If the thought of the long school summer holidays is filling you with dread, look no further than The Bishop’s Palace in Wells, which has a huge range of fun-filled activities on offer this year from July through to the end of August!
The first of the weekly “Make it Mondays” Family Craft Activities begins on Monday 30th July with a theme of ‘Animals at the Palace’ when families will be invited to join in the fun crafting activities in the Undercroft, to include making handprint swans, bushy-tailed squirrels and Maisie the cat masks. Other themes over the holidays include ‘Jesters & Fools’, ‘Minibeasts’, ‘Medieval Life’. Each Make it Monday runs from 10:30am-3:30pm and is included in standard admission. Also running weekly are Nature Ninjas Family Garden activities every Friday from 11am-3pm.
On Sunday 5th August, the South Lawn will be given over to our Midsummer Mayhem Summer Family Fun Day with fun &games for all ages, This will be the third year that the event has taken place, and last year over 1,000 visitors enjoyed a fantastic day of fun-filled family activities.
This year’s day of fun will include a bouncy castle, a giant inflatable slide, crazy golf, balloon modelling, mini croquet, giant games, dressing up and face painting.
The event will also be attended by Wookey Hole Circus School who will be teaching circus skills all day, so if you’ve ever fancied learning to Stilt Walk, Walk the Wire, Unicycle, Juggle and much more, come along to find out how!
Visitors can make a day of it by bringing a picnic, visiting The Hungry Dragon snack bar in The Dragon’s Lair play area, or heading over to The Bishop’s Table café. There will also be a candy floss and snow cone van available to tempt little taste buds!
To bring the holidays to a dramatic close, why not head along to the Palace during August Bank Holiday Weekend and prepare to be wowed in true medieval fashion by the daring antics of historical re-enactors Bowlore Medieval.
With stunning sword and archery displays, this skilled troupe will keep visitors enthralled, entertained and just a little bit nervous as they demonstrate the ancient art of sword-fighting, weaponry displays and William Tell-type archery skills!
Visitors who are feeling brave can also take part in their ‘have a go’ sessions of long bow archery and sword fighting
The costumed group will set up camp on the South Lawn of the Palace for the whole long weekend and are always happy to answer any questions, help you to try on authentic heavy chainmail or even let you stroke their tiny owl!
On Bank Holiday Monday (27th August) the Palace Moat is also home to the annual Moat Boat Race, where a whole host of teams from the Wells Community race home-made rafts along the Moat to compete for the honour of being named Champions of the Moat!
