Who knows Yeovil?

[MayorHumdinger]

I live in Devon, best mate lives near Southampton. We want to meet midway (ish) for a childfree weekend of eating and drinking without the constant interruptions and crowd handling!

Has anyone got any recommendations of places to go?

We don't want to do anything touristy, just sit in bars and chat... actually chat in full sentences without saying "one minute... what was I saying"!!

....not Yeovil......

Haha! Ok... places near Yeovil.

Weymouth?

Sherborne, Dorchester, I would love to have a night out in Dorchester with my mate.

Axminster? Has a offshoot of river cottage cafe. Not too busy

Axminster is a bit too "my side".

I'll have a quick google of Dorchester.

poole?

Dorchester looks nice.

Had a look at accommodation and a gorgeous coastal hotel popped up in Portland but I'm pretty sure a colleague said Portland was a dump.

Off the Google Poole.

Taunton? The Castle Hotel is good or, if you want something a bit cheaper that the main restaurant, there's a bistro called Brazz that's good too.

Portland's "interesting". Wouldn't go so far as to say it's a dump, but it's definiately more "counter culture/new age" that other places mentioned.

I grew up in Dorchester and my heart still belongs there!! It has everything - lovely shops, cafes, an amphitheater, a lovely roman mosaic... have a look at abbotsbury too for views - especially the chapel on the hill!

Used to work as a student in the hospitality industry but that was some years ago now! Happy for you to pm me for advice but I haven’t been back in a while!

You could do much worse than Dorchester (Yeovil!)

Yes to Weymouth! Find accommodation near the harbour/ Nothe, plenty of nice pubs and restaurants and I highly recommend cocktails at the Nook!

Bristol...or Frome (if you're more country town oriented)

I second Sherborne!

Sherborne is lovely! Yeovil... is not.

Sherbourne is lovely

Bruton near Castle Cary is meant to be v trendy now. Wasn’t when I knew it!

I think we're going for Sherbourne... but we do hope this won't be our only weekend away (if we have anything left to talk about after 10 years of children). We'll be avoiding Yeovil in the future!!

We've both just moved and neither of us are from around these parts so it'll be a nice way to explore the south west/south.

We should turn it into a travel book with a snazzy title:
two old ladies and a pint of wine
Malbec and meandering

Enjoy

Sounds great.