Somerset

During Saxon times, this area of England was known as Somerset Shire and the inhabitants were known as 'Sumersetas'. Whilst a lot of the land in this area consisted of unproductive bog land and was not populated to any great extent, it did have excellent pasture/cultivated land in other areas of the county. In and around the area of Somerset archaeologists have found the remains of lake villages (collections of buildings built on stilts). This area was also known in ancient times as Summer Land.

Somerset is located in the south-west of England and covers an area of approximately one million acres. The south west of England is also an area of England that Conan Doyle found inspiration for Hound of the Baskervilles based upon the legends of the Black Dogs of Dartmoor.

In William Blake's poem Jerusalem he mentions "mountains green". In this he makes the reference that Jesus Christ may have walked on the Mendips as a young boy when, according to legend, he visited England with Joseph of Arimathea.