The Cart Shed

Why you'll love staying here

The Cartshed is a beautifully converted barn set on a working livestock farm in the village of Barwick. Best suited to a couple or solo traveller looking to explore the stunning countryside of Somerset and Dorset.

Thoughtfully designed, the barn retains many of its original features, including vaulted ceilings, timber beams, and exposed stone walls, complemented by contemporary interiors. Bi-fold doors flood the space with light, while a wood burning stove and underfloor heating keeps things warm on cooler days.

The farm is home to sheep and cattle and forms part of the wider Barwick Park Estate. Public footpaths wind through the surrounding parkland, where a late 18th-century mansion stands within the grounds.

Guests can also discover the four follies marking the cardinal points of the estate.

The Fish Tower stands on the northern boundary and takes its name from the fish-shaped weather vane that once crowned it. To the west lies the Rose Tower, also known as Messiter’s Cone, a distinctive cone set on a cylindrical base with tiers of pigeon holes and topped with a ball finial. The Needle, or Obelisk, marks the southern boundary and rises to around 40 feet in height.

Most interesting of all is Jack the Treacle Eater on the eastern boundary, an imposing folly set on a stone-walled bastion overlooking the park and Barwick House. It has a monumental rubble-stone arch surmounted by a Ham stone circular tower with battlements and a conical roof, crowned by a winged lead statue of Mercury. According to local legend, the Messiter family once employed a messenger boy named Jack who ate treacle for energy to run errands to London, giving the folly its curious name.

The market town of Yeovil is just a short walk or drive away, with a compact centre filled with shops, cafés, restaurants, bars, and pubs, as well as museums, theatres, and a modern cinema complex.