Yesterday, 11 May, was Somerset Day. It is our County Day and people fly flags, drink cider and fall over, but there is more to it than that. It is an opportunity to celebrate what is good in our County. Some of the radio stations, (well done 10 Radio) were very active with a day of Somerset themed programmes. The local BBC had teams out doing an A to Z of the districts that make up the county. My mousemat is an original Somerset A to Z that appeared as giant posters on the London Underground.

Anyway back to the A to Z, A is for Apple; fairly obvious the County is renown for Cider production and still is. B is for Baker; Maisey’s Bakery in Othery on the Levels, the last of the Levels Bakers; C is for Cheddar; and so on. The teams came up with innovative answers. My list would include T is for Tesco’s! Not quite what I expected, but the local branch had stalls from independent butchers, cheese and cider makers. Staff were handing out a little booklet that offered discount at Somerset visitor attractions, like the Fleet Air Arm Museum and Cheddar Gorge and money off cider and cheese.

It is quite strange how what you expect and what is reality can be quite different, of course today it is back to being the outpost of the largest retailer in UK, but for yesterday it had a local, human face that was welcome.

So will it be 50p off Thatchers or Brothers cider today?