Wells

Wells makes a good base for exploring the wider Mendip Hills and Somerset Levels, with a range of accommodation packed into a small, walkable centre. Right by the cathedral, historic coaching inns such as The Crown on the Market Place and The Swan opposite the west front offer characterful rooms with the cathedral quarter on the doorstep, ideal if you want to step outside into six centuries of history first thing in the morning. The city also has a good choice of B&Bs and guesthouses in Georgian and Victorian townhouses within a few minutes' walk of the Market Place, generally better value than city-centre hotels and often run by locals happy to point you towards lesser-known corners of the cathedral or good walks nearby.

Further out, the countryside around Wells towards Wookey Hole, Cheddar and the Mendip Hills has farmhouse B&Bs and small country hotels, useful if your visit is built around walking, caving or exploring the wider Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty rather than staying purely in the city. Glastonbury, with its own choice of independent hotels and guesthouses, is only around 20 minutes away and pairs naturally with a Wells trip. Wherever you stay, book ahead for weekends from spring to autumn and around the cathedral's December carol services, when the city's limited room count fills quickly; out of season, availability is far more relaxed and rates drop accordingly.

Wells rewards slow exploration on foot — most of its sights sit within a few hundred metres of each other in the cathedral quarter.

• Wells Cathedral — The scissor arches supporting the crossing tower are one of English Gothic's great engineering solutions, added in the 14th century when the original tower began to subside; the west front carries one of the largest collections of medieval statuary in Europe, and the 14th-century astronomical clock is still one of the oldest working clocks in the world.
• Bishop's Palace and moat swans — A genuinely fortified bishop's residence, complete with drawbridge, portcullis and a spring-fed moat, set in 14 acres of gardens where the springs that give Wells its name rise into ornamental pools. The resident mute swans have long been known for tugging a bell-pull by the gatehouse to beg for food, a trick first taught to the birds in Victorian times.
• Vicars' Close — Built in the 1300s to house the cathedral's choir of vicars choral, this is widely held to be the oldest purely residential street in Europe with its original buildings still substantially intact; the slightly tapering width of the close is a deliberate trick of perspective, making the chapel at the far end look further away than it is.
• England's smallest city — Wells has held city status since at least the Middle Ages by virtue of its cathedral, despite a population of only around 12,000, and its compact centre can be comfortably explored in half a day.
• Wells Market Place and the Bishop's Eye — The medieval market square still hosts a Wednesday and Saturday market, framed by the 15th-century Penniless Porch and the moated gatehouse into the Bishop's Palace grounds.
• Wells & Mendip Museum — A small independent museum on Cathedral Green covering local geology, archaeology and the Mendip caving history that connects Wells to nearby Wookey Hole.
• Mendip Hills — This Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty rises immediately north of the city, offering limestone gorges, cave systems and walking routes including the popular ascent to the trig point above Priddy.

The Swan's restaurant, opposite the cathedral, has held a place in the Michelin Guide on and off since the very first edition in 1911. Goodfellows @7B on Sadler Street has been a fixture of the local dining scene for over 15 years, pairing Mediterranean-leaning menus with British ingredients. For classic pub food, The Fountain Inn near the cathedral and The Swan Inn both serve locally sourced dishes alongside Butcombe ales brewed just down the road in North Somerset. Bishops Eye, set in the Grade II-listed gatehouse of the Bishop's Palace, makes an atmospheric spot for a coffee or light lunch, while The Good Earth on the high street has served homemade vegetarian food for over 40 years. The Wednesday and Saturday market on the Market Place is a good source of local produce, and the surrounding Somerset countryside supplies much of what appears on menus across the city.

Wells itself has no campsites within the city, but the surrounding Mendip Hills and Somerset Levels offer a good spread of options within a short drive. As in the rest of England, wild camping is illegal without the landowner's explicit permission — the informal tolerance found in parts of Scotland and Dartmoor does not extend here, so pitching up on open land or hillside without asking first can mean being moved on or worse. Fortunately there is no need to try: licensed campsites within a few miles of Wells range from simple, small farm sites to fuller-facility touring and camping parks, many of them geared towards exploring the Mendip Hills, Cheddar Gorge and Wookey Hole caves on foot or by bike.

The Mendip Hills' limestone terrain means grass pitches can be firm and free-draining even after rain, which makes this good territory for tents as well as tourers, though the hills themselves are steep and rocky in places so it is worth checking a site's exact location before booking if you want easy, level ground. Spring through early autumn is the most comfortable window for camping here, with long evenings for walking up onto the plateau above Priddy or exploring the gorges, while sites open in winter tend to suit those visiting for caving or off-season quiet rather than long days outdoors. For anyone who wants the Mendip scenery without the tent-pitching, glamping options in the area — shepherd's huts, yurts and pods — have grown considerably in recent years, offering a warmer, more sheltered alternative that still puts you within easy reach of Wells Cathedral, Cheddar Gorge and the Somerset Levels.