After a wonderfully unplanned night out with friends last night, we scraped ourselves out of bed this morning, threw clothes into travel bags, and set off towards Wells in Somerset - a small town near Glastonbury.
After a somewhat eventful journey spent partly behind a tractor for ten miles of winding countryside roads, we eventually crested a hill and the entirety of Wells and Glastonbury spread out before us - with Glastonbury Tor silhouetted against the distant skyline.
After picking our way towards the centre of Wells and finding a car-park - our Air BnB wouldn’t be available until mid-afternoon - we then spent a good few minutes losing the plot entirely with a car park charging station, and car park payment mobile app. At last count we have seven electric car charging apps, and as many car-park payment apps. It’s madness.
Wells is lovely.
We wandered along the high-street looking for somewhere to stop for lunch, and happened upon “The Crown” - the pub made famous in the movie “Hot Fuzz”. My other half delighted in telling me that it was only used for exterior shots (she knows these sorts of things - she works for a movie production company). It didn’t stop them selling a locally produced beer called “Hot Fuzz”.
While wandering along we discovered the “Bishop’s Palace”, and wandered in to explore its vaulted ceilings and rambling gardens. There were promises of views of Glastonbury Tor from the garden wall. Perhaps you can see the Tor in winter when the trees are bereft of leaves - in the autumn, not so much (or at all, it turned out).
After stopping for a pit-stop at the palace cafe - which might or might not have also involved Bakewell tart - we wandered back into the town, where I somehow found myself in a book-shop. I have no idea how it happened. It’s a mystery.
I bought the new “Impossible Creatures” book by Katherine Rundell. I heard about it on the radio a few days ago; apparently Disney have gone all in on the series and bought the movie rights - causing the author to now have more money than Croesus. It was only after buying the book that I discovered it’s book two in a series - so sat down with the Kindle a few minutes ago to order the first.
We stopped en-route to the house at a supermarket to pick up essentials - milk, bread, snacks, and so on. It turned out to be a mistake - given the owner had filled the kitchen with food for us. We couldn’t quite believe it.
The house is wonderful.
A quiet bolt-hole for a few days, tucked away at the end of a residential road on the outskirts of Wells. It’s clean, tidy, and homely - with lots of books dotted around the various rooms. I love seeing books in houses.
We’re going to walk back into Wells this evening - we booked a table at the restaurant in The Crown before leaving at lunchtime, and will try not to imagine Simon Pegg and Nick Frost arresting half the town’s teenagers while eating dinner.
Just after arriving, exploring the house, and unpacking my bag in the bedroom, I wandered into the lounge with nothing to do, and nowhere to go. It felt really strange.