Wordsworth Drive: Taunton Town FC

From Taunton Town FC

Currently known as the Somerset Campervan Co Stadium thanks to a sponsorship agreement, Wordsworth Drive has been Taunton Town Football Club’s home since 1953. They bought the ground form Taunton Borough Council in the 1970s, installing floodlights soon after. Boasting covered stands on all four sides of the pitch, an agreement was reached with Truro City during the 2023-2024 season to allow the club to also play their matches at Wordsworth Drive because their own pitch had had repeated problems. Since the January of 2024, Wordsworth Drive has an official capacity of 3,000, of which 422 are seats.

Based in the Somerset town of Taunton, after which they are named, Taunton Town was formed as a football club in 1947. At the time the side was known as Taunton FC and they struggled to make an impact initially. It wasn’t until the 1970s that the club really began to enjoy some relative on-pitch success, winning the Western League in 1969 and finishing as runners-up for four successive seasons. 1977 saw promotion to the Southern League, giving the club enough money to buy the ground they played their matches in from the local council. One of the side’s biggest successes came in 2001 when they won the FA Vase for the first time.

Stats

Wordsworth Drive Photos

Entrance Gate

View from Behind the Goal

View of the Pitch

Main Stand

Main Terrace

Wordsworth Drive Seating Plan and Where to Sit

There are four sections of the ground, with each part being covered. The Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance Stand is what you might call the Main Stand, offering 277 seats to the public in addition to a Director’s Box with an addition 27 seats. This stand also offers a wheelchair viewing area. The two areas behind the goal are covered terraces, whilst the side that is opposite the Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance Stand is known as the North Stand. This offers 118 seats, whilst terracing is also in place down the right side. On the left is hard-standing, as well as another wheelchair area and the boardroom.

Taunton Town FC Ticket Prices

Taunton Town know that they need to keep their ticket prices as low as possible if they’re going to be able to persuade people to head along to Wordsworth Drive to watch a match. During the 2023-2024 campaign, for example, the following were the ticket prices available:

• Adults – £14
• Concessions – £11
• Youth (13-18) – £5
• Junior (6-12) – £2
• Under 6 – Free with a paying adult

In terms of who the concession tickets are available to, they are for state pensioners, disabled supporters and students that have a valid ID.

How To Get Taunton Town FC Tickets

Lower league clubs like Taunton Town are more than aware of the fact that they are up against the likes of the Premier League and the Championship, needing to persuade supporters to head along to their matches rather than watch whatever is being shown on TV. As a result, they tend to have good websites in order to make things as easy as possible for your to buy tickets, with the Peacocks being no exception. If you want to go to one of their games then you can head to the club’s website, with the other option being to buy your tickets on the gate.

Where to Buy

• Ticket Compare

Getting To Wordsworth Drive

Train – Taunton Railway Station is located around 25 minutes from the ground on foot. There are a couple of different walking routes that you can take, including one that takes you through the centre of Taunton itself.

Bus – If you’d like to get the bus from Taunton Railway Station out to the ground then Bus No 1 runs from there to the Parade in the town centre, at which point you transfer onto the No 4 or No 51 and remain on board until Leycroft Road, which is about three minutes from the stadium.

Car – All of the major routes into Taunton offer a way to get to the stadium. If you’ve taken the M5 then get off at Junction 25 and follow the signs for Taunton, looking out for signs to the ground once you get closer. The A38, meanwhile, is a little more fiddly and takes you past many of the shops and sights of Taunton, irrespective of which way you come into the town from.

By Air – Anyone flying in to watch a Taunton Town match will be looking out for wither Bristol Airport or Exeter Airport, both of which are about an hour away from the town itself. You can fly into the likes of London Heathrow or Southampton if you wish to, but the journey to Taunton will obviously take much longer.

Taxi – A taxi from the train station out to Wordsworth Drive will take about ten minutes or so to complete its journey, depending on how bad the traffic is. You will likely have to spend about £10 for the privilege.

Parking Near Wordsworth Drive

There are two car parks available at Wordsworth Drive, with one of them being for match day vendors and the other for supporters. The supporter car park is at the front of the ground and is big enough for the majority of those that have chosen to drive in, costing £2 for a space at the time of writing.

• See Available Parking Near Wordsworth Drive

Useful Resources

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Pubs and Bars Near Wordsworth Drive

About Taunton Town FC

There was a Taunton Association Football Club that was formed in the town on the 11th of September 1889 at the local George Hotel. That didn’t really become anything, with a group of businessmen deciding in the December of 1947 to have another go, forming Taunton Football Club as a result. In spite of the fact that the side was formed in December, it didn’t play its first match until the following Easter, at which point the side joined the Somerset Senior League. They continued to play games in that division until 1953, when the club gained admission into the Western League for its debut season at that level.

It took until the 1968-1969 season for the side to gain some success, winning the Western League with Doug Hillard as manager. Over the years that followed, the club continued to prosper, coming second in the Western League for four years in a row. In 1981 a decision was take to make the club a limited company, leaving the Southern League that it had been promoted into owing to the financial burden that it presented. It wasn’t until 2002 that Taunton Town went back into the Southern League. Having reached the final of the FA Vase in 1994 only to lose to Diss Town, Taunton Town won the competition in 2001.

Wordsworth Drive History

When Taunton Town were formed as Taunton FC in 1947, the club began life playing matches in a number of different places. The likes of Mountfields, French Weir, Victoria Park and even Huish Old Boys were all used as locations for the club’s matches. They made the decision for a bit more consistency, moving to Denman’s Park in Haines Hill, remaining there until 1953. It was during the 1953-1954 season that the side moved to Wordsworth Drive, remaining there ever since. The ground was being leased from Taunton Borough Council during the first couple of decades, but the club bought it outright in the 1970s.

In the November of 2023, the club Chairman, Kevin Sturmey, confirmed that a deal had been agreed between the club and the Somerset Campervan Company in order to see the latter sponsor the stadium for the season, with a two-year sponsorship of the Town End of the ground also agreed. It was a way of bringing money into the club, with previous sponsorship having been reached with a waste management company called Viridor and with Cygnet Health Care. In the February of 2024, Truro City moved to the ground for their home matches for the remainder of the season, having endured pitch problems at Bolitho Park.