Best places to take part in a Somerset Wassail 2025
It’s January, which means wassail is round the corner! Love a wassail? Never heard of a wassail? Want to get involved this year, but not sure where the best wassails in Somerset are? I’ve got the lowdown on the best places to take part in a Somerset wassail in 2025. Hail Apple Tree! Hail good health! Wassail! Wassail!
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Wassailing Somerset 2025
What is a wassail?
Wassailing dates back to Anglo-Saxon times, traditionally taking place on Twelfth Night (originally the 17 January, before the introduction of the Gregorian Calendar in 1752). The centuries-old ritual has Pagan roots and is intended to awaken the apple trees from their winter slumber. This involves blessing the orchards, reciting incantations, dancing, singing traditional songs and clattering pots and pans to scare away evil spirits and secure a bountiful apple harvest come autumn.
Wassail gets its name from an Old English term meaning ‘be well’, which was shouted like a toast at festivities in the darkest days of January while drinking hot spiced alcohol and cider.
Traditions vary slightly from place to place but usually, the wassail starts at dusk and is sometimes led by a Wassail King or Queen. Branches of the trees may be hit to frighten away evil spirits, cider is often poured on the roots of the oldest tree and pieces of toast, cake or bread are put into the branches to feed the good spirits or entice robins – believed to be the ‘guardians of the orchard’.
Afterwards, the trees of the orchard are serenaded with songs, Morris dancing and tasting the wassail drink. So if you thought a good crop of apples was all about the soil type and climate, now you know that’s not the case! If you’d like to experience this ancient tradition, there are of course loads of places to go wassailing in Somerset – this is cider country after all!
Where to take part in a Wassail Somerset 2025
If you’re looking for where to go wassailing in Somerset, here are the events taking place around the county:
Wassailling 2025, The Railway Inn – Thatchers Cider, Station Road, Sandford
- When is wassail? TBC
- How much?
Boost the chances of a plentiful apple harvest at Thatchers wassail 2025 with a two-course meal at this cider maker’s traditional country pub, The Railway Inn. Tasty grub is followed by sea shanty singing, mulled cider and Morris dancing. More info and tickets.
Clevedon Community Orchard Wassail 2025
- When? TBC
- How much? Food bank donations welcomed (see list here)
Bring a pan and something to bash to Clevedon Community Orchard, found through the grounds of the new Baytree School (currently under construction), at the junction of Brookfield Walk and Kelting Grove. There will be mulled cider and apple cake.
Rich’s Cider Wassail 2025 Somerset
- When? 18 January 2025, 7.30pm-midnight
- How much? £15, children under 12 free
Dance, sing and drink the night away at Rich’s traditional annual charity Wassail ceremony in Watchfield (raising funds for Cancer Research UK. Tuck into delicious hot food from the Cider Press Restaurant and frolic along with Scrumpy and Western band, The Skimmity Hitchers.
Wassail events 2025 at Somerset Rural Life Museum, Glastonbury
- When? 11 January 2025, 7.30-10pm (doors open 6.45pm)
- How much? Adult £12, Child (5+) £8, under 5s do not need a ticket
Wrap up warm and join in with music and merriment at one of Somerset’s longest-running Wassails at Somerset Rural Life Museum. The event will take place in the museum’s 14th century Abbey Barn and around the oldest apple tree in the orchard. Les Davies MBE, will join us as Master of Ceremonies for the evening; crowning the Wassail King or Queen and blessing the cider trees. Local band Rapscallion will provide musical entertainment.
Tickets include a seasonal drink on arrival and a piece of apple cake. Other drinks will be available to purchase along with hotdogs and burgers (cash only). More info on Somerset Rural Life Museum Wassail Glastonbury.
Wassail Night, Bere Cider Company, Langport
- When? 18 January 2025, 6-11pm
- How much? Free entry, no tickets required
BBQ from 5pm, Morris Dancing at 6pm, wassail at 6.30pm and live music from The Somerset Paddies at Bere Cider Company at 7pm! Pop along for a glass of mulled cider or hot choccie. Snacks and Cake also available. More info.
Blagdon Village Club Wassail
- When? 13 January 2024, 11.30am-1.30pm
A traditional ceremony starting at Blagdon Village Club for the picking of the Apple tree and then processing to Eldred’s Orchard to bless the trees for the coming year
Shoemakers Museum Orchard at The Grange, Clarks Village, Street
- When? 19 January 2025, 2-4.30pm
- How much? Free
This traditional Wassail at the Shoemakers Museum Orchard will be led by ceremony master extraordinaire, local legend, Les Davies MBE. As well as stories from Somerset celebrating the apple, there will be a musical performance by local troupe, the Langport Mummers. Make and wear your own head dress for your chance to win a special prize! Refreshments will be available, including apple juice and cider.
Buttercross Community Orchard Wassail, St Georges Street, Dunster
- When? TBC
Help preserve the traditional Dunster Wassailing ceremony with drum-banging, music, song and stories followed by the firing of the Wassail guns, finishing off in The Forester’s Arms for more ditties and storytelling. Cake and mulled cider provided.
Mid-Somerset Show, North Wootton Wassail
- When? 15 January 2025, 6.30pm
- How much? £12
As darkness falls at the wassail in North Wootton village, a Wassail Queen will be chosen from the assembled crowd and a bonfire lit to ward off the evil spirits. Wassail festivities will continue in the Village Hall, with Trevor Hoddinot playing traditional music, and performances from the Langport Mummers and the Beetle Crusher Clog Dancers.
Tickets (available from the Show Office) include ploughman’s supper with one of Denela’s infamous Apple Muffins.
Dowding’s, At The Chapel, Bruton
- When? TBC
- How much? £10, including drink and nibbles. 50% of the ticket prices will be donated to the Pitcombe Rock Falconry.
Dowding’s have teamed up with At The Chapel in Bruton for a Wassail. Expect talks followed by a performance from @wildmoonmorris. Wassail dress optional, pots and pans to bang encouraged. Buy tickets here
North Curry Wassail
- When? TBC
Wassail trees and earth at White Street, North Curry. Wassailers will gather at White Street Pavilion and then process to the orchard at the back of the community woodland for dancing, toasting trees, singing songs and making wishes for the New Year. BYO warm drink and food, bring things to bash and dress up if you fancy it!
There will also be a band and singing fire bowls.
Tyntesfield Wassail, Wraxall
- When? TBC
- How much? This is a free event, no booking is required. Normal National Trust admission applies.
This coming January, Tyntesfield will be hosting its annual Wassail. Bring your noisiest pots and pans to bang to scare away those evil spirits, and join in the merriment blessing the apple trees for a fruitful harvest in the autumn.
The Sheppy’s Cider Wassail, Bradford-on-Tone, Taunton
- When? 31 January 2025, 5.30pm-10pm
- How much? £16.50
Toast the apple harvest for the year ahead with noise, fire, guns, hot cider and lots of people to sing the ancient chant at Sheppy’s Wassail 2025. As well as all the evil spirit-dispelling, there will be winter-warming food, a cider bar, open fires, Morris dancing and folk music. More info and tickets.
Jubilee Wood Wassail, Hinton St. George, TA17 8SE
- When? 18 January 2025, 5.15pm-12am
Head to Jubilee Wood Wassail for free spicy mulled cider and apple juice, followed by a procession along a candlelit path, led by the Lord of Misrule and Lyme Morris, to the centre of the wood and the guardian apple tree for rousing wassail songs.
Hornblotton Wassail 2025, Orchard Park Farm, BA4 6SF
- When? 18 January 2025, 5pm
- How much? Tickets £15 adults, £2.50 children In aid of Hornblotton Village Hall, Church, and funding a new Defibrillator
Make sure the village apple trees get a hale and hearty start at Neil and Emma Macdonald’s barn in Hornblotton. This year’s event kicks off in style with singing from a 60-person Wassail choir, followed by hot food, drinks and music from the Four Foot Four. Wrap up warm and bring pots and pans to bang! More info.
Wonderful Wassail & Countryside Crafts day, Yeovil Country Park
- When? 20 February 2025, activities from 1.30pm-4.50pm. Wassail ceremony from 5pm.
- Where? Summerhouse Hill Community Orchard, Yeo Leisure Park, BA20 1NP (near Hollywood Bowl)
Get ready to celebrate, Saxon style! Drop-in wassail activities will be taking place at Yeovil Country Park from 1.30pm-4.50pm. No need to book, just turn up on the day. Countryside crafts, necklace making, beating drums, a children’s trail, traditional music and dance, pooh sticks, face painting, leaf crown-making hot food from West Scout Group and drink, marshmallow-tasting fires, and ghost-scaring ceremonies.
The wassail ceremony takes place from 5pm onwards. Bring pots, pans, or tambourines! More info on their Facebook page.
West Croft Farm, Brent Knoll Wassail
- When? TBC
- How much? £20 per person, Children under 14 are free. The wassail supports Brent Knoll Parish Hall. Call 01278 760762 for tickets.
Wake the good spirits with cider and songs, scare evil spirits with shotguns and gongs!
West Croft Cider Farm will hold its long-running wassailing ceremony with a torch-lit procession followed by entertainment from The Funky Monkey Bubble Klub, Belly Dancers and Tim Dean. There will be Mulled Cider plus hot food options, apple cake, bread and cheese.
The Newt Wassail Prune, near Bruton
- When? TBC
- How much? £195
The Newt celebrate their wassail slightly later, in March. Sign up for a Somerset Wassail Prune, kicking off with an introduction by Andy ‘Apples’ Lewis, Specialist Fruit Grower, who will teach the art of pruning apple trees. Lunch is served in the Farmyard Kitchen, followed by an exclusive cyder tasting in the cellar with the King of Wassail.
Explosive celebration is the order of the evening with hearty Somerset fare, shooing-out of evil spirits, bringing in the benign spirits, toasting good health, and breaking bread to cannon-fire and live music, all washed down with lashings of cyder.
Know of a brilliant Somerset wassail taking place near you? Let me know and I’ll add it to the list!
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