The Cooper Associates County Ground

The view from the boundary is where the ground makes itself known. The pitch is natural grass, striped with the precision of a manicured lawn.

Somerset County Cricket Club has held the freehold since 1896, but the shape of the place changed in the new century. The Marcus Trescothick Stand and the Somerset Stand were built between 2008 and 2011, replacing older facilities that had seen better days. The capacity sits at 8,500 for domestic games, though temporary seating can push that number higher when international fixtures arrive. The Colin Atkinson Pavilion sits just off the pitch, housing the dressing rooms.

The ground opened in 1882, originally as part of a sports centre that included an athletics track. That track is long gone, but the cricket remains. The name has changed a few times, once simply as the County Ground before Cooper Associates Group attached their name to it. It is not a football ground; Taunton Town F.C. plays elsewhere at the Holway Sports Ground.