Moving to Somerset - Wincanton or Castle Cary?

[abbey44]

Hello, looking for some local knowledge of pros and cons of these two towns.

For info, I’m mid-sixties, semi retired but the work I do is home-based, live on my own (a with my dog) and I’m looking for two to four bedrooms, up to 500K. I need to be somewhere within walking distance of shops, doctors, dentists, all that kind of thing, as I’m not likely to be driving for much longer (medical reasons). Somewhere with accessible dog-walking is a must (or with a dog-walking service I could use). Ideally, I’d like to be able to get to and from London easily by train, both for myself and for family visiting - I know Castle Cary is on the Paddington main line, but how easy is it to get to Wincanton by train…?

I’m still active and enjoy doing stuff and it would be good to have somewhere where there was plenty going on - how do these towns compare?

Any thoughts would be much appreciated - thanks in advance.

There's no station in Wincanton. Yeovil or Castle Cary are the nearest. (Castle Cary is also the one that people going to Glastonbury festival use).
We have family who live there and its about an hour to ours (between Bristol and Bath) even by car.

Castle Cary is very nice - not that much going on but pretty and upmarket - we pop occasionally as live in Bath-would Frome or Bradford on Avon not be right for you ? More there and Frome has a good cottage hospital and urgent care unit and uses Bath for A&E .

Thanks - not thought of Frome or Bradford-on-Avon…..I’ll have a look as hospitals are a consideration as well.

You can get a very nice place in Frome for that - both cottagey , new build or anything in between - thing is it does have the fancy stuff but also the practical stuff too- my 85 year old FIL just moved there and enjoying it -big modern medical centre - new branch of the range opening this week - big Sainsbury’s, Lidl, Asda , M&S food hall etc and tons of stuff to join in - it’s not everyone’s bag but does have a certain alternative vibe but practical too - Bradford lovely but a bit less practical stuff and a bit pricier, but easy into Bath

I've just looked at both - Bradford-on-Avon is a bit far from the area I was originally looking at (I probably should have mentioned that I have family in that area so would like to be able to get to them easily). Frome might be doable, though have seen a couple of places I like in both Wincanton and Castle Cary so that’s why I’m interested in hearing about what they’re like to live in.

I could certainly live in castle Cary ,though it’s short on a lot of practical stuff and immediate medical facilities.I couldn’t honestly say about wincanton as have only been through it on edges near industrial estates - would Taunton also be a possibility down that way- ? a lot more practical stuff .

Frome is really nice now, used to be an awful place but it's gone really up market, arty & nice community.
You could have a look at Somerton, that's meant to be nice & has shops. Bradford on Avon is nice but congested due to the amount of traffic going through to Bath. Bathford, Batheaston.
Don't look at peasedown at john or Radstock,
Midsomer Norton is nice though.
(Used to live in the area).

Nearest stations to Wincanton are Gillingham and Templecombe on the line from London Waterloo to Exeter. Cheaper than the GWR Paddington line. Wincanton is an excellent and useful town with independent shops as well as supermarkets, many pubs, doctors' surgery and lovely dog walks, and nice community feel/activities. House prices a lot cheaper than Castle Cary too.

@calyppso thank you, that’s really helpful info - I’ve seen a couple of places I like a lot, so I’ll look at the rail links to those stations.

@Nextdoor55 thanks for that info too - it’s always handy to know where NOT to be looking as well 😁