I had a lovely few days in the West Country last week with some new places to visit and new restaurants to eat in. Helen, Paul and I went to a wonderful art installation Messum’s in Tisbury, near Shaftsbury, on Thursday. Here there are two exhibition spaces a small typical modern white “box” with kinetic sculptures and the incredible thatched barn, the longest in England. That got us ready for a lunch in a classic old pub, the Compasses,. The indoor time allowed us to dodge most of the rain that swept across the area so that a quick afternoon visit to Compton Abbas Airfield allowed us to watch a family of hares playing on the horizon, above. Forgive the quality as they were far away and I have hit the limits of enlargement. A lovely day. In Sherborne there has been a major development of a site in the centre of town which is now “The Sherborne” an art gallery plus garden, cafe and restaurant. What a brilliant location. We dropped in on Friday before heading out on to the Somerset levels to the Sheppey for a fine lunch with Alistair who popped down from Bristol. Great food and company at a lovely, larger than anticipated, pub. Being out on the levels we took the opportunity to head for a nature reserve on Shapwick Heath which has a unique treat. In neolithic times the locals developed a method for transiting the marshes and a small section has been ‘restored’ and named after the man who discovered it. It is known as the Sweet Track. On the same trail there is an excellent viewing hide on Decoy Lake with its view towards Glastonbury Tor. Sadly I did not take a suitable camera to get good wildlife photos but fortunately Helen had her binoculars so we could enjoy views of great and little egrets, cormorants, coot, swans etc. Another lovely day.