Living and working in Somerset
There’s so much to our special county. Beautiful stretches of sandy coastline, caves, moors, the unique Somerset Levels, get-away-from-it-all areas of outstanding natural beauty, cool-list towns, internationally renowned art galleries and great food. And yes, cider. It’s all here. You’ll find historic villages and bustling market towns, rich heritage and history, sitting side-by-side with buzzing nightlife, great shopping and more family-friendly things-to-do than you can shake Merlin’s legendary staff at.
Culture
Somerset is alive with music, literature and art, from Glastonbury Festival and the much-loved Wurzels to landscapes that have been inspiring famous authors and poets for generations – not to mention cave art dating as far back as 7000 BC. Glastonbury Festival is the Big One. Attracting more than 170,000 people each year, it’s the UK’s most famous festival and has seen some of the world’s largest performers grace its iconic Pyramid Stage. But it’s not Somerset’s only headliner. Other must-sees include The Royal Bath & West Show, Wells Literature Festival, and Frome Festival.
Somerset is home to a staggering 11,500 listed buildings and 532 scheduled monuments, and a further 36 English Heritage Sites and 19 National Trust sites. You’ll also find a variety of museums, including Fleet Air Arm Museum, Haynes International Motor Museum, and the Roman Baths.
Transport links
So much is surprisingly easy to get to. Somerset enjoys a good road, rail and air travel network.
Travelling by car, the M5 and the A38 provide good access to the county from the Midlands, Wales and the North, as do the A303, A37 and A39 from the South and East. Trains run from destinations such as Manchester, Scotland, Birmingham, London Paddington and London Waterloo to Taunton, Yeovil and Bristol. You’ll also find national and international flights from and to Bristol and Exeter Airports, which are both easily accessible from the M5.
Somerset has easy access routes to the rest of the country:
- London is less than 2 hours away by train
- Exeter is just over half an hour by car
- Bristol is just under 30 minutes away by train
To find out more, head to Visit Somerset.
House and rental prices
House prices
In 2020, the most property sales in Somerset involved:
Detached properties: average price of £450,560
Semi-detached properties: average price of £285,530
Terraced properties: average price of £261,243
Somerset, with an overall average house price of £326,392, was similar in terms of sold prices to nearby Wiltshire (£319,768) but was cheaper than Bristol (£358,332) and Dorset (£367,191).
Data provided by RightMove.co.uk (2020)
Rental prices
In 2020, the most typical rental properties in Somerset included:
Rooms: average rent of £586 per month
Flat: average rent of £967 per month
House: average rent of £1395 per month
Data provided by Home.co.uk (2020)
Education in Somerset
There are 242 state primary schools, and 44 state secondary schools in Somerset. More than 90% of schools in Somerset are judged to be good or better, higher than the south west average of 89 per cent, and the national average of 84 per cent. (Figures from April 2018).
Somerset also has four FE colleges and plans to create a university centre. We also have wealth of universities on our doorstep, with Bournemouth University, University of Plymouth, University of Exeter, University of Bristol and UWE Bristol all within easy reach.
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