P.

Denning membership number: 20098649

Welcome to Forton House.

https://www.facebook.com/forton.somerset

Thanks so much for the feedback on the site in our first few years. It has
been really helpful. As a result of your feedback we now have low level lighting around the
shower room, level hardstandings and offer caravan storage.

It was also good to hear about the places you visited whilst here and the enclosed info has
grown a bit where I have added to it following your comments – thanks.

Open: We are open all year for self contained visitors with hardstandings and fully
serviced pitches, but provide the shower and toilet facility from the winter half term (Mid
February) to October 31st. COVID UPDATE: Until advised otherwise we will not be
providing the shared shower / toilet facility to minimise risks.

When we're open:

January February March April May June July August September October November December
Vans requiring onsite toilet
and shower facility

"Self Contained" units

P. Denning membership number: 20098649

 How to find us:
Peter Denning
M5 Forton House
Forton, Chard
Taunton Somerset
A358 TA20 2NA
A303 to
Andover
and London

A303 A358
Chard A30 to
Forton Yeovil
A30
B3162

A358
Exeter A30

th
From Taunton: A358 to Ilminster / Little Chef roundabout 4 Exit to Chard.
In Chard pass B&Q traffic lights. In centre of Town, cross over traffic lights.
Then right at mini roundabout, past Police station.
Follow road to the left by old Parish church then immediately left signposted “Forton 1”
th
Travel 1 mile over 3 speed bumps, turn in to drive at 4 speed bump

P. Denning membership number: 20098649

We’re not always in so if there’s no answer at the front door, please go straight up to the
field and we’ll bump into each other during the stay.

Forton House is easy to find once you’re in Forton, with the large Copper Beech Tree in
the garden. Google Earth is not too helpful because it shows the house before the new
entrance was built below. Once in the grounds, head up the drive through the double gates
to the field (avoid the old narrow entrance marked Forton Lodge).

Park anywhere in the field, if you would prefer grass to the hardstandings, that’s fine!

Waste is a huge challenge with our

fortnightly collection so please always
use the recycling bins fully including
tins in the metal bin on site.
Thankyou!

You can contact us at the front door of the house (to avoid over enthusiastic Golden
Retrievers at the back) or on
07928 345415 / 01460 239087.

P. Denning membership number: 20098649

 Arriving / leaving .
There is plenty of space
so there should not be a
problem if someone
arrives before another
pitch is clear, but when
the site is full in peak
season it may be
helpful if arrival is after
2pm and leaving is by
Noon.

Dogs

We are a dog friendly site, and love to welcome four legged friends. We ask that dog
owners respect other campers who may not like dogs roaming free on the site. Our CAMC
insurance covers the fenced in site as below in Yellow, please keep dogs within this yellow
boundary. Other parts of the site can be used for horses, with some electric fencing on
from time to time.

Dog walking routes are plentiful nearby in either direction from the site – some are
described in “Walks” below.

https://www.facebook.com/forton.somerset

P. Denning membership number: 20098649

Walks: This is our favourite local walk. The red line is 30+ minutes, a signed footpath
across fields – includes a style. The blue line is mainly along empty narrow roads (apart
from the odd horse) an hour or so, which takes you to Tatworth outskirts.

Bus stop for Yeovil

and Crewkerne
Bus stop for Chard

Detour to The
Poppe Inn pub.
Axminster Rd
(A358). Food
served and
dogs are very
welcome. Footpath
detour to The
Golden Fleece
pub.

P. Denning membership number: 20098649

An excellent CAMC member tip is to walk along “The Drift” to Chard’s disused reservoir –
now a nature reserve. The Drift is a rough track in places.
Nature
reserve

Chard

The
Drift

CL

Bus Service. The 96 bus is very close by though infrequent – every 2 hours. They take you
to Chard and on to Taunton in one direction and Crewkerne and on to Yeovil in the other.
The timetable is attached as a separate PDF.

Sustrans Route 33. Cycling or

walking. From Tesco in Chard you
can walk through a park and then
along a disused railway line to
Ilminster. With an OS map you can
carry on and walk past historic
Dillington House. Thanks to a CAMC
member for that tip. Information from
Sustrans below.

From - to: Chard to Ilminster (and

Bridgwater)

Type: Chard to Ilminster mainly traffic-free,

then minor roads to Bridgwater. Surface:
Mostly tarmac. National Cycle Network
route number 33.

From Chard to Ilminster, the route follows a

purpose built railway path which is largely
traffic free, direct and suitable for walking
and cycling. The route starts in Stringfellow Park in Chard and takes you into Ilminster's
town centre. A popular ride with locals and visitors, there is much to experience along the

P. Denning membership number: 20098649

way from reminders of the Second World War (the Taunton Stop Line defences), to a bird
watching haven at Chard Reservoir, home to a rich variety of waterfowl, woodland birds
and birds of prey.

From Ilminster, you can continue further to Bridgwater on level minor roads and then
beside the River Parrett. You'll pass National Trust property Barrington Court, Kingsbury
Episcopi, Langport and the ruins of Muchelney Abbey. The Chard, Ilminster and
Bridgwater route is part of the Wessex Way under development to stretch from Weston-
super-Mare to Seaton and Lyme Regis.

P. Denning membership number: 20098649

Places to visit:

Forde Abbey is our closest attraction, a privately owned former Cistercian monastery just
over the border in Dorset, a 2 mile walk or 5 minutes by car. The house and gardens are
run as a tourist attraction and the gardens can be savoured all day.

https://www.fordeabbey.co.uk/

C
L

Abbe
y

Lyme Regis (30 minutes) or Seaton (25

minute drive).
At Lyme Regis it’s worth walking a bit
further West than the rest of the visitors to
see fantastic ammonite fossils the size of
car wheels on this wonderful Jurassic
Coast.

P. Denning membership number: 20098649

Also fairly close together and around 30 minutes from the site:

Haynes International Motor Museum

is in Sparkford, Yeovil, Somerset
BA22 7LH

Fleet Air Arm Museum, RNAS

Yeovilton, Ilchester, Somerset BA22
8HT

There are many Gardens and National Trust properties within a 20 mile radius. Here are a
few close by:

• Hestercombe Gardens
• Montacute House
• East Lambrook Manor Gardens
• Barrington Court
• Mapperton Gardens
• Lytes Cary
• Lower Severalls Gardens
• Knightshayes
• Burrow Farm Gardens
• Stourhead House and Gardens
• Seaton open topped Tramway
• West Somerset Steam Railway

Further afield and worth a day trip is one of the

National Trust’s greatest recent investments,
Tyntesfield House and gardens (BS48 1NX).
http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/tyntesfield/

Local Towns of Chard, Crewkerne and Axminster have a range of café’s and shops with
Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Lidl in Chard, Waitrose 7 miles away in Crewkerne.

P. Denning membership number: 20098649

Eating out.
Options include cheap and cheerful Weatherspoons in Chard, good for a family gathering.
Ye Olde Poppe Inn is very dog friendly and The Ridgeway Inn, Smallridge, about 10
minutes drive, is £8-10 for a main meal with wonderful home grown veg. Occasionally fills
up so worth booking: 01297 32171. The most popular with our campers is the Windwhistle
Inn, a couple of minutes past Cricket St Thomas Hotel on the A30. Cricket St Thomas itself
has a restaurant open to the public, though a bit pricey for what you get! For a wedding
anniversary, there’s ‘Lanes’. It’s up to £20 for a main course and on the A30 in West
Coker, 20 minutes drive on the way to Yeovil, as long as you don’t mind a waiter hanging
on your every move.

Charges:
2020: £18 per pitch per night inclusive of one electric hookup (EHU) for two people.
Additional people are £2 per night each.
A second EHU (for an awning heater for example) is not included and requires paying for a
second pitch.

Caravan storage: £36 per month

Short term storage: £18 per week or part week.

Payment is Cash or cheques can be made payable to Mr P J Denning or BACS transfers

can be made to:
Name: Mr P J Denning
Sort Code: 07 01 16
Account: 39838603

https://www.facebook.com/forton.somerset

P. Denning membership number: 20098649

About Forton House

Forton House was Grade 2 listed in the 1980’s.

1600 Large farmhouse with separate barn at the rear. At some point it was a coaching Inn for traffic
passing from Chard to Bridport.
1800 Bought by solicitors in Chard who created the Georgian Drawing Room, conservatory and
greenhouses, building extensions to bring the two buildings into one 12 bedroom property. At this
time the house was divided up with the family at the front, a servants’ passage and staff at the back.
1850 Approximate time the separate stable building was built, with
stabling for 6 horses and hayloft.
1900 Owned by the Houghton-James family with a staff of six and
a Chauffeur to drive the Rolls-Royce.
1949 Like so many post-war houses, it was sold. Forton House
was then run as a private school.
1951 Bought by Alec Adams, Great Grandson of the first man to
receive the Victoria Cross. Alec ran the private school for 50
boys until 1967 during which time the 1960’s ‘box’ was built
on the back – not very in-keeping with the rest of the house! This was a dormitory upstairs and
refectory / school hall downstairs.
1967 The school closed but Alec lived at Forton House with his wife Margaret. After Margaret died the
house fell into disrepair and by the time Alec died in 2003, only a few rooms were habitable.
2005 We bought Forton House and started the mammoth renovation. Every summer we are visited by “old
boys” now retired, who tell us stories of school life in the 1950’s.

The field you are staying in was the school playing fields. The 5 big Scots Pine Trees in the middle had a
rope tied to them from the top and children hurtled down a zip wire “in front of horrified fee-paying parents”
the Headmaster’s son told me. In the field opposite Forton House was an outside swimming Pool, where a
bungalow has now been built. The children were made to swim in it in the depths of winter!

Some pictures from 2005 when we bought the derelict house:

P. Denning membership number: 20098649