A Weekend in Somerset (2025)

One of my closest uni mates turned 30 earlier this year, and to celebrate a group of us rented an Airbnb in Somerset for the weekend. 

Saturday

Although we’d booked the Airbnb from Friday afternoon, I decided to drive down on Saturday morning to avoid driving in the dark, but the rest of the group spent the Friday evening playing drinking games, with a Chinese takeaway in hand. 

I left early on the Saturday morning and the drive took around three hours door to door, however the weather was spectacular so I spent the entirety of the journey singing along to my roadtrip playlist and listening to podcasts. The Airbnb was in South Petherton, Somerset, which worked as the group of 10 are scattered across the South of England, so I just hopped on the A3 for most of the journey, passing through beautiful landscapes and even Stonehenge! Funnily enough, I’d actually driven the exact same route the previous weekend, as I’d been in Exmoor with my family for Mother's Day. 

The drive flew by and before I knew it I was in South Petherton. This village is absolutely gorgeous, with cottage-lined streets and all the classic British village necessities (including a pub, a church, and a small café). Our Airbnb was actually the old Post Office and the pictures on the website did not do it justice - the house was stunning and had absolutely everything we needed, including a garden with a barbecue! As I arrived, the birthday girl and her dog welcomed me, as the others had all gone to the supermarket to do a big food shop for a barbecue since the weather was nice. I got acquainted with the house and did my make up in the garden whilst catching up with the birthday girl. 

Eventually, the rest of the troops arrived and after unpacking all of the shopping, and doing a couple more corner shop runs for extra food and drink, we all got ready for the big barbecue. For most people this was their first barbecue of the year, however I’d actually had two within the previous two days (my family love a barbecue), but was nonetheless very excited. The boys got to work on the meats (it didn’t look too promising initially but they got there) and the girls made salads, sides, and picky bits. 

Whilst we waited, we had a proper catch up, which was lovely as I hadn’t seen most of the group in a few months so had a lot to catch up on, and it was very pleasant and relaxing. Before the food was ready, the birthday girl and I took her dog for a walk in the fields, as I had been sat most of the day and wanted to get some steps in, whilst also exploring the village a bit more. The fields were lovely, although the pup did go for a swim in a pool of mud, which wasn’t part of the plan but made us laugh nonetheless. 

As we got back to the Airbnb, the BBQ was in full swing and we enjoyed many a dish, including (but not limited to) buttered corn on the cob, an orzo salad with chorizo, feta, peppers and cucumber, prawn skewers, halloumi, hot dogs and burgers. It was all divine and lasted us most of the day. We’d been drinking and snacking throughout the day too and eventually played some games, one of which was similar to charades and another being on a phone app, and before I knew it, I was exhausted. By this point, one of the couples had left but the rest of us had some cake and picky bits for dinner, and then retired to bed. 

Sunday

The minute my head touched the pillow, I was knocked out, and I didn’t stir until my alarm went off in the morning; the bed was incredibly comfy and I had a great night’s sleep. I opened the curtains to another sunny day and got myself ready before heading down to the kitchen. I’m a fairly early riser so wasn’t expecting many people to be up, but one couple had awoken and were having breakfast, and slowly others trickled in for coffee. One thing that I found adorable was two of the boys coming in to make a coffee and have a chat, before taking a coffee up to their girlfriends, who were still in bed upstairs. 

I didn’t know whether the rest of us would all have breakfast together, or whether it was a DIY situation, but I was hungry and after everyone had descended I decided I couldn’t wait any longer and went ahead with my breakfast (fried eggs on toast and a croissant), which was exactly what I needed. The Airbnb host had allowed us to check out as late as we wanted, which was very kind of him, however I still had a three hour drive back to London so I left fairly early (c. 11am). 

The drive back was equally as enjoyable, and I was very happy with how the weekend had gone. I am not very close to all of the people in this group, but felt that I got to chat to each person one on one and get to know them a lot more, which was lovely. The glorious weather, beautiful village, and delightful Airbnb also definitely helped. It was a very wholesome and fun weekend, and one which I hope to repeat in the future!