retiredmartin

I’d never quite got Wells before.

“it’s a scruffy town, with rundown shops and not much cutting-edge creativity, Prosecco Pong apart” I wrote in 2018, perhaps influenced by the dour micropub and dreich weather.

I was wrong. I seem to have missed the beauty of the approach to the Cathedral from the north,

joining a surprise number of overseas visitors in admiring the rare sight of an English church unencumbered by scaffolding.

And then through the little portal to the market,

which was heaving with gentlefolk looking for bargain tablecloths and Wookey Hole cheese made by real goblins.

My recollection of Wells was of a rather staid place, but rather like Ely the place seems to have had a renaissance and Cafe Twenty One was so 21st century that the soundtrack was ambient house for gentlefolk,

and the poached eggs and mushrooms on toast were priced at 8.5.

The young staff were, as always, polite and chatty, and introduced me to the chap who’s made my brunch, summoned from the kitchen to say hello. I liked that.

I liked Wells a lot. With its little leats it could have been a less hilly Frome.

Except that Frome is now Craft Central (there’s probably a place called that, I don’t have the new GBG yet), and the only Guide entry was the venerable City Arms.

How gorgeous is that ?