Good morning, Mendips! Glastonbury Abbey opens its grounds this weekend for the 102nd Pilgrimage Weekend, Garston Street in Shepton Mallet shuts twice more for a cider mill crane lift, and Tessa Munt MP is out and about with September surgeries in Wells and Shepton. Read on for the full day-by-day rundown, plus what's on at Wells Film Centre and the week's weather.
📅 Featured Event — Glastonbury Abbey's Pilgrimage Weekend
📰 Hot News - Mendips Style — MP surgeries · Garston Street closures · RITS Day · Street Food Festival · The Light House at Croscombe
🔤 Uxbridge English Dictionary — today's entry
The Legend of Glastonbury’s fairy hill.
🗓️ What's On This Week — across the Mendips
🌡️ Weather — Wells BA5 forecast
The wise hermit of Glastonbury
Scroll down for the legend of St. Collen and Gwyn Ap Nudd
Glastonbury Pilgrimage Weekend.
This weekend, Glastonbury Abbey opens its grounds to the Pilgrimage Weekend for the 102nd year running — one of the longest-running traditions still marked in the town, uniting Anglican and Catholic pilgrims who process together through the abbey ruins where, dubious legend has it, Joseph of Arimathea first brought Christianity to Britain. Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 September will see banners, hymns and quiet reflection move through the roofless nave and crossing, a scene that has barely changed in character since the pilgrimage was revived in the 1920s.
The abbey grounds are open from 11am to 5pm both days, with services and processions running throughout — expect a gentle, unhurried atmosphere rather than a spectacle, with visitors welcome to simply wander the grounds and take in the ruins alongside the pilgrims. It's as much a piece of living history as anything else on this week, and a reminder of how central Glastonbury remains to the story of English Christianity.
Regular abbey admission applies for non-pilgrims wanting to look around, and the grounds' café and shop stay open as usual across the weekend.
🗳️ Tessa Munt MP holds September surgeries in Wells and Shepton Mallet
Wells and Mendip Hills MP Tessa Munt will hold two drop-in surgeries this month, no appointment needed. She'll be at Coffee #1 in Wells on Saturday 5 September (8.30-10am), then The Hive in Shepton Mallet on Saturday 12 September (11am-noon), giving residents a chance to raise local or personal concerns directly.
🚧 Garston Street shuts again this week for cider mill crane lift
Shepton Mallet's Garston Street closes to traffic again on Tuesday 1 and Wednesday 2 September for a crane operation lifting heavy water pipework at Showerings Cider Mill — the second and third of three planned closures. It comes as the mill separately applies to build a permanent pipe bridge spanning the same street, matching an existing gantry already crossing it 30 metres away.
🌮 Street gears up for return of Clarks Village Street Food Festival
Clarks Village will host its Street Food Festival on the Shoemakers Museum lawn on Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 September, with stalls spanning Persian, Pakistani, Caribbean, Greek and Himalayan cuisine alongside a live music line-up including One Man Festival Band and Southsea Groove Collective. Entry is free, running noon-7pm Saturday and noon-5pm Sunday.
🏍️ RITS Day Rolls Through Glastonbury In Memory Of Lee Baker
Bikers filled Tor Leisure this weekend for the return of RITS Day, the annual ride-out and family fun day held in memory of Glastonbury charity supporter Lee Baker, who died in a motorcycle crash in 2010. Riders In The Sky set off on a 70-mile countryside route before returning for an afternoon of live local music, food stalls and a raffle, all in aid of Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance — a cause the event has now raised well over £100,000 for over the years.
🎭 Croscombe Village Hall Welcomes Touring Theatre With The Light House
Croscombe Village Hall turns into a theatre this Sunday as local volunteer group Croscombe Frolics welcomes The Light House, a professional touring two-hander about falling in love and staying in love through life's hardest chapters. It's part of a wider season brought to village halls across Somerset by Take Art, the county's rural touring charity, putting proper theatre on the doorstep of communities without a venue of their own.
English Lessons from the
Uxbridge English Dictionary
A
Agog
Half-finished Jewish temple.
Adamant
The very first male ant.
Aerobic
Biro with bubbly ink.
Algorithm
Former vice-president on drums.
Alligators
Ankle wear for narrow streets.
Alter ego
A priest who's full of himself.
The Day a Hermit Told the King of the Fairies to Get Lost
Everyone knows Glastonbury Tor is famous for Arthur, Avalon and the odd earnest chat about ley lines. Fewer people know it supposedly once played host to a full-blown fairy court, complete with a golden throne, a live band, and a very unimpressed house guest who refused the buffet.
The story concerns St Collen, a 6th- or 7th-century hermit who'd taken up residence in a cell on the Tor for some quiet contemplation. Peace, it turned out, was hard to come by. Collen kept overhearing locals chattering about Gwyn ap Nudd, King of Annwn — the Welsh Otherworld — and, as it happens, resident landlord of the hill Collen was currently squatting on. Not one for fairy tales, Collen told them to hold their tongues, dismissing Gwyn and his court as nothing more than devils.
Word got back to Gwyn, who wasn't thrilled at being called a demon in his own hill, and sent a messenger summoning Collen to the summit for a midday audience. Collen ignored the first two invitations. The third time, sensibly, he came prepared — tucking a flask of holy water into his robes before heading up.
Glastonbury Tor - Kate Chidley
What happened next depends on which version you like best, but the gist holds: Collen reached the top of the Tor and found himself somehow inside it, standing in the finest castle he'd ever seen. There sat Gwyn ap Nudd on a chair of gold, surrounded by musicians, soldiers and maidens, the whole court dressed head to toe in eye-catching red and blue. Gwyn, playing genial host, invited Collen to dine and admire the outfits.
Collen, unmoved, delivered the kind of put-down only a hermit with nothing left to lose could manage: the red, he said, signified burning, and the blue signified cold — a dig implying the glittering court was one bad afterlife away from hellfire. Then, before anyone could object, he flung the holy water around the hall. The castle, the courtiers and Gwyn ap Nudd himself vanished on the spot, leaving Collen alone and presumably rather smug on the cold, windswept hillside.
It's a gloriously odd story, and one that's stuck around because the Tor lends itself so well to it — a hill so strange-looking it's easy to believe it might be hollow, with a fairy king's palace tucked inside. Plenty of visitors still feel that pull toward something otherworldly up there, whatever their own beliefs. Just maybe don't turn down the hospitality if you're offered any.
All week (1-5 September)
Wookey Uncovered — Wookey Hole Caves, Wookey. Family-friendly cave and Victorian papermill tours continue through early autumn. Wookey Hole
Harry Brockway: Ways With Wood Exhibition — Somerset Rural Life Museum, Glastonbury, 10am-5pm, closes Wed 2 Sept. Final two days to catch this wood engraving and sculpture show. Glastonbury Nub News
Summer Fun on the Farm — Somerset Rural Life Museum, Glastonbury, 10am-5pm, through Fri 4 Sept. Drop-in crafts, galleries and visiting animals. SW Heritage
Tuesday, 1 September
Mythical Creatures Trail — Wells Cathedral, 9am-4.30pm, final day. Family trail included with cathedral admission. Wells Cathedral
School Summer Holidays at The Bishop's Palace — Wells, continues through tomorrow. Summer trails and activities included with admission. Bishop's Palace
Wednesday, 2 September
School Summer Holidays at The Bishop's Palace — Wells, final day. Summer trails and activities included with admission. Bishop's Palace
Harry Brockway: Ways With Wood Exhibition — final day — see All week above.
Thursday, 3 September
Starsailor — Cheese & Grain, Frome, 7pm. English rock band play live. Cheese & Grain
Little Discoverers - Apple Harvest — Glastonbury Abbey (Main Abbey), 10.30-11.30am. Free drop-in for under-5s and carers, making prints with windfall apples. Glastonbury Abbey
Walk & Wine Thursday — meet Wells Market Place near Penniless Porch, 6-7pm. Weekly women's circular walk, finishing at Fosso Lounge for those who fancy a drink after. Facebook
Friday, 4 September
The Art of the Broom - Make Your Own Handbrooms — Glastonbury Abbey (Abbey House), morning 10am-12.30pm or afternoon 1.30-4pm. Beginner broom-weaving workshop, ticketed. Glastonbury Abbey
Timmy Thunderrock Live — The Kings Head, Wells, 9-11pm. Free live pub gig. Facebook
Beats 'n' Bites — The Island, outside the Town Hall, Midsomer Norton, 5.30-10pm. Final instalment of the summer's live music and community feasting series — bring your own food and drink, no booking needed.
Summer Fun on the Farm — final day — see All week above.
Saturday, 5 September
Glastonbury Abbey Pilgrimage Weekend — begins today, 11am-5pm — see Featured Event above.
Oas-is — Cheese & Grain, Frome, 7pm, £18.50 advance. Oasis tribute band with support from Verve tribute act Re:Verve. Cheese & Grain
Tessa Munt MP surgery — Coffee #1, Wells, 8.30-10am — see Hot News above.
Cowsville Hummingbirds — Bluebird Cafe & Bar, Wedmore, 8.30pm. Free entry, table reservation recommended. Americana blues trio with three-part harmonies. Bluebird Cafe
🗓️ Coming Up
Kula Shaker — Cheese & Grain, Frome. Sunday 6 September, 7pm. Cheese & Grain
The Light House — Croscombe Village Hall, nr Wells. Sunday 6 September, 7.30pm. Touring theatre from Croscombe Frolics/Take Art. Take Art
Tessa Munt MP's second September surgery — The Hive, Shepton Mallet. Saturday 12 September, 11am-noon — see Hot News above.
Clarks Village Street Food Festival — Street. Saturday-Sunday 19-20 September — see Hot News above.
The Pirates of Penzance — Bishop's Palace, Wells. Friday 11 September. Bishop's Palace
🎬 This Week at Wells Film Centre
Mutiny [15]
Spider-Man: Brand New Day [12A]
Spa Weekend [15]
The End Of Oak Street [12A]
Paw Patrol: The Dino Movie [U] (Tue only)
The Pout-Pout Fish [PG]
Coyote Vs. Acme [PG]
Toy Story 5 [PG] (Tue only)
Minions & Monsters [U] (Tue only)
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🌡️ Wells BA5 Weather — Week of 1 September 2026
A mixed start to September for Wells — Tuesday brings light rain and a gentle breeze, high 20°C, with Wednesday and Thursday staying unsettled with further rain and showers as temperatures nudge up to 23°C. Things brighten from Friday, with lighter rain easing and sunny intervals returning for a much drier-looking Saturday around 21°C — good news for the Abbey's Pilgrimage Weekend and Saturday's run of events across the Mendips.
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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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