Set at the foot of the magnificent rolling Mendip Hills, Wells is reputed to be England's smallest city, with a population of only 10,000. Taking its name from the three fresh water springs in the grounds of the Bishop's Palace, open channels of water still run alongside the Market Place and the High Street.

Wells developed as a religious site over the centuries, and the tiny city has grown around its Cathedral, which has been described as a jewel in the crown of English Cathedrals. Its great West Front of c.1240 with nearly 300 surviving carved figures, is the largest collection of figure sculpture of its date in the western world. In about 705 AD a church was founded in Wells by Aldheim, Bishop of Sherborne. In 909 it was granted cathedral status. The construction of the present cathedral church was started in about 1180 and dedicated in 1239.

Perhaps the best known of the Cathedral's many treasures is the clock which was installed in c.1390. It has the oldest original clock-dial still in existence. As the inside clock strikes every quarter of an hour, the quarter-jack, Jack Blandiver kicks his heels to ring the bells. On the hour he rings the bell in front of him. Above the clock dials, four knights on horseback chase each other round, and one knight is knocked over at each revolution.

Also of architectural and historical note is the Bishop's Place with its surrounding walls, gatehouse, drawbridge and moat. The moat contains the famous swans who have learned to ring a bell below the gatehouse when they want food. On the central lawn, where the Palace Croquet Club plays during the summer months, there is a black walnut tree nearly two hundred years old.

A mile from the city are the Wookey Hole caves which were formed thousands of years ago by the river Axe which eroded the limestone into passages, pools and chambers deep underground. The caves were once occupied by man, and, according to legend, by the Witch of Wookey.

Further afield are Glastonbury with its famous Tor, the Cheddar Gorge and Longleat