It's an odd feeling being back in Australia. I miss the UK even though I was keen to get home. The old tyranny of distance. When you're stupidly far away from the northern hemisphere in the furthest antipodes and it'll take you 24 hours to get 'home' and you wish you lived in both places at once. ...

So I'm looking back at my old photos and reminding myself of where I was not so long ago. It feels ages away in time but I guess so much has happened. Currently it's tipping it with rain again in Britain - so far, summer hasn't been that great and hopefully it'll pick up for them later in the year instead. But look at the lovely blue sky in the photo below in Wells, Somerset, looking down on the moat and crenellate wall of the Bishop's Gardens and Palace. My mother in law says 'you can make a sailor's trousers' out of that sky. She has all kinds of weathery sayings.

This place is an historic site that has been the home of the Bishops of Bath and Wells for over 800 years. It's found just behind the market town, so if you park in the town centre, you can walk here, though entry to the garden is quite expensive. We bought our tickets when we saw the cathedral - both for 20 quid, and it's absolutely worth it.

Of course, it's absolutely spectacular and at it's best in summer, when everything is in full flush. My mother in law has a yearly pass so they can walk through there all the time - her partner lives in Wells so it's worth it. There's 14 acres of garden so it's a lot to get around - we didn't even cover it on this day as we had to get back to top up our parking which was a bummer, and we planned to go back but I had to come home which was a bit gutting.

What's pretty cool is the baby swans or cygnets that hatch every year here - you can catch them swimming the moat or moving through the gardens which is super cute. A lot of people just come to visit the swans which are always the talk of the town!

Obviously the moat is a very cool feature. There's a a variety of formal and informal plantings, including a maze, medieval ruins (particularly a wall which is just gorgeous), and picturesque water features. There's quite a diversity of plants and trees as well, including the huge gunnera which always impress me. You could definitley shelter under these in a rainstorm!

In the garden you can see the wells that give Wells its name and are fed from the Mendips (some dude released black die in a stream in the Mendips once and it turned up here, which showed how all the water ways were connected). The most notable of these wells is St. Andrew's Well, which is just within the grounds of the Bishop's Palace. It's one of the city's main springs and has been a significant source of water since medieval times - I'm not sure how safe it would have been to drink then, but it fed the moat surrounding the place.

There's another one in the gardens which captures the water from the springs. Like many towns with wells, they would have provided a real focal point for the community and the sound of lowing water and greenery and architecture makes them a really lovely and enchanting centrepoint. Despite the crowds, you can definitely find a quiet corner somewhere to soak in the beauty.

Phew, if I get through this post and don't muck up the div class pull left it'll be a miracle. I hope you don't mind all the photos - it was just so hard to choose. And in the end formatting makes me a bit cross eyed. It's a good place to store my photos, though, on the blockhain - I've already run out of Google Photo storage so I may as well store them here!

I'm not always a fan of formal gardens and it's definitely not my style, but sheesh, I have to admire the work and planning that goes into them.

It was definitely June - June is the month of roses in England and you'll undoubtedly find so many beautiful varieties in gardens all across England. I imagine that some people get married in the gardens or get their photos taken there - there was a wedding in the palace when we were there.

Wells Garden is well worth a visit in combination with the gardens. I know a lot of people go to the roman Baths at Bath, which are awesome too, but this is by fare my favourite, especially combined with the fantastic farmer's market on a Saturday.

With Love,

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