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Mendiplodocus Daily — Issue #51 — Monday 24 August 2026
Issue #51 | Monday 24 August 2026
Good morning, Mendips! It's the start of the week, and we've got a busy one lined up — from repair plans for one of Wells' grandest gateways to a much-loved Glastonbury bookshop changing hands. Plus your full week of things to do, from forest school sessions to a candlelit night of Meat Loaf classics at Wells Cathedral.
📅 What Shall We Do This Week? — a look ahead to the week's best bits
🔤 Uxbridge English Dictionary — today's entry
📰 Hot News - Mendips Style — Bishop's Eye repairs ·
A371 closure looms — but where's the plan?
Nancy Camel: The Hermit-Witch of Ham Wood
📆 What's On This Week — across the Mendips
🌡️ Weather — Wells BA5 forecast
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What Shall We Do This Week?
Somerset's school summer holidays are heading into their final stretch, but the Mendips still have a properly varied week ahead before the bank holiday rush arrives — everything from forest craft to candlelit classic rock.
Wells Cathedral's Mythical Creatures trail carries on all week, so if you haven't yet sent the children hunting for dragons and griffins around the cloisters, there's still time — Tuesday brings a dedicated Print a Picture session for anyone who fancies turning their sighting into a woodblock-style artwork, while over at Glastonbury Abbey the same day, younger visitors can drop into the museum for a Leaf Print Tote Bags session, a nice low-key craft afternoon for families who'd rather avoid the bigger crowds.
Wednesday belongs to the outdoors and the impossible in equal measure. The Somerset Earth Science Centre at Stoke St Michael runs its final Wild Wednesdays forest school session of the summer, with den building, campfire cooking and natural crafts for five-to-ten-year-olds — a proper muddy-knees day out. Come the evening, Magique's magic and illusion show brings its "Fire and Water" spectacle to Wells, a family-friendly hour of jaw-dropping tricks that's as much fun for sceptical teenagers as it is for younger children.
Thursday is one for music lovers and nature-watchers alike. Strode Theatre's studio in Street hosts the launch night of the Josh Atkinson Trio, joined by The Shailangs, for anyone after a proper evening of live music without heading into a city. At the other end of the mood scale, Glastonbury Abbey's Badger Walks wrap up their late-summer run with a final quiet evening wander through the grounds — sightings aren't guaranteed, but previous walks have had a fair success rate, and there's a resident family of foxes to look out for too.
The Salaings launch their first vinyl telease at Strode
Friday brings the week to a properly festive close. The Bishop's Palace opens its gardens late again, gates open from 6pm with a picnic-on-the-lawn atmosphere that's ideal for couples or anyone wanting a slower, golden-hour evening out. Music fans have a choice of two very different nights: The Toasters, the American ska pioneers, play Cheese & Grain's Tree House stage in Frome, while over in Wells Cathedral, Kinda Dusty's Meat Loaf by Candlelight brings a West End cast and live rock band to the candlelit nave for an evening of Bat Out of Hell-era anthems.
Looking ahead to the bank holiday weekend, Truckfest is the big event at the Royal Bath & West Showground, the Bishop's Palace kicks off three days of History Alive: Bowlore Medieval re-enactment from Saturday, and the Wells Moat Boat Race returns to the Palace moat on the Monday itself for what's become one of the city's most reliably chaotic charity afternoons.
Whatever you're in the mood for this week, there's a fair spread to choose from. Times, venues and the full day-by-day list are all in the What's On This Week section below.
📰 Hot News - Mendips Style
🏛️ Wells' Historic Bishop's Eye Set For Stone Repairs
Plans have been lodged to repair cracked stone steps, walls and a column at Wells' Grade I-listed Bishop's Eye, the 15th-century gatehouse guarding the entrance to the Bishop's Palace. The listed building application proposes stainless steel dowels, resin and specialist Helibar reinforcement, finished with matching lime mortar, with Somerset Council targeting a decision by 23 September.
A371 closure looms — but where's the plan?
With just two weeks until the A371 shuts between Cheddar and Draycott, residents are asking a simple question that nobody official seems to be answering: what actually happens once the road goes down?
A quick recap. Wales & West Utilities need to replace ageing gas mains along the A371 and Draycott Road — some of the pipework dates back to 1915. The work was originally due to run from 20 July to 30 August, right through the school summer holidays, until MP Tessa Munt and Somerset Councillor Ros Wyke stepped in. After meeting the utility company in May, they secured a reschedule to protect trade for businesses in Wells, Cheddar and along the route (Wells Nub News). The works are now confirmed to start on 1 September and run for 28 days (Wales & West Utilities).
So what's the hold-up? The date fix was a genuine win — but the practical detail residents actually need seems to be missing in action. Wales & West Utilities' own project page promises only "careful traffic management" and a commitment to "minimising disruption," with no published diversion route, no traffic management plan, and no word on public transport changes (Wales & West Utilities). The only diversion figure that's ever been made public — a 42-mile route — was quoted for the original July dates, and it's not clear if it still applies (Wales & West Utilities).
More concerning is a detail buried in the official paperwork rather than shouted from anywhere prominent: the Traffic Regulation Order for the closure (reference ttro880315N), published on Rodney Stoke Parish Council's website, states plainly that "the contractor has indicated that access for Emergency Services through the site is not permitted on this occasion" (Rodney Stoke Parish Council). With no visible public explanation of what that means in practice for residents along the closed stretch, it's easy to see why people are uneasy.
Where to check for yourself. If you want to track this as it develops, these are the verifiable official sources:
Wales & West Utilities' Cheddar project page — the utility's own updates, or call them free on 0800 912 2999
Rodney Stoke Parish Council's road closures page — hosts the actual Traffic Regulation Order and closure notice
One Network's closure map — for the live diversion route once published
Somerset Council's roadworks and travel page — county-wide closures and updates
First Bus service updates — for any changes to routes through Cheddar and Draycott
🚪 Glastonbury Councillors To Go Door-Knocking For Residents' Views
Glastonbury town councillors are preparing to knock on doors across the town this September and October to hear from residents who rarely take part in council consultations. The listening exercise will feed into the town's emerging Management Plan, with councillors set to go out in pairs after concerns were raised about visiting homes alone.
English Lessons from the
Uxbridge English Dictionary
I
Incandescent
Rolling downhill in a tin.
Incline
A line drawn with pen and ink.
Increment
The opposite of excrement.
Inaccurate
A sexual position involving a minor member of the clergy.
Indecent
Descending.
Indispose
I stand thus.
Ingnorant
To totally disregard an insect.
Nancy Camel: The Hermit-Witch of Ham Wood
Somewhere in Darshill Wood, (Ham Wood) near Shepton, just off the steep bit of the footpath past the old sewage works, there is a narrow slit in the rock still known as Nancy Camel's Hole. Nobody has ever confirmed who Nancy Camel actually was, which has never once stopped anyone from telling you exactly what happened to her.
Nancy Camel’s Cave
The best version comes from Victorian schoolmaster John Farbrother, who collected it from locals who freely admitted they didn't fully believe it themselves — always a promising start for a ghost story. Back when Shepton's stocking knitters were making a decent living “fagging their fingers to the bone”, Nancy was doing the same job from a cave, described rather ungenerously as a "spare, bony, mummy-like old hag" and the town's resident wise woman.
Tradition has it she was put out of business entirely once the new knitting machines arrived — one of history's less-discussed victims of automation — and ended up scraping by on potions, teasels, and firewood.
Then, one appropriately dark and stormy night — quite possibly the Great Storm of November 1703, which really did nearly take the parish church roof off — the whole affair took a turn for the dramatic.
Neighbours heard an almighty shriek over the wind. Come the "calm and glorious" morning, several went to check on her, driven by equal parts concern and nosiness. Nancy was gone. So was her donkey.
All that remained was a set of deep grooves gouged into the rock outside her cave — hoofprints and wheel ruts, everyone agreed, branded there as the Devil made off with her in his chariot.
Even Farbrother couldn't quite keep a straight face, quoting one old local's verdict word for word: "Shepton people be so wicked, there be no knowing how true it be." He also, rather spoiling the fun, noted that the marks were "simply natural formations" — geology, ruining a perfectly good story since forever.
The cave is very real and still walkable today, brambles mercifully cleared and steps now cut into the steep bits. Whoever Nancy really was, she was almost certainly just an old woman the town found easier to explain away with sulphur and hoofprints than with a decent pension. Three centuries on, the Devil still gets top billing. Nancy gets a cave named after her and a suspiciously convenient natural rock formation.
All week (24–28 August)
Mythical Creatures Trail — Wells Cathedral. 9am–4.30pm daily, until 1 September. Family trail hunting dragons and griffins, included with Cathedral admission. More info
Summer Fun on the Farm — Somerset Rural Life Museum, Glastonbury. 10am–5pm daily, until 4 September. Drop-in crafts and visiting animals. More info
School Summer Holidays at The Bishop's Palace — Bishop's Palace, Wells. Until 2 September. Splash Play Zone, family trail and craft activities included with admission. More info
Monday, 24 August
Summer Stay and Make — 11am–1pm, Yeast Scrapstore, Glastonbury. Final session of this summer's run — relaxed drop-in art and craft session using recycled materials, ages 3-12. More info
Tuesday, 25 August
Wednesday, 26 August
Wild Wednesdays — 10am–3pm (or 10am–12.30pm short session), Somerset Earth Science Centre, Stoke St Michael. Final forest school session of the summer — den building, crafts and campfire cooking, ages 5-10. £25 full day / £16 short session. More info
Magique - Magic and Illusions Show — 6.30pm (bar from 6pm), Wookey Hole Theatre, Wells. "Fire and Water" family magic and illusion show. £10. More info
As You Like It — evening, Valley Arts Centre, Chew Valley. Shakespeare comedy performance. More info
Thursday, 27 August
Josh Atkinson Trio & the Shailangs — evening, Strode Theatre Studio, Street. Launch night for the Josh Atkinson Trio's blend of soul, funk and blues, with support from The Shailangs. More info
Badger Walks at Glastonbury Abbey — 7pm–9pm, Abbey House, Glastonbury. Final guided evening walk of the summer season, hoping to spot badgers (and a resident family of foxes) near the Fish Pond. Members £7, non-members £12, booking essential. More info
Walk & Wine Thursday — 6pm–7pm, Wells Market Place (meet near Penniless Porch). Weekly circular walk for women, finishing at Fosso Lounge for those who fancy a drink after. More info
Stories, Myths & Magic! — 11am, Yeast Scrapstore, Glastonbury. Final storytelling and craft session of the summer run, with Rainbow Roots CIC. £10 per child.
Mythical Creatures: Singing Serpents Workshop — 11.30am, Wells Cathedral. Musical, family-friendly search for the Cathedral's missing mythical creatures. More info
Mini Beast Hunts — 2pm–4pm, Main Abbey, Glastonbury Abbey. Final drop-in mini beast hunt of the summer for families. More info
Moana — from today, Strode Theatre, Street. Live-action reimagining of the Disney adventure. PG.
Friday, 28 August
The Toasters – Live at the Tree House — 7pm, Cheese & Grain, Frome. US ska pioneers play the Tree House stage. More info
Kinda Dusty Presents: Meat Loaf by Candlelight — 7.30pm–10.30pm, Wells Cathedral. West End cast and live rock band perform Meat Loaf anthems by candlelight. More info
Bishop's Palace Summer Late Openings — 6pm–8pm (last entry 7.30pm), Bishop's Palace, Wells. Bring a picnic and enjoy the gardens after hours. Adult £8.75, child £4.40. More info
Beats 'n' Bites — 5.30pm–10pm, The Island, outside the Town Hall, Midsomer Norton. Live music and community feasting — bring your own food and drink from local businesses. Free entry.
🗓️ Coming Up
History Alive: Bowlore Medieval — Bishop's Palace, Wells. Sat 29–Mon 31 August. More info
Glastonbury Last Saturday Market — Market Place, Glastonbury. Sat 29 August.
Vicky Jackson: Pink — Cheese & Grain, Frome. Sun 30 August. More info
Wells Moat Boat Race — Bishop's Palace Moat, Wells. Mon 31 August (bank holiday). More info
🎬 This Week at Wells Film Centre
Spider-Man: Brand New Day [12A]
Spa Weekend [15]
The End Of Oak Street [12A]
Paw Patrol: The Dino Movie [U]
Coyote Vs. Acme [PG]
Sunny Dancer [15]
Moana [PG]
Toy Story 5 [PG]
Minions & Monsters [U]
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🌡️ Wells BA5 Weather — Week of 24 August
Monday starts mostly sunny before cloud thickens from the south and brings a spot of light rain by evening, with highs around 23°C. Showers return through the week — turning heavy and thundery on Tuesday afternoon and again overnight into Thursday — before things brighten up towards Friday with lighter showers and some sunshine, though temperatures ease into the low 20s.
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Contact Mendy the Mendiplodocus
Paul Branston, Editor
Hi, I'm Paul Branston and I publish the Mendiplodocus every morning, Monday to Saturday. Each issue goes out to a growing base of thousands of local residents who want to keep up to date with events and local news. If you have events or news to share or you have a local business to promote, please get in touch.
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