Wells

To check off another place from our "Must See Before We Move to Telford" list, we drove down to Wells which is south of Bristol in Somerset (link). But this was only after me having taken the Life in the UK test required for my "indefinite leave to remain" Visa... I still wonder how one leaves to remain... anyway... I passed! So at the end of June I can apply for the Visa, which will hopefully be the last one I'll ever have to apply for.

So, back to Wells. We first got lunch at a pub. Jeff had the prettiest-plated full English breakfast we'd ever seen... perhaps we were just really hungry!
The streets and cathedral in Wells, even the pub left of where Jeff is standing, were the backdrop to the movie Hot Fuzz. Jason would love to go there (perhaps one day, Brae)!
Walking up the street to the Cathedral, there was a market, which of course we had to browse... but not for long, though.

The west front of the Cathedral faces an open green surrounded by houses and buildings. "Built between 1175 and 1490, Wells Cathedral has been described as the most poetic of the English Cathedrals."
I particularly like this picture due to the various houses around the green, the arched gate with room on top (right of the picture), the lighting, but most of all because of the joy we had watching the father play football with his children.
The facade of the Cathedral was very intricate "with niches for more than 500 medieval figure sculptures of which 300 survive.""A unique feature in the crossing are the double pointed inverted arches, known as owl-eyed strainer arches. This unorthodox solution was found by the cathedral mason, William Joy in 1338 to stop the central tower from collapsing when another stage and spire were added to the tower which had been begun in the 13th century.""Wells Cathedral contains one of the most substantial collections of medieval stained glass in England.""The Wells clock, an astronomical clock, is located in the north transept. The surviving mechanism, dated to between 1386 and 1392, was replaced in the 19th century, and was eventually moved to the Science Museum in London, where it continues to operate. It is the second-oldest surviving clock in England." (I've seen the oldest clock in Strasbourg, France!)
We weren't able to stay in the Cathedral or in the town too long because our parking ticket was only valid for 3 hours, but on the way back to the car I spotted quaint, but pretty "almshouses" still in use by needy families today.