WELCOME TO BABCARY PARISH COUNCIL
Somerset Village of the Year 2018
Babcary Parish Council covers the civil parish of Babcary in Somerset including the hamlets of Foddington and Steart and lies within the South Somerset District Council area. For the reader unfamiliar with Babcary; it is a small village of about 250 people, surrounded by very gently undulating farmland, mainly dairy and sheep with some arable. Many of the fields still show signs of the medieval ridge and furrow ploughing and the mostly small fields are enclosed by many miles of hedgerow. The River Cary, from which the village gets its name, is a small stream that wends its way gently through the parish.
Babcary is an unspoilt farming village with simple unadorned cottages of local blue lias (grey) limestone with red clay roof tiles which have a subtle charm of their own. It was once described as being “as peaceful and inconsequential as a daisy” which in many ways is absolutely true. Babcary sits within sight of Glastonbury Tor, close by the old Roman road, the Fosse Way, between the Somerset Levels and the hillier country towards Wincanton.
The settlement is widely dispersed by hamlets at Higher and Lower Foddington and Steart and many quite isolated farmhouses but at the heart of the village lies Main Street, bounded at each end by the pillars of community life; the ancient thatched inn, the Red Lion, at one end and by the beautiful medieval church of Holy Cross at the other