Instant prices paid data for England and Wales
Perched on the southern edge of Somerset, right where the county meets Devon and Dorset, Chard occupies a high point on the fossils-rich Blackdown Hills. At an altitude of 121 metres, it is famously the highest town in Somerset, and there is a distinct sense of being surrounded by the rolling greenery of the countryside. Historically, the town built its identity on the wool and lace-making trades, but its most unique claim to fame is as the 'Cradle of Aviation'; it was here in 1848 that John Stringfellow achieved the first powered flight in a local mill. Today, the town is characterised by its unusually wide main street, designed to accommodate the old wool markets, and the curious 'town streams' - unique water channels that run along the curbsides. For daily life, the town functions as a self-contained hub with a mix of independent shops and major supermarkets, though it’s the immediate access to the Chard Reservoir nature reserve and the proximity to the Jurassic Coast, just a thirty-minute drive south, that defines the pace of living here.