Water Well Essentials: Drilling, Installing, and Maintaining Your Source

Step into a living storybook when you visit Wells, England’s smallest cathedral city frozen majestically in time. Just twenty miles southwest of Bath and equally distant from Bristol, this charming Somerset gem has preserved its medieval character for eight remarkable centuries.

Discovering Wells Cathedral: A Gothic Masterpiece

The real showstopper reveals itself unexpectedly as you stroll from Market Place into the cathedral close. Suddenly, Wells Cathedral erupts into view – a breathtaking symphony of stone framed by sprawling lawns where gravestones once stood. Gaze up at the west front, where nearly 300 carved figures from the 1200s still dance across the facade. Imagine these saints and kings glowing in their original gold leaf and brilliant pigments, now mellowed to a warm, honeyed stone that whispers secrets of eight centuries.

Step inside and feel history envelop you in cool stone air. The nave stretches before you in perfect Early English Gothic splendor, its elegant lines dramatically interrupted by the architect’s brilliant solution to a medieval engineering crisis – the striking scissor arches installed in 1338 to stabilize the tower. Wander beyond this architectural marvel to discover ancient tombs lining the Quire aisles, their worn surfaces telling stories in stone, leading your eye to the jewel-box glow of 14th-century stained glass in the Lady Chapel.

Keep your eyes peeled for whimsy in the holy spaces – mischievous medieval stonecarvers left their mark with playful sculptures. Spot the grimacing man clutching his aching jaw or the fruit thief frozen mid-theft in the orchard. Don’t miss the star attraction in the north transept: a working astronomical clock older than the printing press. Every quarter-hour, Jack Blandiver (as locals call the kicking automaton) swings into action, his bells announcing the mechanical joust unfolding above as armored knights charge across the ancient timepiece.