Wedmore, United Kingdom

Wedmore is situated on raised ground, in the Somerset Levels between the River Axe and River Brue, often called the Isle of Wedmore, which is composed of Blue Lias and marl.

South of Wedmore are the Tealham and Tadham Moors, a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest which form part of the extensive grazing marsh and ditch systems of the Somerset Levels and Moors. The water table is high throughout the greater part of the year with winter flooding occurring annually, by over-topping of the River Brue. 113 aquatic and bankside vascular plant species have been recorded from the field ditches, rhynes and deep arterial watercourses. A diverse invertebrate fauna is associated in particular with ditches that have a good submerged plant community. The water beetle fauna is exceptionally rich, with the nationally rare species Hydrophilus piceus and Hydrochara caraboides together with the rare soldier flies Stratiomys furcata and Odontomyia ornata. Good numbers of dragonflies and damselflies occur including the Hairy Dragonfly (Brachytron pratense) and the Variable Damselfly (Coenagrion pulchellum).

Wedmore has a number of annual festivals including the Arts Festival, a summer street fair, Wedmore by Lamplight street fair at Christmas, and a large Harvest Home and village parade on the playing field each year. Wedmore Playing Fields also offer sporting facilities for tennis, football, cricket and bowls.

Arts events are held at Wedmore Village Hall, both those produced locally and national tours. Wedmore Opera stages large-scale classic opera in a specially designed and constructed marquee venue and also in Wedmore Village Hall. The group were founded in 1988 "around a kitchen table" and to date have staged more than 60 performances of 18 productions. They recently performed Gilbert and Sullivan's Pirates of Penzance, and in 2018 they aim to stage Verdi's La Traviata to mark their 30th anniversary, as this was their first production. Wedmore Theatre is the longest standing arts organisation in Wedmore and has put on many productions over the past 40 years.

Local people created and host the original Turnip Prize, a parody of the Turner Prize. This competition (celebrating the worst of bad modern art) takes place annually at The New Inn.

The educational system in the Cheddar Valley consists of first schools for children between the ages of 4 and 9, two middle schools (ages 9 to 13) and a secondary school for pupils up to the age of 18 years.

Established in 1876 as Wedmore First School, and upgrading to academy status in July 2011, the first school built for Wedmore has 211 pupils, with a capacity of 210, aged from four to nine. On 1 September 2016, it became part of a multi-academy trust known as the Wessex Learning Trust. The trust comprises eight schools within the Cheddar Valley geographic area who together offer educational provision from ages 2–19.

Hugh Sexey is a middle school and specialist Technology College in Blackford named after royal auditor Hugh Sexey (1556–1619). The school had 620 pupils in June 2012, who join aged 9 in Year 5 and stay until age 13 in Year 8, after which they go to The Kings of Wessex Academy in Cheddar. Hugh Sexey is also a Wessex Learning Trust member.

I.T. for the Terrified was started in Wedmore in 1999, as a community project so that volunteers could share their computer skills with the local community in a user-friendly and informal setting. In 2001 it moved to the rear of The George Hotel, and in 2009 it moved to a converted cow barn in the grounds of The Kings of Wessex Academy in Cheddar.