Wells Cathedral and Bishop's Palace in One Day: A Step-by-Step Itinerary

Wells is a small city, and that is the point. You can walk from the Market Place to the cathedral door in three minutes and from there to the moat of the Bishop's Palace in five. Small does not mean slight, though. The cathedral is one of the finest in England, and the palace beside it has been home to the Bishop of Bath and Wells for more than eight centuries. Give the pair a full day and you will still leave something undone. This plan fits in the highlights of both, with proper time to eat in between.

9.30am: The Cathedral, from the West Front Inwards

Arrive on Cathedral Green before the coach parties do. Doors generally open in the morning and entry is free, with a suggested donation at the door. That money goes into the endless battle between a medieval building and Somerset weather, so give what you can.

Start outside and look up. The west front carries roughly 300 medieval figures, carved in the thirteenth century and battered ever since. Many lost their heads to Reformation zeal or simple erosion; a few were replaced in the Victorian era. Stand back far enough to take in the whole screen, then walk slowly along it before you go in.

The Nave, the Scissor Arches and the Clock

Inside, the first thing to notice is the length of the nave and the way the light falls across the stone. Then look up at the crossing. The famous inverted arches, shaped like scissors, were added in the fourteenth century when the central tower began to sink. They are structural engineering disguised as decoration, and they work.

Head for the north transept to see the clock, usually dated to the late fourteenth century and one of the oldest surviving clock faces in the country. On the quarter hour, two jousting knights charge at each other while a figure above strikes the bell. It lasts seconds, so position yourself a minute early rather than wandering past afterwards.

From the transept stairs, climb to the Chapter House, an octagonal room with a single central pillar and a vault that fans out above it like a palm tree. It is small, quiet and often missed by people hurrying through. The cloisters, on the way back, are worth ten minutes on their own, particularly if it is raining.

11.15am: Vicars' Close and the Cathedral Green

Leave by the north side and walk up Vicars' Close, a single street of identical chimneys and stone houses built in the 1360s for the vicars choral, the men who sang the daily services. It is often described as the oldest purely residential street in Europe, and it is still lived in, which is why you should keep your voice down and your camera pointed at the buildings rather than the windows. At the far end are the chapel and the hall, linked by a small bridge.

Come back down and cut across the green. If you have time spare, pop into St Cuthbert's Church on St Cuthbert's Street, whose tower is a fine piece of Somerset stonework, or look at the Penniless Porch, the gateway where beggars once gathered to ask alms of people heading to services.

12.30pm: Lunch in Wells

You are spoilt here, and you do not need to book far ahead outside the summer weekends. Options within a few minutes of the cathedral include:

• The Bishop's Eye, on the Market Place, for something more substantial in a timbered building that was once a gatehouse.
• The Swan Hotel, on Sadler Street, for a reliable pub-style lunch or a sandwich if you want to keep it quick.
• The Good Earth, a long-standing vegetarian option that has fed Wells for decades.
• The cathedral café, handy if you want to eat and be back inside the building within half an hour.
• Market stalls on Wednesdays and Saturdays in the Market Place, where you can put together a picnic of local cheese, bread and fruit.

If the weather is kind, take that picnic to the Bishop's Palace Fields, the open ground beside the moat, and eat with the palace in view.

1.45pm: The Bishop's Palace

The palace charges admission for the gardens and the surviving rooms, and opening days vary through the year, so check before you travel, particularly between November and March. Parts of the site are still a private residence, so you will see closed doors here and there.

Go through the gatehouse first and note the bell rope hanging above the moat. For generations the swans here were taught to pull it when they wanted feeding. Today's birds are less dependable, but it is worth a glance as you pass.

Ruins, Gardens and the Well

The great hall and the north wing were left to fall into ruin after the Civil War, and the broken walls now frame the gardens in a way no intact building could. Beyond them are lawns, a kitchen garden, and the springs known as St Andrew's Well, the water that gave the city its name. The moat is fed by those springs and is full of rather large carp, so keep small children back from the edge.

Allow ninety minutes. If you only have an hour, do the ruins, the well and the garden walk, and skip the exhibition rooms.

3.30pm: The Moat Walk and a Slow Finish

A public footpath runs around the outside of the moat, and you do not need a ticket for it. The circuit takes about twenty minutes at a stroll and gives you the view of the palace that most visitors never see: water on one side, willows and lawn on the other, the cathedral tower showing above the trees.

Finish with tea or a cold drink back in the centre, then decide what is left. Wells Museum, the Bishop's Barn, or a wander down to the recreation ground will fill an hour comfortably. If you have a car and the light is holding, the Mendip Hills are ten minutes away and Glastonbury Tor is a short drive beyond.

Practical Notes for a Wells Day Out

• Get there early. Parking fills up on market days and in summer, so aim to arrive before 10am.
• Wear flat shoes. Cobbles, gravel paths and worn stone steps are the norm, and the cathedral floor is uneven in places.
• Check service times. The cathedral closes parts of the building during worship, and the Chapter House keeps shorter hours than the main church.
• Ask about step-free routes. Staff at both buildings can point out the most level way round if you are using a wheelchair or pushing a buggy.
• Go midweek if you can. Saturdays are busiest; Wednesday brings the market, which is a bonus if you like browsing but not if you hate crowds.
• Bring a layer. Cathedral stone and moat-side paths are cold even in June, and the weather changes quickly under the Mendips.

One day is enough to see Wells properly, but not to exhaust it. The trick is to stop treating the cathedral and the palace as two separate outings and simply walk between them, slowly, with lunch in the middle.

Photo: GetCreative Conmigo / Pexels