England Adventures: Somerset

Whew! So this weekend we had Matt’s dad and sister visit us in Bristol, and we decided to do a day trip to some prime spots in Somerset. However, we woke to drizzle and grey, which only proceeded to turn into rain and bleaker weather throughout the day. But we soldiered on, and made the most of things!

First stop was in Cheddar, home of Cheddar cheese (yes, THE Cheddar cheese). It’s in a very cool area, Cheddar Gorge, full of caves and great steep cliffs and such, but because the weather has just been so foul, it was far too muddy for us to hike up to the top and look over the gorge and scenery. I will definitely visit again in better weather, because from what I could tell, it must be pretty awesome when you can traverse the trails and catch the view. Instead, we toured the cheesemaking facility, and got plenty of cheese samples, and brought home some delicious wedges of cheese, so it was well worth it. We also drove through the gorge afterward, which did offer an idea of what the area resembles in better light.

From there we drove to Wells, a very small city a bit to the southeast of Cheddar. In all rights, it shouldn’t be called a city, but if a place has a cathedral, it gets to be called a city. And Wells has quite the spectacular cathedral, the Cathedral of St. Andrew, which was a very worthwhile reason to make this one of our stops. (Cathedrals also conveniently offer largely indoor scenery, which was highly welcome with the wind and rain we were beginning to experience.) When we arrived, we wandered through the city center and took a peek at the Bishop’s Palace, located across a moat and drawbridge right near the cathedral. It was a bit muddy to explore the gardens, but the medieval palace was very worth a quick series of photos. We stopped for a delicious lunch at The Fountain Inn Gastro Pub, which was very cozy and I highly recommend it should you ever find yourself in Wells.

Near the cathedral is Vicars’ Close, which claims to be the oldest residential street with intact original buildings in Europe. It’s really a very cool street, as you feel like you’ve stepped back into time - up to the point that some woman drives her car halfway up the setts, parks, and then goes inside, thoroughly ruining the scenery. Car aside, it was really a treat to walk down and explore. And the cathedral itself is quite nice - the exterior is really impressive, and there’s some very cool features inside, including a very unique looking staircase that takes you up to the Chapter House.

Our last stop on our driving trip was Glastonbury Tor (we skipped the town completely, as it was getting near dark, and the rain was beginning to pick up, so we wanted to get to the top as expediently as possible). The Tor is essentially a high hill in the area, though there is some mystery as to how certain features, such as the terraces, were formed. There is plenty of evidence that the Tor was consistently visited throughout history as a religious site, dating back even to pre-Christian times. Currently, the Tor features the ruined tower of St. Michael’s Church at its summit, the only remaining feature of the church which was rebuilt in the 14th century atop the hill. It’s really a rather easy walk up to the top, though we did take a slightly steeper (though shorter) route up, even with the rain and mud slightly hampering our path. Even with the weather though, the view from the top really was nice, and I can only imaging how impressive it is when the horizon is clear.