Monday, September 3, 2012

UK Trip Day 9

Day 8 was taken up with doing chores and shopping

Day 9: We travelled to Wells in Somerset, which is where we used to live approx 23 years ago.  When we arrived it was almost lunch time and we were all hungry especially the girls as they hadn't eaten breakfast, so we stopped at The Kings Head which is near the market place.


The girls, Bryn and Bryn's brother and sister.


This is one of the panels on the bench the girls and I were sitting on.
It was too beautiful not to photograph.


View of the main High Street.


At the top of the high street near the market place.


The entrance to Bishops Palace.


Entrance to the Cathedral.

Thought this was appropriate to take a photo of as the Olympics were on. The street we lived on was named after this lady.


The outside of the Bishops Palace.


When the girls were little we used to spend hours feeding the ducks and swans, 
but we only saw 2 ducks this particular day.



Inside Bishops Palace.






Jenny and Rachael outside Wells Cathedral.


So much beautiful details.




There were these plastic swans designed by children and companies throughout Wells. Not sure what the reason was. This one was decorated with shells.


Inside the Cathedral I had to pay a small fee to take photo's, it was so worth it though.


The clock and bell ringer.







I love the stained glass windows.




So many little chapels within the Cathedral.


Beautiful handmade lace.





This was the chior room and I was asked not to use my flash in here so as not to discolor the tapestries.


The window above is being restored.








Below is a part of the grounds that wasn't open to the public when we lived there. 
It was nice to see them.








I went on the hunt to try and find the local wool shop.
 It wasn't in the same location as it was before.
I had to ask around to find it.


It was off the beaten path up one of the many little lanes. 


I was a little disappointed though. Not with the shop as they were well stocked, but with the service.


We weren't greeted when we walked in... in fact my girls thought there was no one there at first. 
We didn't even get a hello when she came out of her little office..... 
She was quite rude even though I did end up purchasing a few items, only because it was the first wool shop I'd been in since my return. I'm not sure it was because she heard the girls american accents that she thought we were going to waste her time, but not a way to treat any visitors. By the way we were the only people in the shop, you think she would be glad of the patronage.
I mentioned that my friend in America would be so happy that I had gone into a wool shop in England, only then did she show any interest and actually gave me her business card, saying they ship. 
Ha, as if I'd give her any of my business in the future.
(sorry my photo is blurry, but I was trying not to get caught taking photos in her shop).
It definitely isn't the same shop as the wool shop I shopped in 20 years before. 


After that we moved on to Cheddar Gorge. It is renowned for it's wonderful cheese and caves.
Always full of tourists.





It's such a pretty little town.


We didn't go into any of the caves this time. By the time we got there it was close to closing time. 
We stopped for tea and ice cream which was delicious and a little wander around the shops
 and bought some cheese's.





We drove back to my sister in laws and had dinner at their local pub The Ty-nant Inn.




It was a nice end to the day.












2 comments:

  1. You can read all about the Swans of Wells here http://www.swansofwells.com . The one on the far left of the front picture on this website was made by Becky of Dots and Spots, a friend of mine and designer of beautiful greetings cards which you can see at http://www.dotsandspots.co.uk
    Hope you enjoy the rest of your UK trip, Joy xx

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    1. Thank You Joy for sending me the info! I took a look at both the website and your friends blog. It makes sense now why all those swans were everywhere. We are back in California and now I have a lot of catching up to do with all my photos. It was nice to hear from you.

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