Hestercombe Gardens

Hestercombe House is a historic country house in the parish of West Monkton in the Quantock Hills, near Taunton in Somerset, England. The house is a Grade II* listed building and the estate is Grade I listed on the English Heritage Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England.Originally built in the 16th century, the house was used as the headquarters of the British 8th Corps in the Second World War. Somerset County Council assumed ownership in 1951 and use the property as an administrative centre. Hestercombe House served as the Emergency Call Centre for the Somerset Area of Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service until March 2012. Hestercombe House is surrounded by gardens which have been restored to Gertrude Jekyll's original plans (1904–07) and have made it "one of the best Jekyll-Lutyens gardens open to the public on a regular basis", visited by approximately 70,000 people per year. The site also includes a 0.08 hectare (8,600 sq ft) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Somerset, notified in 2000. The site is used as a roost site by lesser horseshoe bats.

Cheddon Fitzpaine is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated on the Quantock Hills 2 miles (3.2 km) north of Taunton in the Somerset West and Taunton district. The village is situated near the Bristol and Exeter Railway, the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal, and the River Tone and has a population of 1,929.

The Anglican Church of St Mary in Cheddon Fitzpaine, Somerset, England was built in the late 13th century. It is a Grade II* listed building.

The Roman Catholic Church of St Teresa of Lisieux in Taunton, Somerset, England, dates from 1958–1959. It is the only known church design of Eric Francis, a Chepstow-born architect who worked mainly in Monmouthshire and the South-West of England. St Teresa's is a functioning parish church within the Roman Catholic Diocese of Clifton, and a Grade II listed building.

King's Hall School is a co-educational prep school that provides day and Boarding school. The school is located within the parish of Cheddon Fitzpaine, just north of Taunton, Somerset, in the West of England. It is housed in the Grade II* listed building Pyrland Hall. It was named King's Hall School after Pyrland Hall joined with King's House.

Pyrland Hall is a country house near Cheddon Fitzpaine in the English county of Somerset. It is a Grade II* listed building.

The Taunton Academy is a school with academy status in Taunton, Somerset, England. The school was formed by the merger of The St Augustine of Canterbury Church of England/Roman Catholic VA School and Ladymead Community School. Its original sponsors were Somerset County Council and the Diocese of Bath and Wells, however the school transferred to the Richard Huish Trust in 2015 and is now sponsored by Richard Huish College. It was opened on 9 September 2010 by Peter Price, the Bishop of Bath and Wells. Initially the academy admitted pupils aged 11 to 16 and will be based in the existing schools' buildings. In September 2011, the academy opened a sixth form for 100 students. In 2013, the academy moved to new and refurbished buildings on the former Ladymead site on Cheddon Road, with the former St Augustine site being closed. This plan was temporarily put on hold following the government's major review of the Building Schools for the Future programme in July 2010, and was subject to review by the Department for Education.

Ladymead Community School was a secondary school and technology college located on Cheddon Road, Taunton, Somerset, England. It had 753 students aged 11–16. The school made the news when a protest of hundreds of students turned into a riot, prompting police to enter the school. The school closed in July 2010 following successive years of poor standards, on site crime and Ofsted investigations. Students were subsequently transferred to The Taunton Academy.

Kingston St Mary is a village and parish in Somerset, England, situated at the southern end of the Quantock Hills 4 miles (6.4 km) north of Taunton in the Somerset West and Taunton district. The village has a population of 921.The parish includes the hamlets of Yarford which includes the grade II Cutley Farmhouse and Fulford where Fulford House was built about 1830, which has been designated by English Heritage as a grade II listed building.

The St Augustine of Canterbury School was a joint Church of England and Roman Catholic Voluntary Aided (VA) secondary school in Taunton, Somerset, England. It was established on 28 May 1956 and closed on July 2010. It was a specialist Science College with 264 students between the ages of 11 and 16. The school closed in July 2010 and students merged into The Taunton Academy. At the time of its closure it had the lowest GCSE results in Somerset, and the eighth-lowest in England.

Heathfield Community School is a community secondary school located at West Monkton in the outskirts of Taunton, England. It had 1,192 pupils aged 11 to 18, of which 78 were in the sixth form, in 2015, and has an Arts College specialist status. The headteacher is Hannah Jones.

Lieutenant Harold Bolton Redler (27 January 1897 – 21 June 1918) was a British World War I flying ace credited with ten aerial victories. His most notable triumph was over a leading German ace, Adolf von Tutschek, whom he killed in action.