OTTERFORD: PARISH AND COMMUNITY PAGE

Otterford is a Somerset Parish in the Blackdown Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The River Otter, impounded to form the Otterhead Lakes, is the boundary with Churchstanton Parish and was the boundary with Devonshire until 1896.

The Parish of Otterford includes former estate farms such as Otterford Church Farm, Yalhams Farm, Martins Farm and Griggs Farm. The eastern and north-eastern parts of the present-day Otterhead Estate with the walled gardens; the higher section of the Bypass Leat; half of every lake and many of the Estate's Snowdrops and Bluebells are in Otterford. 

St. Leonard's Church Otterford

St Leonard's Church tower is visible from the car park (in Otterford); the Church was enlarged by and contains a memorial to William Beadon, who is usually credited with building Otterhead House and developing the Otterhead Estate.

Otterford Parish Hall, Bishopswood.

Bishopswood, to the south-east, the largest settlement in the parish, was important to the Estate in William Beadon's day as the Estate lime kilns and quarries were situated there. One of the uses for the lime was to reduce the soil acidity in the new enclosures of land the Estate had acquired that had formed part of the manorial wastes of the Church-owned Manor of Taunton Deane. Bishopswood Meadows, a Somerset Wildlife Trust nature reserve, includes a restored lime kiln and an information board with details of lime burning sited by the kiln. The reserve adjoins land that was formerly part of the Otterhead Estate. 

Food and other refreshments are available in this parish at Holman Clavel, to the north where there is a centuries-old inn and Holly Bush Park, a caravan and camping site, with a shop and payphone, as well as at The Candlelight Inn, by the River Yarty, in Bishopswood. Please check opening times.