Yeovil, England

Yeovil, England is the town where Ron is working. It is about 15 minutes away from the village of Martock, where our apartment is located. Yeovil is an old town---it was on the Roman road during the time of Roman rule in England. In 1205 it was granted a city charter by King John, and at that time it had a population of about 1000. (Today the population is about 43,000). The name Yeovil means "forked river", and it is close to the River Yeo.

In the 1800's Yeovil was the center of the glove-making industry. In fact, the very popular Yeovil football (soccer) team is called the "Glovers". (There is also a very small glove-making business in Martock, but they do not have a retail store or outlet.)

Later the defense industry became important, especially with the coming of Westland Helicopter, which, after a merger with an Italian helicopter company, is now known as Agusta Westland. Because of the defense industry in Yeovil, during World War II it was a target of German raids.
The following two photos are of Agusta Westland, where Ron is working.



The next two photos show the main shopping area, Quedam Trading Estates, which is where I rode to on the bus a couple of weeks ago. This area has many small shops and restaurants, many of which have familiar names---Burger King, Woolworth, Pizza Hut, Clarks Shoes, and others. The "Pound Store" is like our dollar store. There are 4 or 5, or maybe more, of the Charity Shops, which are all larger than the one in Martock. Part of the shopping area feels much like a shopping mall at home, except that you have to walk outside between the stores.

The next photo shows two of the guys that are from the U.S. that work with Ron. Tom is from Arlington, and Jack once lived in Arlington, but now works for Bell in Maryland.

The next two pictures are of the Church of St. John the Baptist, which was built in the 14th century.



Next are photos of one of the three major grocery stores, Asda, which is owned by Walmart. The second photo is of the gasoline (petrol) station.



Next is the laundry where we wash clothes. We usually wash only jeans (since I do the rest by hand), so that is only one load in one large washer. If we do not dry them, it costs $10 for one load!

There are not very many good restaurants in Yeovil---or in this part of England, for that matter! We have been out to eat very little in 5 months! (Our main eating out is when we are sight-seeing and we stop at a McDonalds, Burger King, or KFC--those are pretty easy to find at service stops on the major highways, but they are almost impossible to find in the small towns.) Yeovil does have a new Mexican restaurant, that is owned by a man whose wife is from Mexico. It is only open on Fri. and Sat. We have only been there once, and I thought the food was good, but Ron didn't like it. (The meats and cheeses just do not taste like home!) There are a couple of Chinese places to eat, one of which Julie, Matt, the kids, and I went to in July. There is a large Chinese buffet place that is fairly new, but we have not been there. The photo shows an Italian restaurant----really good food and reasonably priced. We have been there twice, and enjoyed it both times.