This double issue is packed with a lot of fascinating information to carry you over the summer. Let’s hope the weather keeps its early June promise and gives us a proper summer for once. The Bruton Abbey project would welcome the continuation of dry conditions for its next dig (page 15).

A long article by John Bishton goes into why the Parochial Church Council is not inclined to register to continue Chancel Repair Liability, something that has haunted people with houses on Church land over recent years. It seems eminently sensible to do away with this particular medieval relic (page 22).
Ross Harvey has interesting things to say about the consequences of another medieval tradition and its ending (page 17), when the abbeys and monasteries were dissolved and their lands sold to what became great families. The vast swathe of lands owned by four Somerset and Wiltshire families is remarkable to contemplate.
On a lighter note, Viv Groskop, daughter of our District and County Councillor Anna, has just published her first book and will be talking about it at venues in Bristol and Bath this month (page 37). And a new business comes to Bruton, with the arrival of a company that publishes Hospitality Today, the trade magazine for hotel and restaurant owners (page 36).
Editing a magazine while preparing to move house has been quite a challenge, and I hope readers will be indulgent towards any errors that may have slipped in while my mind is preoccupied. My email and phone number should remain as before, so your contributions will still find me.
Elisabeth Balfour