WHAT is your hometown known for?

If you think of Stratford on Avon, Shakespeare is the obvious thing you associate with the town.

I would argue that many years ago Taunton was always recognised for being the home of Taunton Cider. I don’t feel we have anything these days to hang our hat on, and this is a shame.

We have just returned from Chester, where they are famous for its vast array of historic monuments, including its magnificent medieval city walls.

Chester's roots date back to Roman times, and the Vikings, Danes, Saxons, Scots, and Normans also occupied the settlement at various times. They have an amphitheatre and lots of evidence of when the Romans were in charge. They offer walking tours with a uniformed Roman Soldier who gave such a fabulous insight into Chester and how things were back then. How people lived, their medicines, what they ate, their currency etc.

I felt so envious that we don’t do anything like this in Taunton.

If we can’t be known for cider, how about we look back to our history? The Bloody Assizes, Hanging Judge Jeffreys etc.

Taunton has such amazing architecture; our wonderful museum, Castle Green, The Castle Hotel, to name just a few. Then the building that Café Nero inhabits is where Judge Jeffreys handed out sentences, most of them hanging!

I don’t pretend to know the whole history of this period of time, but I would love to learn about it.

If we adopted that part of our history to be something Taunton was famous for then we could use it for tourism.

There are many local groups of people with all the knowledge and skills to make this happen quickly.

I am aware that the Museum of Somerset have and still do arrange these walking tours and they are extremely popular.

If they were run more regularly and publicised to tourists, they would attract many people to visit and stay in the town.

When huge groups of people visit for major events like cricket or music, they could be encouraged to stay a few days more and fill our hotels, pubs, restaurants, cafes and shop in our fabulous independent shops too.

It would be a huge boost to our local economy.

What do you think?

See you again in two weeks! Until then – stay safe and be kind.

TRISH CALLER
Genius Events & PR