2 Best Sights in Wells, The West Country

To the north of the cathedral, the cobbled Vicar's Close, one of Europe's oldest streets, has terraces of handsome 14th-century houses with strange, tall chimneys. A tiny medieval chapel here is still in use.

These limestone caves in the Mendip Hills, 2 miles northwest of Wells, may have been the home of Iron Age people. Here, according to ancient legend, the Witch of Wookey turned to stone. You can tour the caves; dip your fingers in an underground river (artful lighting keeps things lively); and visit a museum, a penny arcade full of Victorian amusement machines, a mirror maze, fairy gardens, and a working paper mill that once supplied banknotes for the Confederate States of America.