It's a pub with rooms in a pretty honey-stone village just outside Yeovil, and a walk from NT property Montacute; the perfect stop-off if you're doing the trek to the far West Country from London and don't want to do it all in one go. The Mason's Arms is a friendly, proper pub rather than a gastropub with designer pretensions, with hearty food and its own microbrewery (the beer was delicious, but the quantities the landlord makes are so small, you'll rarely find it anywhere else). The rooms have some luxury extras that you don't usually find in a pub stay (robes, decent toiletries), especially considering the price - £85 for a double, which included a great breakfast.
www.masonsarmsodcombe.co.uk/
41 Lower Odcombe Yeovil BA22 8TX, United Kingdom
+44(0)1935 862591
Google map: bit.ly/ScxjeO
Forget paying hundreds of pounds and travelling for hours to go to an overcrowded flooded field with stinking toilets and overpriced food. Start your own festival which can be as small or as large as you want - well OK, it's unlikely to be that massive. It is however a rewarding and fun project and can consist of a barbeque, a bonfire, a guitar and some friends. There are however hundreds of bands and DJ's out there willing to do things for free. For the last couple of years my friends and I have organised a little festival called Beekstock - everyone puts in £20, I get all the money and spend it on renting a sound system (last year we splashed out on a 30,000 watt motherload), getting lighting, stocking a bar etc, and the results can be amazing. OK, so it takes a lot of organising, but if you've got a some time off, go for it!
Anywhere
The ruins are under the hill but you can climb to the top of the hill and you have amazing views of the Somerset levels and on a clear day can see as far as Yeovil (20miles away).
Go to South Cadbury and there is a small car park just past the town on the left, directly opposite is a house. By the side of the house is the pathway leading up to the top of the hill. It is a steep climb and wellies or hiking boots a must (definitely nothing nice!)
From the ramparts of this huge prehistoric hill fort, the view opens up to the Somerset Levels below - mile upon mile of fields and hedges, and twelve miles away, the isolated shape of Glastonbury Tor. Whether in golden sunlight or winter mist, this is a magical view. This may or may not be King Arthur's Camelot, but it does sometimes feel as if it's on the frontiers of another world.
Five miles north west of Yeovil
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