Wells, Somerset

We were inspired by the recent warm spring weather to plan a day's outing. When the chosen day arrived, however, it was cold, wet and grey. That didn't prevent our enjoying, very much, a trip to the nearby cathedral city of  Wells, Somerset. Although classed as a city, it's a small place and incredibly historic. It's named for a number of natural wells that bubble up from the ground around the Bishop's Palace and Wells Cathedral. We were lucky to arrive on market day. The arch behind the flower stall is the market square well, which continually flows and runs beneath the shops and down each side of the high street.

The Cathedral and the Bishop's Palace are just a few steps from the market square. Both are walled and the Palace, founded in 1206, is surrounded by a moat complete with bell-ringing swans and a drawbridge.

The gardens were very lush in their spring greenery and colour and you could see the wells bubbling up in natural pools.

Water seemed to be flowing everywhere through various channels although it has to be carefully managed to avoid flooding of the town.

An excellent rear view of the Cathedral was provided from the Palace gardens.

By now, you might be thinking "not another cathedral" as, to be honest, that's what we were thinking as we no longer go out of our way to visit them as there seem to be so many alike. Wells Cathedral, however, was different with a number of unique and interesting things to see. There was incredible sculpture on the outside of the building, one of the largest galleries of medieval sculpture in the world. From the bottom up, it starts with biblical scenes, rising through kings, bishops, apostles and angels with Christ at the top.

It was the interior, though, that really caught our eye. This massive "scissor arch", built to prevent the building from sinking, was not only functional, but, exceedingly beautiful as well.

Wells Cathedral is also home to the second oldest surviving clock in England (Salisbury's is older). It's an astronomical clock from around 1325. It still has the original medieval face. We settled in to wait for the quarter hour when the jousting knights above the clock face would circle past each other. The quarter-jack was beside the clock and much higher up. On the quarter hour it strikes two bells with its hands and two with its heels setting the knights in motion.

On the outer wall is a second clock face of the same clock, driven by the same mechanism. This second clock face has two quarter jacks in the form of knights in armour.

After all this magnificence we weren't finished yet. Just steps away from this clock we found Vicar's Close, which according to wiki, "is claimed to be the oldest purely residential street with original buildings surviving intact in Europe. The Vicar's Hall was completed in 1348 and included a communal dining room, administrative offices and treasury of the Vicars Choral. The houses on either side of the close were built in the 14th and early 15th centuries" as lodgings for the men of the choir. Today, some of the houses are still used by choristers from the Wells Cathedral School.