18th-century folly.
Events and surroundings
In early December the Dunster by Candlelight festival lights up the village with candles and lanterns, with stalls, choirs and a procession. The West Somerset Railway, a heritage steam railway linking Bishops Lydeard with the seaside resort of Minehead, one of the longest heritage lines in England, passes through Dunster. Exmoor National Park offers moorland, wooded valleys, wild red deer and ponies, and in 2011 it became Europe's first Dark Sky Reserve, ideal for stargazing. Nearby, the village of Selworthy, with its thatched cottages, Porlock and the little medieval clapper bridge of Tarr Steps are worth a visit.
Practical information
Dunster is reached by car or by bus from Minehead and Taunton, and in summer by the West Somerset Railway's steam trains. It is best to park at the entrance to the village and explore it on foot.
See also Bridgwater, Glastonbury and Exeter.