Wells

The medieval city of Wells;  a little jewel which nestles on the southern side of

the Mendip Hills.

Steeped in history,Wells gets its name from the springs which

can be found in the gardens of the Bishops Palace.

And it is in Wells where we spent a most lovely weekend!

Wells is simply beautiful!

It is England's smallest city and Somerset's

only city.

We strolled along the moat walk on this glorious day.

All was quiet and serene and anything underneath

the bright blue sky, basked in the warmth and

the surrounding beauty.

There's always much to remind one of the past,

that is if one opens one's eyes!

J.C Everett: Mayor of Wells....(five times, apparently!)

Arthur.C. Hervey: Bishop of Bath and Wells.

Judging from the date on each shield, I assume that they

knew each other.

One of the prettiest places in Wells is the stunning,

medieval cobbled street,Vicar's Close,

 which is claimed to be the oldest, complete, medieval street in Europe.

Wells Cathedral was largely built between the 12th and 14th centuries and

it is said to be one of the best examples of early English architecture

 The Cathedral's magnificent West Front, features over 300 statues and carvings.

And there's also the famous mechanical clock.


Here's the outside view.

Of course Wells city centre, like many other city

and town centres, is very much focused on

the forthcoming jubilee.

But what really made our weekend is that we managed to find 

a little gem of a B&B in which to stay!

Mandy, the lovely owner, made us feel so welcome and

so if you are ever in need of accommodation in Wells,

trust me, this certainly is the place!

Five minutes walk from the city!

What more could you want?

Brilliant!

Why did we go to Wells? 

Ah yes, I almost forgot to say that we'd been to the

Vintage and Handmade Fair at Chipping Sodbury!

I'll be back next time, to  'show 'n tell'!

;-) 

Oh I do hate goodbyes!! And it's been a week of them !

Goodbye to all of my GCSE students who have finished their

English Language and Literature exams.

Now all we have to do is wait until August, for the

results!

I have to admit that I'll be quite glad of the break 

from the GCSE work

 because, this time, I've been teaching 

two, different exam boards...and it's been incredibly, hard work.

New novels, new poems, new plays.

Anyway...

I'm off to the fair tomorrow! ;-)

That is, 'The Vintage and Handmade Fair' at Chipping Sodbury.

There'll be a definite Jubilee atmosphere and no end of vintage

goodies will be on offer, showing themselves off to their very best.

I'll be taking some lovely, vintage fabrics and handmade bits too.

Hope to see some of you there!

;-) 

This has to be one of my favourite weeks in the gardening year!

The Chelsea Flower Show !

I will never forget the first time I walked into the main tent

and was greeted by the vivid colours of the Delphiniums

..stunning !

I will never forget the beautiful cottage garden displays 

in the outside gardens.

And I will never forget listening to the band, whilst they played

in the bandstand, in the early evening sun, as the show wound down for the day.

But that was some time ago and I don't live so close to be able to nip

up on a train after school, which is what I once was able to do.

So I have to make do with the TV coverage, which is always brilliant.

One thing is for sure...

I'd never win a medal for what's on offer in my garden, this year!!

Everything is soooo bloomin' late!!

This weekend we didn't go far!

We had a bit of a 'grand tidy up' in the garden.

Everything in our garden this year is very slow indeed!

(including me!)

Looking at photos from last year, I noticed that we had much more colour,

Lupins, Foxgloves and Poppies were in bloom, whereas this year

they really are taking their time to burst into bloom and excite me!

It all looks lovely and tidy ...so come on colour!!

Oh and I've been left in charge of Nich's plot whilst he nips off to Venice, with Lizzie!

I'll be glad to hear that he has arrived back home as they had an earthquake

over there, yesterday!

We did a quick flit to downtown N.A. on Saturday morning.

I have to admit that I love my town of Newton Abbot.

It's thriving, it's busy and it's a pleasant place to have a wander.

And many of the shops are making the most of the

forthcoming Diamond Jubilee celebrations

by entering into the spirit!

I'm now going to sit and watch my recorded Chelsea Flower Show programme.

And talking of Chelsea...well done to that blue team!

They didn't play the best football but they dug in and defended

throughout and even though I don't support them, I was 

rooting for them all the way.

For an English football team to go to Munich

and beat them in their own back yard was no easy task.

Plus, they didn't play dirty.

So credit where credit is due, as they say!! ;-)

I also enjoyed watching York v Luton!! LOL;-)

I was backing York, simply because that places them in the same

league as Torquay (who failed miserably in the play offs this year but hey ho

'it's only a game' as that famous man once said!)

and so I can feel a trip to York coming on and who knows it might

 again coincide with the York v Torquay fixture.

Well, that's my plan!

Mind you, as I've been telling my students

this past week...

''The best laid plans of mice and men,

gang aft agley' !!!


Finally, we had a little visitor at the weekend!

Meggy.

Oh my, she is growing up!! ;-)

xxx

Oh I say...

I don't know how old he is but last week he came to stay at our house!

I found him in the doorway of a shop in Newton Abbot, with a price tag on him.

The strange thing is that this particular shop was one of those cheap,

 linen shops and so he didn't really fit in. 

That's probably why he was shoved outside...

or maybe he was just trying to escape.

At first, we all walked by and I just happened to catch a glimpse

of him, out of the corner of my eye.

''Hey, Nich,  wait...did you see that?'

''No, see what?''

''Come back and look!''

''Oooh, I say, he's rather fine!''

'He's been in my garden shed for quite a long time,'' uttered the shop owner.

We handed over the money and carried him along the main street of

Newton Abbot.  

At first he was nicknamed, 'Carruthers'  but then Nich thought that was rather

more a rugby name...so the jury is still out on the name.

We do, however, think he resembles a Southampton 

footballer and we do rather like him!

At the moment he is kicking about in our hallway but I think

 Nich has plans to site him in his garden, possibly with a rather

grand, garden gnome to keep him company!

Let's hope the two of them are very happy! ;-)

The things you stumble across, eh?

;-)

It's an Exeter day! ;-)

It's the weekend; it's sunny at last and it's an Exeter day!

So off we go on our favourite train ride and

you're invited to come too!

(The river you see in the above photos is the River Teign


 and the train travels beside the river


 for part of the journey.)

I've not been to the city for ages and so

I'm very much looking forward to this day out!

As soon as we get to the city we make for 

Princesshay.

I need to see where a 'certain shop' is going to

be situated...and about time too!

Want a new job?!

It just so happens that almost opposite the

'new Cath shop to be' is the Apple shop, 

where I've spent many

minutes patiently waiting for Mr S.

Here he is, today:

(We are, I hasten to add, an 'all Mac' household!)

And whilst he is playing, I have my own bit of fun,

leaving my calling card!;-)

We decide that as we have a fair bit of trekking to do,

we'll have lunch early and so we head for

our favourite place:

The Oddfellows.

It's tucked away from the main drag

 but well worth the walk and I highly recommend it.

Fed and watered, we're off!

We take the scenic route away from the crowds

as, my golly, Exeter is heaving today!

We venture through the Northernhay Gardens.

Always a pleasure!

We're heading for Fore Street, 

which is about as 'non clone' as you could get.

Our destination: Otto!!

But wait!!

Before we get to Otto we notice a new little shop

has sprung up and, what's more, it 

appears to have rather a fab selection

of vintage clothes plus some other vintage

 bits and pieces!! 

And the owner is lovely!

What's more, the items are sensibly priced,

which makes a change!

The shop is called Hangar 124 .

The Tiger annual comes home with me!

Me and my footy, eh?!

(which reminds me that Torquay United are in the play offs

and so that's my tomorrow sorted out as far as

stress value is concerned!!!)

I digress...back to Exeter...

And now we're cooking, as they say...

Otto!!

Now this place really is a treat as Jenny, the owner

has done the place proud.

She's not there at this moment but the very polite man

who is behind the counter says

''We love photos'', as I ask if I can snap away.

''I'm Sal's Snippets,'' I say.

'' Ah, yes, we've had you before,'' he says!

''And you'll get me again!'' I reply.

How I adore this shop!

I want it all...some hope!

I leave with a colourful tea towel! ;-)

I'm very, very cheap to take out! 

This day is turning out to be great fun!

Off we go...passing another famous

part of Exeter.

Did you know that they actually moved this house?

It was in the way of a proposed road and lo and behold

they moved it!

If you don't believe me then here's the footage:

http://www.exetermemories.co.uk/em/video/housemoved.php

Crossing the road from here, 

we're on our way to Exeter Quay.

This is where many people congregate on a sunny day.

We amble through... but don't stop 

as we have a date with a cathedral!

Or rather , the Exeter Cathedral cafe!

To be honest, we nearly don't stop

as we almost have a disagreement as to where to 

have our afternoon cuppa!!

But Mr S soon sees sense and I hear him utter the words

' O.K. I'd sooner give my money to the Church of England 

than to a Muslim!'

;-)

I'm still grinning to myself as we leave and

 wander some more. As we do so, I think to myself

 what a wonderful city this has become.

It really is so alive! 

The music of 'Spin 2' can be heard as we stroll 

along. We pay one more visit to the Apple shop

for Mr S to make a purchase and then it's off

 along Gandy Street before walking

down the hill to St David's Station.

My feet are beginning to ache...

but it's been well worth it!

Thanks Mr S for a great day!