Well...Wells

On the way back from Wales last weekend....yes I'm jet setting again...well sort of....we finally had time to visit the city of Wells in Somerset. I've been dying to visit the smallest city in England since I saw a photo of these wonderful little houses....

This is the Vicars Close...the oldest residential street in Europe.

These gorgeous houses were in fact built to house the Vicars Choral.....priests whose duty it was to chant divine service eight times per day. They were built in 1363 with the chimneys being 'raised and crowned' in 1470.

The chimneys are the stand out feature of the buildings...

Each chimney has two heraldic shields, one of which represents the Bishop.

Another very unusual feature of this little neighbourhood is that the Close actually tapers by around 10 feet, thus creating the illusion of being longer than it is...

The Chapel and Library at the end of the close.

The entrances to the little houses vary with low archways and gates or doors...

However, the one common theme is a dark blue front door on these Grade I listed buildings..

Once I dragged myself away from this delightful street, we walked around the corner to visit the Wells Cathedral.

The West Front (c. 1230) contains one of the largest galleries of medieval sculptures in the world. It is an illustration in stone of the Christian faith, starting in the lower niches with biblical scenes, it rises through Kings, Bishops and orders of angels to the twelve apostles with Christ over all.

However, we were on borrowed time as the sky was looking very threatening...

We scampered inside and we weren't disappointed...

The stunning vaulted ceiling, with it's scissor arches towered overhead...

with beautiful painted detail..

and the altar was impressive, framed by the arches...

more so without the flash...

Beautiful stained glass windows...

and a rather large organ which was being played...accompanied by the choir...which made for a very atmospheric tour.

And yes...the sky opened up and we were caught in the rain and hail! As a result we didn't visit the Bishop's Palace...leaving us with a good excuse to visit Wells again.