0
0
Weekend away for us for my birthday and I’d always wanted to go to Wells – the second smallest city in England after the City of London.
Wells was also the setting for Sanford in the film Hot Fuzz so Jon had booked us on the tour. Not sure what to expect but hopefully we’d have fun!
Jon wanted to avoid a detour via Cheltenham. There’s no train station in Wells itself (nearest is 8 miles away), so we needed to find a convenient place to pick Callum up. We wanted to avoid heading into Bristol so ruled Bristol Temple Meads out, but Bristol Parkway looked to be on the outskirts so he booked his tickets for there.
Jon was up bright and early on Saturday and discovered that our well-thought-out plans may be scuppered. The M4 was closed all weekend between J18-19 – they were removing a bridge. Meanwhile Callum woke up late, discovered he was too early to catch the bus from the Park n Ride to the Station so had to walk there. His app told him he was scheduled to arrive at the station 3 minutes after the train left! However, when he arrived at the station, all trains were delayed as there were trespassers on the line. Thankfully, all sorted out really quickly with no-one hurt.
We came off the M4 at J18 and the detour in our direction wasn’t too bad – a little slow as we approached the outskirts of Bristol. The queues coming the other way were horrendous – queuing for miles. Callum grabbed a hot chocolate whilst he waited for us to arrive and was outside waiting for us as we pulled in.
As it happened, the sat nav took us through the centre of Bristol on our journey to Wells – right passed the entrance to Temple Meads Station!!
Once out of Bristol, we drove through some stunning countryside and amazing cottages/villages. The after-effects of all the rain were showing with fields either side of the road flooded. We realised this must be the Somerset Levels that were badly hit by flooding a couple of years back.
We were a little behind schedule when we arrived at Wells, so decided to try and park up in the city and check into our hotel later. Parking was at a premium and quickly decided to head to the hotel, park there and walk into town.
We were staying at the Premier Inn, Wells and it was a 15-20 minute walk into the Market Place in the city centre. Next task was to find somewhere for a bite to eat. The Crown at Wells was full so we walked around and ended up at The Swan.
No tables inside, but we told there were plenty of tables across the road if we didn’t mind eating outside. It was a little chilly, but blue skies. It turned out it was tables with a fab view of Wells Cathedral.
Sandwiches were good – Jon had the fish finger sandwich and Callum the Ham and Chicken Hock sandwich. I had the ham sandwich and it was slathered in Red Onion Chutney! Even though I like chutney, this was proving to be a bit much!
We had just enough time after lunch to wander around the Market Place. It was in full swing with plenty of stalls selling everything you could want. Good choice of food stalls too.
Callum spotted a tribute to Olympian, Mary Rands (1964). She won Gold for the Long Jump in Tokyo in 1964. There was a plaque on the floor outlining her achievement and a measure to show exactly how far she had jumped to win Gold. The distance was truly incredible. Callum stood at the landing zone whilst I was at the launch point taking the photo. Truly phenomenal.
The meeting point for the Hot Fuzz Walking Tour was outside The Crown at Wells – a must-do if you are in Wells – for the greater good! We would hopefully have time to pop in for a Cranberry Juice or Glass of Wine (red or white) at the end. Siobhan was our guide and she was brilliant. Around 20 of us on this tour. She knew Edgar Wright (one of the writers) and gave some amazing insights into the research Edgar and Simon Pegg had put into the film along with nods to the locals and their own mums!
The only piece of film memorabilia was on display at The Crown – a signed stab vest and a blue plaque had been put up on the outside of the pub, initially as a joke.
Jon won the first prize with his encyclopaedic knowledge of Cornetto’s – a monkey which Callum had the pleasure of carrying around for the tour. Most of the filming took place in the market place.
At each location Siobhan recounted the part of the film that was shot there and there were plenty of anecdotes thrown in for good measure.
City News [newsagents] looked unchanged from the filming – there was even a nod to the lost Swan in the window! The Supermarket was long gone with two clothing shops now in situ. The more you wandered around, you realised just how stunning this city was. The gated entrances at the top of the market place, the Bishops Palace (Sanford Castle) and the moat around it was great. Surprisingly, just beyond the town were open fields.
The final bit of the tour took us to the Little Theatre and St Cuthberts Church.
Would recommend the tour to anyone who has enjoyed watching Hot Fuzz … make sure you rewatch just before you go. I am sure that when we watch it again, fresh eyes will spot a whole host of other things we’ve missed previously.
Afterwards we wandered back to see the Cathedral and Vicars Close. On way, we tried to book into the Italian opposite The Swan but the only time they could offer us a table for was 5.30pm – no time to go back to the hotel, change and walk back into town. A very popular place.
The cathedral was stunning – although the turrets looked as though they were missing their tops. To the left of the cathedral was Vicars Close – the oldest continually inhabited street in England dating back to Medieval times.
Back into the Market Place and we found a free table outside in the courtyard at The Crown. Drinks ordered and we managed to book a table for dinner this evening.
We remembered the way back to the hotel and checked in. Callum’s room was conveniently across the corridor from us. He wanted to watch the Grand Prix qualifying with us at 11pm.
We were back at The Crown for just after 7pm and it was busy. We found our table and ordered our drinks and food. Callum opted to try the Hot Fuzz IPA – wasn’t impressed so switched to a pint of cider.
For starters, Callum and I had Venison Scotch Egg with Piccalilli whilst Jon had mushrooms and spinach on sourdough. All really good. We then had a loooong wait for our mains – as everyone else’s food was coming out pretty quickly, we think they’d forgotten about our order. We didn’t get our mains until gone 9pm – at which point we had gone past the point of being hungry. Callum had the burger, Jon the sausages and I went for Steak Frites. The chips were great, but my steak wasn’t the best – lots of gristle. Jon’s and Callum’s fared better with their choices.
We were hoping that the Cathedral would have been lit up at night as it would have been quite spectacular to see. Alas, it wasn’t so we just headed back to the hotel ready for the GP. Thankfully Lando fared better than Lewis and George!
Sunday 20th October
Jon was determined to avoid the M4 heading back so we decided to drop Callum back in Cheltenham rather than drop him back at Bristol Parkway. The forecast for today was pretty grim with Storm Ashley due to hit from early morning. We headed out of Wells towards Glastonbury and then headed to Weston-Super-Mere. It was here the heavens opened. Some brave souls getting soaked on the promenade as they headed to the pier. We kept the rural roads as we head out of town – one minute we were driving down narrow country lanes and the next we were slap-bang in the middle of a new housing estate!
We decided to head to Gloucester so we could have a bite to eat together – we took the slightly longer route of heading over the Severn Bridge and following the A48 along the River Severn to get to Gloucester.
We thought we’d made a huge mistake – once in Wales, pretty much everything in Chepstow is in a 20mph limit (new speed limit introduced by the Welsh Government), but we did breathe a little sigh of relief when we headed out of Chepstow and out of Wales into Gloucestershire.
A very pretty drive and once again, we travelled through and past some stunning villages and houses.
In Gloucester, we headed towards Gloucester Quays – a recently revamped area of Gloucester with shopping and dining in mind. With Nando’s still off our places to eat and Jon not wanting to eat at Bills, Wagamamas or TGIs, the choice was narrowed down considerably. With it being Sunday, menus were also limited, so it was a toss up between Coal and Brewhouse and Kitchen. Both menus very similar but a better & wider choice at B&K. Our table was close to the entrance and had a great view of the water.
Jon spotted a Light Ship in the quay – it turned out this was LV14 Sula – the only Light Ship that has been renovated so you can actually stay overnight onboard!
One funny moment whilst we were eating – two chaps walked over the lifting bridge. Whilst it had brightened up considerably, it was still pretty gusty at times. The wind blew the cap of one of the chaps into the water! They stood around for a couple of minutes working out if they could get it back but the current took it away!
Our food came out really quickly and it was really good. Callum went for the schnitzel, Jon a burger and I had the 1/2 beercan chicken.
We then suddenly realised the time and with supermarkets closing at 4pm, we needed to get a move on if we wanted to get Callum some supplies to tide him over!
We headed out of Gloucester and stopped off at the Asda we spotted en route. It was massive inside but we didn’t have time to hang about. Callum needed to take something German to an Oktoberfest social that he was going to during the week. We picked up a Stollen as he’s not keen on beer and didn’t think a jar of Sauerkraut would go down well! General food supplies picked up and onwards to Cheltenham and right through the town centre. Callum pointed out some new parts of town to us.
Callum dropped safely back at Pittville, with supplies and we headed home.
