We were up a bit later today after our late night, but not too late to miss our cooked breakfast in the elegant 'Victorian style' dining room, looking out onto hyacinths through the bay windows. You have to get your money's worth...Today we thought we would drive to Wells, a picturesque place officially named a city only because it has a huge cathedral and bishop's palace in it, despite only 10 000 people.
We got a bit lost getting out of Bath. It is a very difficult place to drive around. (Perhaps we ought to get one of those sat. nav. things). However, get out we finally did and off we set through the pleasant Wiltshire countryside. It was cloudy, but the rain thankfully held off.
The cathedral was magnificent. So old, and so much to see! I was struck with how light it was inside, and how modern some of the architecture seemed even though it certainly was not new. There was a clock, circa 1390, which we were just in time to see strike 11. Clockwork miniature knights on horseback emerged from the wall and circled in a continuous joust while a harlequin higher up struck a bell. The bright and complex clock face had 24 hour divisions and a little sun marker that moved through the minutes. Brilliant!
We managed to get in on a free tour, which was very interesting. We loved the little stone faces carved above the pillars, some depicted with toothache, some in a comic sequence of some villains stealing grapes, and then suffering a farmers' wrath. I particularly enjoyed the bright embroidery in the choir stalls - some indication of all the colour that the cathedral would have originally enjoyed in painted walls and roof. And there was a fascinating tomb, with a carving of a grand bishop laid out in robes and splendour on top - but with an additional carving of his imagined decaying body below this statue, to prevent worldly Pride I suppose.
The acoustics were so marvellous I wanted to burst into song. (I refrained, to the children's relief.)
We watched the clock strike twelve, and wandered about a bit more before coming out into a very pretty village square, and a market in full force. Wayne sniffed out a stall selling fresh 'free - range' sausages in home-made buns. I declined one, my tum protesting several days of indulgent food, but ended up having to finish Eleanor's. It was certainly top quality. A town crier in full fig came out into the market and did his thing b
efore all the tourists. I had had no idea this was such a visited spot. (He's the bloke in green behind Eleanor, there.)We walked through an arch onto a green, and a moat around the bishop's palace. We took this photo, but did not fancy walking around inside it after our cathedral t
our.
We hopped back into the car and headed up to the Cotswalds. I had intended to navigate us around Bath, but it sucked us into its Black Hole of traffic confusion, alas! However, once we got on them, it did not take us long to drive along the pleasant little country roads to Castle Combe.
This is reputedly the prettiest village in England. It has the sort of houses people model for miniatures, all stone and steep roofs. However, we spoilt people from Cornwall think we have seen equally pretty places, with more atmosphere and life. This one I think has suffered from tourist overload... plenty of 'private' signs, and other ones warning us away from innocent ducks, and playing children (in that order). Not very welcoming somehow. However, the loo in the pub here was very pretty and flowery... flowers even painted in the bowl! A world a
way from the nasty one in Bath's 'Huntsman'! 
Back to a final pub meal at The Boathouse again. (I opted for trout, boiled spuds and salad - the healthiest looking thing I could find. Too much high living for me!)
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