A little to the south of Bath sits the pretty village of South Stoke.
It consists of a tumble of buildings on a hillside facing south, including many that are listed for protection.The buildings
are mainly built of local cream-coloured limestone, which shines in the
sunshine and, at the village centre, are an ancient pub, an old church, and a strong
sense of community.
The Somerset Coal Canal used to run near by. Traces of it can be found in the adjacent woods and fields.
During the
lock-down, the pub, the Pack Horse – a community-run project – set itself up to
provide a range of basic groceries to the local community (and some drinks) –
handing them out on a trestle table outside the main door to help maintain social
distancing.
Elsewhere, in an old vault, a help-yourself village shop was established
providing things like flour, which was very hard to find elsewhere.
Anyway,
here are a few images of the village and the countryside around it in mid-summer.
The Priory - a touch of Gothic Tudor in the centre of the village.
A pretty gate-house (also with a touch of Gothic) - The Lodge (somewhere behind lurks a major manor).
The village shop (temporary)
Another view of The Rectory.
Here is the Packhorse.
And some hollyhocks.
Wonderful adjacent countryside.
Another view of the the shop.
Door panel - The Priory
View toward the old barn.
St James the Great
And some dates:
The Priory was built around 1860
St James the Great dates back to the 14th century
The Pack Horse - largely rebuilt 1674 and became a pub in the mid 1800s.
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