All’s well that ends in Wells

Sat 18 Oct 25. DH, RW, AC, DL, JB, RC & Scrumpy

It was yet another week of low numbers with only three from Wincanton and just Richard from the Northern group today, so I opted for another new walking area on the edge of our self imposed time radius. Having deciphered an early morning pleas for back bags, we picked up Rich & Scrumpy up at 08.15 and had a good run across from Bruton arriving in Wells less than thirty minutes later. I had mentioned on the way over we would be meeting another couple so after taking some narrow back lanes we got to the top of Silver Street to be greeted by Adrian standing in the road with his usual wide ‘happy to see you’ grin on his face. He informed us he was parked with Ruth just inside the field, but that there was there was a £4 ‘honesty’ All Day parking fee to be paid. Luckily we had a quick whip round and managed to gather enough cash to pay our dues into the large milk churn by the gates. After the usual greeting and hugs and getting kitted up, we set off a few minutes earlier than expected, heading east through the Palace Fields, the former 13th century hunting grounds on King John, along a tarmac path along the top edge and into the slowly rising morning sun.

There were a few other dog walkers on the path including a trio of beagles and a crazy Red Setter running loose in amongst the remaining stalks of a recently cut down corn field. As we got further from town they decreased to just a couple of runners as we crossed the old Shepton to Wells road north of Dulcote. To the south there was good view right down th Glastonbury Tor whilst to the north, just visible in the hedgerow was the first of a few old red brick pill boxes we would see today. Mostly of theFW3/24 type, they were built in 1941-42 as part of the Green Stop Line and exist alongside a range of other World War Two defensive structures in the area.

The route through the fields was fairly well walked but two large blues structures on top of poles clearly marked out two of the less visible stiles. There was much confusion as to what they were formerly used for, with suggestions of concrete mixer drums or small septic tanks. We approached the village of Dinder and had to pass by the club house and cross the village cricket ground as we made our way towards the parish church of St Michael. With Norman origins, the current structure with three section tower, was rebuilt in the 15th Century and is Grade II* listed.

From the church we headed north towards Sharcombe Park and Grange, formerly the registered address of the Showering family, of Babycham and cider fame. Before we reached the the top of the lane we turned left along a track and climbed more alongside a wooded area. To the left of the track stood more WW2 defences in the shape of large concrete blocks and through the gaps in the hedge were views of the valley we had just walked through. We passed through a large empty field which was just so quiet before going back into the woods and alongside parts of the Wells Golf Club course, which has its club house on the north east side of town. We reached the East Mendip Way track and turned left. On the far side of the fence groups of four were hitting their little white plastic balls as best they could after the climb up to holes 3,4 and 5 over the top of the hill.

Our speed increased as we started our steady descent along the later parts of the 19 mile pathway from Frome to Wells, where it then becomes the West Mendip Way as it continues towards the coast at Weston-Super-Mare. To avoid dropping back onto the road too soon we took a path to our right over the only difficult crossing on todays walk. It was an old stone stile with a couple of shallow steps on either side but with plenty of willing helpers we managed to get over without any damage to the Crown Jewels! Another row of large concrete blocks lined the left side of the field, presumably moved from their war time position, as its very doubtful the war time tacticians considered that any heavy armoured vehicles would have made it to this height and needing to have their route blocked in this specific location. With a large metal fence also running along the hedgeline they were probably moved to form a earlier barrier at the very top edge of the large quarry cut into the side of Tor Hill.

We followed the fence around, with no views into the quarry or out to the Tor at any point before making the final descent through the woods down a series of steps and across areas of rough ground, coming out onto Torhill Lane, where through the gaps in the trees we eventually had a glimpse of the Cathedral and the Bishops Palace buildings in front of us. We crossed the road and took the path past the ground mosaic before stopping at the edge the moat to take this weeks group photo at probably one of the most iconic locations we have visited.

We continued along the eastern side and stopped for more photos at the southern corner, close to the car park where we started just two hours earlier. As our breakfast location was in the Market Square, we continued up the western side, and as we reached the corner we could see a large group of swans gathered by the gatehouse and bridge.

What we had come across was the daily ringing of the gatehouse bell by one of the older swans, a tradition believed to have started in the 1850s when the Bishops daughter at the time taught the resident swans how to pull the rope attached to the bell in order to ring it and attract someone to the window above to feed them. Since then the swans have continued without further human intervention and currently it will be either Grace or Gabriel, who in 2019 took over as the resident pair of mute swans from Bryan and Wynn, who do the ringing. There are now two bells, one on either side of the bridge and each year the young cygnets are taught by the elder swans before they leave to start life on their own. Thankfully I was quick enough to switch to video mode to capture the scene below. What a delightful sight to end our walk!

I stopped the tracker as we arrived in the market Square having completed the four mile loop in exactly two hours. During the walk I had challenged anyone to guess which cafe we were eating in, and having walked past a couple there was some surprise and consternation when we arrived at the door of the local Conservative Club, a location which came highly recommended. There was plenty of muttering as we took our seats at a table in the window under a portrait of King Charles, but when the menu and others meals were looked at, the mood lightened a bit. We placed our orders at the bar and and didn’t have long to wait for drinks. Whilst trying to work out who was the caricature on the wall and who was in charge the cooks had produced our breakfasts, which were to the delight of Richard, served on hot plates. There were compliments all round and we sat for some time enjoying the morning in our first visit to a City. Afterwards there was a quick stroll around the marketplace for some before we headed back to the cars to head home, or for Adrian a chance to be dragged around the shops with Ruth.

Below a more picturesque view of the route than usual.