[4] Stowey and Bishop Sutton make up the Stowey Sutton Parish Council, which has some responsibility for local issues, and is part of the Chew Valley South Ward, which is represented by one councillor on the Bath and North East Somerset Unitary Authority which has wider responsibilities for services such as education, refuse, tourism etc.

The annual mean temperature is about 10 °C (50 °F) with seasonal and diurnal variations, but due to the modifying effect of the sea, the range is less than in most other parts of the United Kingdom.

The south west of England enjoys a favoured location, particularly in summer, when the Azores High extends its influence north-eastwards towards the UK.

[9] According to the 2001 Census, the Chew Valley South Ward (which includes Bishop Sutton and Stowey), had 1,222 residents, living in 476 households, with an average age of 40.3 years.

Of these 76% of residents describing their health as 'good', 25% of 16- to 74-year-olds had no qualifications; and the area had an unemployment rate of 1.9% of all economically active people aged 16–74.

About 1558 (former date on a fireplace) Bess of Hardwick and her second husband, Sir William St. Loe, added a north-east wing with a parlour and chapel, which includes Tudor buttresses.

[11] The house was then left to her son Charles Cavendish, but later the property passed to the Strachey family.

[11] Life at Sutton Court was described by John St. Loe Strachey in his autobiographical book The Adventure of Living in 1922.

[16] Another significant building in the village is Stowey House to the north-west of the church, which includes original 17th-century gables, but was considerably extended in Georgian times.

[18] "Stowey" is the name of a hymn tune which was adapted by Ralph Vaughan Williams for "When a Knight Won His Spurs."