The Old Palace

We enjoyed another lovely breakfast looking out towards the cathedral before we set off, in brilliant sunshine to visit the Bishop’s Palace. The palace rooms were interesting as was the current exhibition of church robes. The under-croft was set up for a wedding breakfast that was due to take place later in the day. We also visited the adjacent Bishop’s chapel before venturing into the gardens. The gardens are stunning and the location of the wells that gave Wells its name. We took our time enjoying the gardens and walking along the ramparts to take in the views of the surrounding area.

The Undercroft

The Bishop’s Table cafe was rather busy so we made our way back into the town for lunch at the Swan Hotel. We sat outside overlooking the cathedral whilst enjoying as poached salmon and dill sandwich.

Lunchtime View

After lunch I would have liked to have walked around a few historical areas of Wells that I had not seen. Mr C, however was in the mood for learning more about the Battle of Sedgmore, so we set off in the car in search of the visitor centre. After driving around in circles for some time due to the lack of signposts (mentioned in my previous post) we eventually found the right one only to find that the visitor centre had currently been replaced by a signboard explaining the battle site. Mr C didn’t get out to look at it and was not interested in finding the battlefield memorial.

We got just as lost making our way back towards Glastonbury and it was only as we drove past Barrow Mump that I was able to pinpoint where we were and realise that we were travelling in the wrong direction!! I regret that we didn’t stop off to visit the Mump but by this time Mr C had got the hump so I remained quiet as we retraced our steps, stopping briefly at Street Village before returning to Stoberry House.

Rest a While With Me

I took the opportunity to explore the gardens whilst Mr C enjoyed a quiet moment reading. Monty decided to join me, twining himself around my legs as I walked and paused to take photographs. All too soon it was time to return to the room to freshen up before dinner. We dined in the Fountain Inn which serves freshly prepared pub style food. We were accompanied by some very noisy diners, including one group who were quite naive in the conclusion to the political discussion they were having.

We escaped the noise and returned to Stoberry House where we enjoyed a glass of wine whilst sitting on a bench in the garden. Mr C had fun trying to take a selfie of the two of us (the camera focused on anything but us ;-) ) whilst, on and off Monty came to supervise us :-)

Love turns to Joy

This was our last night at Stoberry House and it seems that love has turned into joy…

15 Comments CherryPie on Aug 4th 2016

15 Responses to “Wells – Day Three”

  1. James Higham says:

    … we were travelling in the wrong direction!! I regret that we didn’t stop off to visit the Mump but by this time Mr C had got the hump so I remained quiet as we retraced our steps …

    Slight speed bump in the matrimonial harmony, eh? The merest blip. :)

  2. Ginnie says:

    I had to laugh when you said “Mr C had got the hump,” a new expression for me which I think I can easily figure out. HA! I learn something new every day! :)

    • Mr C says:

      Ginnie, I feel I must point out that the phrase “getting the hump” completely overstates things. I was barely miffed, just a bit huffy is all. It was nothing that an early glass of alcohol couldn’t (nor didn’t) put right. ;-)

    • CherryPie says:

      It is a quaint English word :-)

  3. Alan says:

    The ramparts are beautiful, as is the whole area, of course. The wedding breakfast chairs all look rather OTT to me but then I suppose its all part of the day. I wonder just how much this adds to the overall bill, though? (See? I’m an old romantic really ;) ).

    • CherryPie says:

      The wedding breakfast chairs are the fashion of the day, I like the ensemble. But my own choice (for me) was a less formal more personal arrangement :-)

  4. rusty duck says:

    A husband with the hump. I know the feeling all too well..

  5. Ayush says:

    lovely shots, CP. i liked the one with the bench. a pity the lack of directions created a bit of a mess.

  6. Amfortas says:

    One of the joys of Britain is that when one gets lost, somewhere is only five minutes away. That five minutes can reveal a great deal. :) Beautiful facade: great ruin; tall table decorations; perfect bench; very generous observation of the other guests’ overhearings. All in all a full day.

    • CherryPie says:

      I quite like getting lost in the English countryside :-)

      My comment on the guests that I overheard was rather generous. The guests talked about observations but missed the (quite obvious) point on why things happened as they did…

  7. There’s a place there called “Street”?
    Is their main street known just as “the Street”?
    I came across such street, The Street, in a small village called Oare in Kent.
    Saw some seals on Isle of Sheppey.

    There’s a place called Ham in Kent too :)
    And Sandwich. ;)
    English towns make me hungry.

    • CherryPie says:

      It is always interesting to discover the history of place names. Wiki on the ‘Street’ I mention in my post:

      The settlement’s earliest known name is Lantokay, meaning the sacred enclosure of Kea, a Celtic saint. In the Domesday Book it was recorded as Strate, and also Lega, a name still used throughout the country in the modern form, “Leigh”. The centre of Street is where Lower Leigh hamlet was, and the road called Middle Leigh and the community called Overleigh are to the south of the village. In the 12th century, a causeway from Glastonbury was built to transport stone from what is now Street for rebuilding Glastonbury Abbey after a fire, and Street’s name is derived from the Latin strata – a paved road. The causeway is about 100 yards (90 m) north of a Roman road.

      I am always hungry for knowledge :-)