Well, it's Home to Me Trivia Quiz

Answer: Vespasian

Somerset's history dates back to the Paleolithic Era. There are bones from Gough's Cave dating back to 12,000 BC, with flint tools suggesting an ancestor of modern man inhabited the lands as far back as 500,000 BC. The Iron Age tribes Dobrunni, Durotriges and Dumnonii were some examples of pre-Roman peoples. In 43 AD, the Roman legate and future emperor Vespasian invaded Somerset and claimed the region until around 409 AD where their occupation ended and they had to leave. It was then the Anglo-Saxons who eventually laid claim to Somerset, with King Ine of Wessex claiming Somerset in his Wessex territory in the 7th Century AD.

Somerset's boundaries have remained largely the same since medieval times. Edward III proclaimed in 1373 that Bristol should exist as its own county separate from Gloucester (later Gloucestershire) and Somerset. In 2017, the county was the seventh largest in area but the 22nd largest (of 48) in population.

Answer: Willow Man

The Willow Man sculpture, standing twelve meters tall, was constructed by artist Serena de la Hey in 2000. Willow withies - stems - were wrapped around a steel framing to create this imposing figure. The next year, the sculpture was destroyed in an arson attack and was then reconstructed by the same artist with a protective moat built to discourage further vandalism.

The moniker 'Angel of the South' is a reference to Antony Gormley's 'Angel of the North' sculpture. In 2018, a crowdfunding attempt to maintain and repair the Willow Man failed, leaving the long-term fate of this famous piece of public art uncertain.

Answer: Tarr Steps

The Tarr Steps are also known as a clapper bridge, found in moors or upland areas in the UK. Clapper derives from "cleaca", the Anglo-Saxon for 'bridging the stepping stones', with the intermediary "claperius" - 'pile of stones' - as a Medieval Latin derivation. Most of these sorts of bridges are thought to be medieval in construction.

Historians disagree on when exactly the Tarr Steps were created, but the bridge has required reconstruction several times over the years, partly due to flooding and partly due to damage caused by accumulated debris. The stone slabs were eventually numbered to more easily facilitate future restorations of the bridge.

Answer: cheddar

When it comes to food, Somerset is probably most associated with either cider or Cheddar cheese. According to a local legend, several hundred years ago a maid left a bucket of milk in the caves, and had come back to find that it had turned into cheese. The caves' constant temperature of 7C and steady humidity provided an ideal atmosphere for cheese to mature in. In 2007, Cheddar cheese accounted for 51% of the UK's cheese market.

The Cheddar man was found in the Cheddar Caves in 1903 as a complete human skeleton from the Neolithic period. These caves are associated with an intricate array of stalactites and stalagmites produced by the activity of an underground river. The gorge itself is the largest of its kind in the UK, with it being named in 2005 as Britain's 'second greatest natural wonder' - though some only wondered how over-commercialised it'd gotten!

Answer: Exmoor

Ponies are thought to date back as far as 700,000 BC in Britain, with fossil evidence for the Exmoor ponies dating back to 50,000 BC. These stocky ponies are usually bay, brown or chestnut and must have no white markings. They have a peculiar feature called a 'toad eye' caused by fleshy eyelids that help to provide extra insulation and protection for the eyes. More recently, the breed was considered to be endangered with only 800 Exmoor ponies thought to exist worldwide in 2010. World War II was largely to blame, as the moors became a training ground and only 50 ponies survived the war.

Exmoor is not solely associated with Somerset. Approximately 71% of it is in Somerset and 29% in Devon. It's named after the local river Exe, and is a national park known for its rivers, woods, heather, limestone cliffs and picturesque hills.

Answer: Taunton

According to the Hestercombe Gardens' website in 2019, one could 'Discover Somerset and lose yourself in fifty acres of lakes, temples, cascades, tranquil woodland walks, formal terraces, vivid colours and views that take your breath away...' which sounds rather nice. It combined Georgian, Edwardian and Victorian garden design into a vibrant display. The Brewhouse Theatre has also hosted many vibrant performances, although it had been threatened with closure multiple times due to circumstances like the 2009 recession and a cut in funding in 2006 due to reduced output.

Ian Botham, Viv Richards and Marcus Trescothick were some of the most famous names associated with the Somerset County Cricket Club, which was founded in 1875 after a match between the 'Gentlemen of Somerset' and the 'Gentlemen of Devon'. Taunton itself has been the county town of Somerset since 1366 having taken over that position from Somerton. It sits on the River Tone and its name derives from Tone Tun - 'estate on the roaring river' might be a translation of the Celtic for Tone and Saxon for Tun.

Answer: Wells

Although Wells was the smallest city in England, it was not the smallest city in the UK by a long shot! That honour fell to St. Davids in Wales, which in 2011 had a census population of 1,841 compared to Wells' 10,536. St. Asaph, another tiny Welsh city with a similar population to St. Davids, was officially marked as a city in 2012 during the Queen's Diamond Jubilee.

In spite of its mediocre population, Wells largely had the right to call itself a city because of its 13th century-built cathedral - until the late 19th century it was seen as a requirement to have a standing cathedral to be able to call oneself a city. This cathedral actually lay incomplete until the reign of Henry VII, and is a gothic masterpiece considered to be one of the first fully Gothic examples of European architecture. It had to be digitally edited out of "Hot Fuzz" when they filmed there in 2006 as their fictional town of 'Sandford' might not have felt town-like enough with it on show.

As a bonus fact, the name Wells derives from the three wells dedicated to St. Andrew - we're a creative bunch, aren't we?

Answer: Aquae Sulis

Around 60 AD, the Romans built a temple complex at Aquae Sulis. The nearby hot spring was a shrine of the local tribe which had been dedicated to their Celtic goddess Sulis, whom the Romans saw as a cognate god to their Minerva. As such, they encouraged her worship which helped the Romans and locals integrate with one another.

The Roman Baths, built up over 300 years after constructing the Aquae Sulis temple, remained a popular tourist attraction. Whilst as a heritage site the public were not allowed to bathe in these waters, they were able to visit the local Thermae Bath Spa if they wanted the bathing experience. Other sights in Bath include the Theatre Royal, Victoria Art Gallery and the Royal Victoria Park - Princess Victoria herself opened this park aged eleven in 1830.

Answer: Glastonbury Festival

Villagers of Pilton are fortunate - if they enjoy large crowds - to be offered a free ticket to Glastonbury Festival. It was thought that between 135,000 and 175,000 people attended the Glastonbury Festival in 2017, quite an advance on the original 1970 Pilton Festival which had around 1,500 attendees. It was not until the 1980s that the Festival became a regular yearly fixture - excluding 'fallow' breaks every five years - and it first broke the 100,000 mark in 1998 despite the festival being struck by floods and storms.

Whilst the Festival itself has primarily come to be associated with contemporary musical acts, there historically are a range of different stages which feature different types of artists. The Pyramid Stage, which was the original stage, was associated in 2017 with the headlining acts such as Radiohead, the Foo Fighters and Ed Sheeran. Whilst there were only a few other major stages, there were up to 100 overall music venues associated with folk, punk, pop, rock, electronic music and everything between.

Answer: Glastonbury Tor

Glastonbury Tor has been a site of many mythic associations in ages past. The Celts believed it was a gateway to the underworld, calling it the Isle of Glass, perhaps due to its subtle terracing. It is associated with Arthurian myth, sometimes being thought of as Avalon, the burial site of King Arthur. Joseph of Arimathea by some accounts was said to have brought the Holy Grail used at the Last Supper to Glastonbury Abbey, which sits beneath the Glastonbury Tor in what today would be the town of Glastonbury.

Having visited myself, I was fortunate enough not to have been swallowed by the gates of the underworld. However, I did see the ancient tower left from St Michael's Church. This church was a replacement for another church originally levelled by an earthquake - yes, in Somerset! - in 1275. The Dissolution of the Monasteries that led to the destruction of most of the church was led by Henry VIII once he had been granted the title of Supreme Head of the Church of England, and thus decided to shut down all forms of monasteries, convents or similar places. It was bloody - the Tor was where the last abbot of Glastonbury Abbey, Richard Whiting, was hung, drawn and quartered along with two of his fellows.