Somerset’s very best bookshops to visit with the kids
Here’s how and where to support independent bookshops in Somerset.
Kids love sharing a story.
Let your imaginations run wild together as you head into a literary wonderworld where you can join colourful animals, whizzy space ships, clumsy dinosaurs or quirky wizards on their crazy adventures.
Somerset benefits from a strong library service across the county, with many extra activities running at weekends and throughout school holidays. If you live in the more remote parts of the county, the Mobile Library visits most weeks so clamber aboard the bus for the kids to swap their books.
Independent bookshops are super special, welcoming you in with warmth, and usually a sofa or two, to spark a love for stories like no other.
If you’re by the coast, head to Clevedon’s Books on the Hill or the brilliantly named Max Minerva’s in Portishead. A trip to Bath wouldn’t be complete without many an hour lost amongst the book shelves in Mr B’s Emporium or Topping & Company.
Our county town of Taunton is home to Brendon Books which is located in the most gorgeous of independent shopping streets, Bath Place.
Winstone’s Hunting Raven Books can be found along the only street in England with a leat running down the middle of it, in Frome. Also in Frome are Sherlock and Pages and The Frome Bookshop.
And finally a trip to The Snug Book Shop in Langport is a must as it’s run by Sam who used to be a school and public librarian so what she doesn’t know about books isn’t worth knowing.
Alternatively, head to Exmoor’s Seven Fables, Bookshop by the Blackdowns in Wellington, the Chard Book Shop, the Green Dragon Bookshop in Crewkerne or Bailey Hill Bookshop in Castle Cary.
Open a new page, discover new characters or far-away lands and enjoy making new memories as you share stories together.
For more great ideas for spending better time with the kids in Somerset, buy a copy of 237 Ideas for Stuff to Do and Places to Go in Somerset with Kids.
