Castle Cary is built largely from local Cary stone, and the wiring behind those walls ranges from a board fitted last year to circuits older than anyone living in the house. Our electricians cover the town, Ansford and the villages along the lanes to the west and north, working from our Mid Somerset base with a written, fixed price for each job.
The Market House and the little round stone lock-up give the centre its shape, and the railway station has direct trains to London Paddington. Around them the housing is a layered mix: period stone cottages and Georgian townhouses in the middle, Victorian villas a little further out, and restored farmhouses and converted barns in the countryside that rings the town.
That mix matters to an electrician because each kind of building hides its cables differently. In a stone cottage the walls are thick and solid, so older circuits were usually buried in the plaster or clipped along the surface and later boxed in. A Georgian townhouse spreads its circuits over three or four floors, often with additions bolted on by each owner. A barn conversion is usually newer inside, but the supply may run a long way from the meter, and outbuildings are often fed from the house by whatever cable was to hand at the time.
None of this is a reason to worry. It is simply the reason we look before we price, and why the first visit to a period house in Castle Cary is mostly about working out where the circuits actually go.
When we open up the board and test the circuits in an older Castle Cary house, the same handful of findings come up again and again:
The cheapest way to find out which of these applies to your house is an inspection. Our EICR service in Castle Cary covers every circuit, tested with the readings written up on the schedule. If the board itself is the weak point, our fuse board replacement page explains what a new RCBO board involves. Where the cable is the problem rather than the board, the Castle Cary rewires page covers full and partial rewires, including how we keep disruption down in a house with original plaster.
Outside the town, a lot of the homes we are asked about are farmhouses that have been brought back into use, and barns that have become houses. Inside they can be modern, with open roof trusses and pendants hung between them, but the electrical questions are about distance and separation.
A barn that sits apart from the main house needs a properly sized supply, usually in armoured cable laid at the right depth or fixed to a wall with suitable protection. How the detached building is earthed is decided at the survey, because it depends on the supply arrangement at the meter. Workshops, stores and garages want metal-clad sockets and lighting that will cope with dust and damp.
Charge points are a common request at these properties, because there is usually off-road parking and plenty of it. Our EV charger installation page for Castle Cary explains the full process. In short, the price depends on the charger you choose, the board and the length of the run from the board to the parking spot, and the written quote includes the charger. We notify the distribution network operator for you and check the earthing at survey.
Not every job is a big project. Often it is a socket that has stopped working, an outside light that trips the board, a shower that needs replacing or a kitchen that needs an extra circuit. For that kind of work our domestic electrician page for Castle Cary sets out what we do.
For anything bigger we price by the job, never by the hour. We either come and survey or, for smaller jobs, talk it through on the phone with photos, then send a written fixed price with VAT shown separately. If the job changes once the floor is up, we tell you before doing anything extra.
Streets, neighbourhoods and villages we cover: High Street, Bailey Hill, Fore Street, Market Place, Cumnock Road, Ansford, Galhampton (BA22), Lovington, Alford, Ditcheat, Pylle, Wyke Champflower, plus the Bruton fringe (BA10), Cole and Pitcombe, and Shepton Montague (BA9).
If you let a house or cottage in or around Castle Cary, either long-term or to visitors, the rules differ. Long-term landlords in England need an electrical inspection at least every five years under the 2020 private rented sector regulations, with any remedial work the report calls for done within 28 days. Holiday lets should have the installation inspected and tested at least every five years.
Our landlord electrical compliance page for Castle Cary covers the law, tenant access and our single-let pack, which brings the inspection, smoke and heat alarms and a CO alarm where needed into one visit.
Ansford adjoins Castle Cary on its northern side, so in practice we treat it as part of the town and the same prices and booking apply. The houses mix older stone properties with later homes, and the work follows the same split: inspections and board upgrades in the older houses, and extra circuits, outdoor sockets and charge points in the newer ones. Where a house has had several owners each adding a circuit or two, an inspection is the sensible starting point before anything new goes on.
Alhampton lies about 1.7 miles north-west of Castle Cary and about 2.8 miles south-west of Evercreech. It is a small place of stone cottages and farm buildings, and the electrics often reflect a long life of piecemeal additions. Typical requests here are a fuse board that needs replacing, a supply to a workshop or stable in armoured cable, or lighting and sockets in an outbuilding that has been turned into a studio or office. We survey first and give a fixed written price.
Lovington is about 2.9 miles west of Castle Cary, out among farmland. Homes here are a mix of cottages and farmhouses, many with garages, barns or yards that are some distance from the meter. That shapes the work: long armoured runs to outbuildings, external lighting on stone walls, and charge points where the parking area is well away from the house. Before quoting for a charger at a property like this we check the supply, the earthing and the route the cable will take.
Ditcheat is a racing-stables village about 2.6 miles north-west of Castle Cary and about 2.1 miles south-west of Evercreech. Alongside the cottages and houses, a lot of the electrical work in a village like this is outdoors: yard and security lighting, weatherproof sockets, supplies to stable blocks and stores in armoured cable, and lighting on timers. Indoors the jobs are the usual ones for older stone houses, from board upgrades to inspections when a house changes hands.
Evercreech sits beyond Alhampton, about 2.8 miles north-east of it and about 3.5 miles south-east of Shepton Mallet and recognisable from the tower of St Peter's church. We replaced an older Wylex board in the village this year with a metal RCBO board and surge protection, upgraded the earthing and bonding and ran a new armoured supply to the garage. There is more about the village and its parish on our Evercreech area page.
These are the nearest jobs we have carried out this year. Details are kept anonymous; we only name the village or town.
Leave your details and a line about the job. We will ring you back to talk it through and arrange a survey or a written price.
Yes. Ansford adjoins the town on its northern side, so we treat it as part of Castle Cary. Pricing works the same way, the same certificates are issued, and the survey and booking work in exactly the same way. We cover all of BA7 including the High Street market quarter, Ansford, Cumnock Road, Lovington and Alford, plus Galhampton (BA22), the Bruton fringe (BA10) and the villages of Ditcheat, Pylle and Wyke Champflower.
Usually a good deal of it can be saved. We plan routes through floor voids, lifting boards where possible, and only chase walls where there is no other route. Small chases are made good. On a house with original plaster we agree the routes with you before work starts, and the survey is where that plan is made. A full rewire is priced per property after the survey.
The price depends on the size of the installation and the number of circuits. A typical three-bedroom house has between six and ten circuits. Listed or heritage properties are priced after a walk-round, because access and the number of boards vary so much. A satisfactory report is issued the same day.
Yes. We run supplies to outbuildings in armoured cable, either buried at a suitable depth or fixed to walls, and fit metal-clad sockets and suitable lighting at the far end. The earthing arrangement for a separate building is decided at survey, and the new circuit is protected by its own RCBO at the board. You get a certificate for the work and Part P notification where it is notifiable.
For most jobs, yes, because the price depends on what we find: circuit count, access, the condition of the board and the cable routes. For small jobs we can often price from photos and a phone call. Either way you get a written, fixed price with VAT shown separately before any work starts.
Priced by the job, not by the hour. A written, fixed price after a survey, NAPIT certification on every notifiable job.
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