Good morning, Mendips! It's Friday, and Sunday's Wells Food Festival is the star of the weekend, with more than 200 producers filling the city centre. Around it, there's an album launch in Glastonbury, a big-band night in Gurney Slade and a puppet show in Compton Martin. In the news: tractors in Wells Cathedral, Wells' first Kindness Week, the Glastonbury Zombie Walk, named seats at Shepton Mallet FC and a new art exhibition at the Cathedral.
📅 Weekend Planner — what shall we do this weekend?
📰 Hot News - Mendips Style — Cathedral harvest · Kindness Week · Zombie Walk · Shepton FC seats · Wells Art Contemporary
🔤 Uxbridge English Dictionary — today's entry
🍽️ Feature — Wells Food Festival 2026: Bring Cash, Bring Appetite
🗓️ What's On This Week — across the Mendips
🌡️ Weather — Wells BA5 forecast
What Shall We Do For The Weekend?
It's a big weekend for food, music and the odd puppet. Sunday's Wells Food Festival is the headline act, and our feature article below has everything you need to tackle it. Around it, there's plenty more to enjoy, starting tonight.
Westbury Footlights stage Under Milk Wood at the village hall in Westbury-sub-Mendip tonight and tomorrow, with a cast of 17 sharing 69 parts between them. Tickets are £10 from the village shop. Whist Mendip Swing stomps up some classic Big Band at Bishop Sutton Village Hall.
Saturday is a day for the culture-minded and the family. Wells Art Contemporary opens at Wells Cathedral and runs to 7 November. The Cathedral is closed to visitors until 11am, so head over later in the day.
Younger visitors might prefer Amazing Animals – The Animal Guyz at the Strode Theatre in Street, a show of music, comedy and animal effects with, reassuringly, no live animals. Over in Wells, the new Craft Market fills the Wells & Mendip Museum from 11am to 3pm, a handy stop for some early present-hunting.
Saturday night is for dancing shoes. The Shepton Mallet Big Band plays an evening of movie and show tunes at the Gurney Slade & Binegar Memorial Hall, with room to dance and a licensed bar. Tickets are £10.
Sunday belongs to the Food Festival from 10.30am, and the forecast gives it a 35% chance of rain, so pack a waterproof. If crowds aren't your thing, Yara in the Wild Wood is a 55-minute puppetry show for families at 2.30pm at Compton Martin Village Hall, preceded by a free drop-in puppetry workshop from 11am to 1pm.
Collectors should make for the Toy & Train Collectors Fair at the Bath & West Showground in Shepton Mallet, where more than 300 stalls of vintage toys and models are waiting. Parking is free, and under-16s get in free with a paying adult.
Whatever you choose, get out and enjoy it. Times, prices and everything else running this weekend are in the What's On This Week section below ↓
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🚜 Tractors and Animals Join the Harvest Service at Wells Cathedral
Somerset Young Farmers gathered at Wells Cathedral for a harvest service, with three tractors parked outside and some members bringing animals in to join the congregation. The service gave thanks for the land, the people who work it and the food they produce, after a difficult farming season, according to the Diocese of Bath and Wells. Diocesan Rural Adviser Rob Walrond said harvest was also a chance to show farmers and rural communities that they are valued, prayed for and supported.
💛 Wells Gets Its First Kindness Week in November
Wells will hold its first Kindness Week from Monday 9 to Sunday 15 November, launched by the Bishop's Palace and co-ordinated by Wells Community Network. Charities, schools, businesses and community groups are invited to add an activity or act of kindness to a calendar on the network's website, and organisers say there is still time to join in. Plans so far include decorated bookmarks at Wells Library, flowers and plants from the Palace gardens left as gifts around the city, and bus shelter cleaning by the Wells Bus Users Group.
🧟 Glastonbury Zombie Walk Returns for Halloween
The Glastonbury Zombie Walk is back on Saturday 31 October, with free entertainment on Magdalene Street from 5pm before the Town Crier releases the zombies at 6.30pm to parade up and down the High Street. Expect the Glastonbury Dragon Drummers, Glastonbury Morris Dancers and Devito's Circus, plus free face painting and costumes at the Crown pub for anyone who needs help getting into character. Roads close from 4pm to 8pm, and donations go to the town's charity Children's World.
💺 Shepton Mallet FC Invites Fans to Put Their Name on a Seat
Shepton Mallet Football Club is inviting fans, families and businesses to sponsor a seat at its ground, with the sponsor's name displayed on it. Seats cost £25 each, the money goes towards improving facilities and supporting players, and every seat sponsored earns an entry into a prize draw for hospitality for up to four people, a season ticket and club merchandise. Contact details are in the full story.
🎨 Wells Art Contemporary Opens at the Cathedral on Saturday
Wells Art Contemporary opens at Wells Cathedral on Saturday 10 October and runs to Saturday 7 November. This year's international contemporary art exhibition takes the theme “For what is time?”, inspired by St Augustine, with about 20 installations across the Cathedral and around 100 artworks in the Cloisters by international artists and local community groups. Entry is free for residents of the Bath and Wells diocese, and the Cathedral is closed to visitors on Saturday morning from 7am to 11am.
English Lessons from the
Uxbridge English Dictionary
P
Petulance
A vehicle that takes dogs and cats to hospital.
Phlegmatic
Battery-operated handkerchief.
Philistine
What a German barmaid does.
Pillage
A pharmaceutically dependent village.
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Wells Food Festival 2026: Bring Cash, Bring Appetite, Leave the Sausage-Thief at Home
England's smallest city gets its biggest lunch of the year on Sunday. The Wells Food Festival returns for its 14th year on Sunday 11 October, from 10.30am to 4.30pm, and as always it is free to get in. Your wallet, sadly, gets no such guarantee.
More than 200 producers and street-food sellers will spread through the medieval centre: High Street, Market Place and the Town Hall, Cathedral Green, Palace Green, Moat Walk and the Recreation Ground. Expect the familiar Somerset line-up of cheddar, cider and chutney alongside Guyanese curries, Tibetan momos and kombucha. Chocolatiers Gilbert & Swayne, from near Glastonbury, arrive as last year's Best in Show winners, so they have a title to defend.
What's new this year
Three additions are worth heading for:
Big Nath's Fire Stage – Bristol barbecue chef Nathan Ritchie cooks with ingredients from festival traders in the Recreation Ground at 11am, 1pm and 3pm, with plenty of smoking and grilling tips. His BBQ shop will be there too.
Swan Green – a relaxed spot on Palace Green near the moat, with food, drink and live music from local singer-songwriter Sam Evans.
Taste of Wells – exclusive offers from three independents, The Pressoir, Root and Carwardines, running through October and beyond. You'll find them in the festival brochure.
Captain Crusty offers entertainment.
Food for thought, and for the kids
The Food for Thought marquee in the Recreation Ground looks at food waste, food security, food poverty and sustainable food systems. Wells and Mendip Hills MP Tessa Munt speaks at 11am, and headline sponsor Charlie Bigham (backing the festival for a fifth year) takes questions at 11.30am and 2.20pm. New Table Talks with stallholders run through the day.
The Children's Zone is run by local schools, nurseries and scouts, and includes a “Pumpkins Are Not Just for Halloween” stall. At Little Joe's Kitchen, chef and food teacher Simon Gray runs free “Oodles of Noodles” sessions at 10.30, 11.30, 1.15 and 2.15. Last year every session filled, so sign up in person as early as you can.
Plenty for the children
Before you go
Bring cash. Organisers say card machines can't be relied on with crowds this size. There are cashpoints at NatWest and Lloyds on the High Street.
Roads: Sadler Street, part of the High Street, Market Place and Townhall Buildings are closed to traffic from 7am to 7pm. There's all-day parking at Palace Fields, reached via Silver Street.
Dogs: Only assistance dogs are allowed in marquees and indoor spaces. Organisers gently suggest that nervous dogs, or dogs who think every pasty is theirs, might be happier at home. Speaking as a man with five rescues, I can confirm that's good advice.
Access: There's level access throughout, and accessible toilets at Union Street car park, the bus station, the Recreation Ground and Townhall Buildings.
Brochures are at the information stand on Palace Green.
Going along? Hit reply and tell us your best find of the day. We'll share the tastiest in next week's issue.
All week (Fri 9 – Tue 13 October)
Tom Winter — The Bishop's Palace, Wells. Exhibition running to 21 November. More info
Roots, Routes and Resilience — Shoemakers Museum, Street. Exhibition on the exile in Somerset of Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia, running to 15 November; included with museum entry. More info
Shepton Mallet Prison Halloween Tours — 6.30pm, Shepton Mallet. 90-minute after-dark guided tours on Thursdays in October (next: 15 October), plus 27, 28 and 30 October and 1 November; £30. More info
Fun Dance Class — Wednesdays, 5.30pm, Chewton Mendip Village Hall. £10 drop-in or £42.50 for five. More info
Friday 9 October
Opening the Word: Tyndale, Translation and Transformation — 9am–5pm, Wells Cathedral. Symposium with seven scholars marking 500 years since Tyndale's New Testament translation, with an optional Tyndale-themed Evensong at 5.15pm. More info
Ozric Tentacles 'Harmonic Mind' Album Release Party — 7pm–1am, Assembly Rooms, Glastonbury. Electronic set from Ozric Tentacles plus Temple of Ra; £22.22. More info
Mendip Swing — 7.30pm, Bishop Sutton Village Hall. North Somerset big band playing swing classics, musical theatre and Latin rhythms; come to listen or dance. Ticketed. Booking
Free Kitchen Garden Open Day in the Mendip Hills — 10am–4pm, Asterion & Co., The Old Vicarage, Leigh-on-Mendip. Open kitchen garden, talks, heritage seeds and refreshments. Free; no on-site parking. More info
Under Milk Wood (Westbury Footlights) — 7.30pm, Westbury-sub-Mendip Village Hall. Dylan Thomas's “Play for Voices”; also Saturday. £10. More info
Practical Magic 2 [PG] — 7.45pm, Studio, Strode Theatre, Street. Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman return as sisters facing an ancestral curse; £5–£8.80. Also Wednesday 14 October at 7.30pm. Booking
One Night in Nashville — 7pm, Cheese & Grain, Frome. Live music. Booking
Black Water County – Live At The Tree House — 7pm, The Tree House at the Cheese & Grain. Sold out. More info
Country & Western Evening — doors 6pm, music 7pm, The Victoria Club, Street. Free; burgers and chips from McKiven's Kitchen. More info
Saturday 10 October
Wells Art Contemporary — opens today, 9am–4.30pm, Wells Cathedral (closed to visitors 7am–11am). Annual international contemporary art exhibition on the theme “For what is time?”, running to 7 November; free for residents of the diocese. More info
Craft Market — 11am–3pm, Wells & Mendip Museum. A new market of local artisans. More info
Amazing Animals – The Animal Guyz — 1.30pm and 4.30pm, Strode Theatre. Family show of music, comedy and animal effects, with no live animals; £16.50–£18.50. Booking
Rising Stars Recital Series – Nurry Lee — Cedars Hall, Wells. Time not yet published. More info
Artists in Conversation — Somerset Rural Life Museum, Glastonbury. With Candace Bahouth, Gladys Paulus and Helen Cammock. More info
Somerton Concert Band Autumn Special — 7pm, St Nicholas Church, West Pennard. £12 on the door; drinks and cake in the interval, with proceeds to church funds. More info
Shepton Mallet Big Band: An Evening of Movie & Show Tunes — 7.30pm, Gurney Slade & Binegar Memorial Hall. Dancing and a licensed bar; £10. Booking
Palomar 200" Hale Telescope: The Inside Story — 7.30pm, Wells & Mendip Museum. Talk by Bud Budzynski for Wells & Mendip Astronomers. More info
Under Milk Wood — 7.30pm, Westbury-sub-Mendip Village Hall. Second and final night; £10. More info
Harlem Rhythm Cats — The Riflemans Arms, Glastonbury. 1940s and 50s blues, boogie woogie and swing. More info
RNLI Mendip Folk Concert: Harbottle & Jonas — St James' Church Centre, Winscombe. Time not yet published. More info
Greg Agar — 8.30pm, Bluebird Cafe & Bar, Wedmore. ARIA-winning producer and songwriter at the piano; free entry, reserving a table is recommended. More info
Sunday 11 October
Wells Food Festival — 10.30am–4.30pm, Wells city centre. Free entry, with more than 200 producers and street-food sellers; bring cash. Full guide in our feature article above. More info
Yara in the Wild Wood — 2.30pm, Compton Martin Village Hall. 55-minute puppetry show for families, with a free drop-in puppetry workshop from 11am to 1pm. Ticketed. Booking
Toy & Train Collectors Fair — 10.30am–2.30pm, Bath & West Showground, Shepton Mallet. More than 300 stalls of vintage toys and models; free parking, and under-16s free with a paying adult. More info
Tuesday 13 October
Layers of the Land: The Geology of Glastonbury — guided walk from the Glastonbury Information Centre. More info
🗓️ Coming Up
Ted Waters Singing Workshop (Songs of Land and Resilience) — Chew Stoke Village Hall, Chew Stoke. Wed 14 Oct; free, booking required. More info
Symphony Orchestra Concert – Legends and Love Songs — Cedars Hall, Wells. Wed 14 Oct. More info
Everybody Digs Bill Evans — Strode Theatre, Street. Wed 14 Oct. Booking
Wells Festival of Literature — various venues, Wells. 16–24 Oct. Booking for the three literary lunches (£12.50, Cedars Dining Hall) closes today. Booking
Enchantment: A Festival of Music, Myth, Theatre & Storytelling — Glastonbury. 16–18 Oct. More info
Macbeth (MET Opera) — Strode Theatre, Street. Sat 17 Oct, 6pm. Booking
🎬 This Week at Wells Film Centre
🌡️ Wells BA5 Weather — Week of 9 October
Friday looks mild and mostly dry, with highs around 16°C and a 30% chance of showers. Saturday is the drier of the weekend days at about 14°C, while Sunday carries a 35% chance of rain for Food Festival day, so pack a waterproof. Next week warms up, with highs of 18°C on Monday and Tuesday.
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