News in Shepton Mallet

Dobbies, the Shepton Mallet garden centre, has announced the online relaunch of its Little Seedlings Club, to support and celebrate National Children's Gardening Week.

Packed with activities, tutorials and educational content, the Little Seedlings Club is aimed at Shepton Mallet children aged four to 10 years old, and in its refreshed and enhanced online format, will provide plenty of fun gardening and crafting projects.

After just over a year, the Mendip Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) welcomed back its intrepid Young Rangers greeted by some of Mendip's finest weather - rain and fog.

Due to lockdown and the circumstances of the last year the AONB Unit have been unable to run the Young Ranger sessions in person and doing their best to stay connected remotely.

There was a record increase in demand for electric car home charging grants in 2020, according to figures from the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles.

More than 42,000 grants for home charging devices were made last year, worth nearly £17 million, which was over a quarter of the value of grants since the government launched the scheme in 2014.

People in Somerset who are feeling unsure about whether to have their Covid-19 vaccine are being encouraged to set up a call with a Vaccination Buddy.

Vaccination Buddies are specially trained volunteers who are on hand to have supportive phone calls with people who have questions or concerns about getting the Covid-19 vaccine.

An unusual big project creating out-of-this-world holiday accommodations are now open for business in Binegar.

These charming little Hobbit houses are The Little Shire - based at Rookery Farm in Binegar which already has a bistro, farm shop, and its own micro brewery.

With Glastonbury Festival founder Michael Eavis leading the way, Somerset's birthday was celebrated in style across the historic County of Somerset recently.

The organisers of Somerset Day wanted people throughout the county to Fly the Flag for Somerset – and they did just that.

While the organisers were not able to run all their original plans for GeoWeek in the Mendip area, they did manage to run some events, in Covid-secure groups of six.

GeoWeek participants enjoyed a visit to Doulting quarry, one of the oldest and longest-worked quarries in the UK.

As we begin to come together as a community again, local couple Tim and Julia O'Connor feel this is the perfect time to launch their Community Interest Company, Literally Shepton.

The festival will take place over the weekend of July 9 to 11 with a variety of comedy, theatre, music, spoken word, author visits and a short story and play wright competition.

Lacie the lurcher was found dumped in a hedgerow near the home of an RSPCA officer, cold, emaciated and with sores on her body, in Somerset last spring.

Businesses, individuals and charities have just two weeks left to enter the Somerset Business Awards 2022 – and with 14 categories there is something for firms .