No, definitely not referring to me! But the Bishop’s Palace and Gardens, nestled near the Cathedral in Wells, Somerset.
On a sunny day last week, when I had a little time to myself, I took my camera around the gardens to try and capture some Spring time shots. It’s a great location to try out a variety of photography styles, from landscape, architecture, macro and even wildlife – if the ducks are in the mood to pose. It also has lots of little hidden surprises, in terms of sculptures, like the images below show.



But what if you’re interested in flowers? If you like Cowslips, there is an entire bank of them in the South lawn next to the rampart walk. Sadly, I’ve just deleted all my pics as they were just blurred! Even with my mini tripod, not one photo of the Cowslips could be rescued. In my defence, it was really windy…
If Tulips are your thing, I would time a visit really soon, as they’re out in full force at the moment. The Garden of Reflection is awash with a carpet of bright red tulips and dots of yellow daffodils. While I was there, another visitor pointed out the purple, lantern-like flower that was growing amongst the tulips. Sadly, I’m no gardener and have forgotten its name. All I remember is that she thought “I knew what I was doing” with my camera, so at least I’m faking it right!



And just nearby is a beautiful stone seat. If my toddler had been there, he loves nothing more than running up and down the beautifully inscribed seat, which terrifies me as it’s a little high. We did discover though, that since the gardeners have laid a lot of bark chippings down, it is tricky to maneuver a push chair around certain areas. However, if you’re pushchair free, or have bigger arm muscles than me, you should be fine!

Finally for my visit that day, I walked past the wells – it is in Wells afterall! A lady duck was putting on a show for a gentleman in the water. Thankfully my brain worked for me, and I switched my camera to Sports Mode to capture the quick movement of the lady duck furiously flapping her wings. I took a whole series of the duck, which can be found here: https://www.smudgeonthelens.co.uk/splashing-in-the-sunshine/
However, the pic below of my favourite.

If you want to visit with your camera, it’s great in any weather really. There’s always something of interest. I just want to clarify, I don’t work for the Bishop’s Palace. I am a paid annual member (paid for by me!), purely to allow me regular visits that are more affordable than paying at the gate each time. If you’re local, it is a bit of a photographers favourite and amateur photos are ofter on Facebook groups – I’m usually a bit envious of the images other people manage to capture, but that just spurs me on to try again.
Here’s a handy map that can be found on the Bishop’s Palace website if you want to explore. Even the allotments are picturesque!


For more information, here’s the Bishop’s Palace website: https://bishopspalace.org.uk
Hope you enjoy it as much as I do!