Bishops Lydeard

Bishops Lydeard is a village that took its name from a medieval bishop and has been quietly running out of things to happen ever since. The railway station is the pride of the place and the trains on it do not go anywhere useful, which tells you most of what you need to know about the local relationship between charm and function. It sits close enough to Taunton that you can pretend you have escaped, and far enough that the escape costs you twenty minutes of B-road every time you want anything after six o'clock. People who move here for the quiet get exactly the quiet they asked for, and a surprising number of them are startled by it.