KING Arthur, cider making, Glastonbury Festival and cricket are among parts of Somerset's cultural heritage that have been drawn together in a new 'strategy' package.

Exmoor National Park Authority and the five district authorities have collaborated with the county council to develop the strategy aimed at improving the marketing of Somerset's culture.

The package is entitled 'Celebrating Somerset's Culture, Something to Declare' and includes expanding museums and libraries services, developing a county arts website and promoting local produce.

It will form part of a statutory document which will be submitted to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport before the end of the year.

County council executive board member with special responsibility for culture, Cllr Paddy Macmaster said that the new cultural strategy had been produced in tandem with an internal Best Value Review.

She said both documents highlighted the "rich vein of cultural uniqueness" that ran through the county.

"What the process has reinforced is that Somerset has a wide and unique culture, which needs to be celebrated, preserved, enhanced and developed.

"The scale and scope of things here in the county is endless, ranging from the myths and legends of King Arthur, through the diversity of the landscape from the levels to Exmoor and Cheddar, the carnivals and cider making to the Glastonbury festival and our rich sporting history."

However, Cllr Macmaster added that both the strategy and the results of the Best Value Review had recognised room for improvement.

"Both documents make it clear that we need to make the most of improving our ICT provision and it is clear that we are not good at marketing our successes and informing people about what we are doing.

"There are also some clear issues surrounding access, such as the range of our opening hours and resources difficulties in areas such as the arts."

But the public seemed to be more than happy about the quality of the cultural services supplied by Somerset County Council.

Library users showed an 80 pr cent customer satisfaction result and 61 per cent gave high scores to the cultural and recreational facilities in the county.

And some 97 per cent of those who use the county's archives and records rated the services as "excellent or good."