I knew there was a cathedral in Wells and on my day off I got a bus from Street and 40 minutes later I was in Wells. 
Walking up the High Street I turn the corner and was presented with the magnificence of the cathedral.
Inside, the cathedral begged 6 pounds from each visitor as a voluntary donation. I noticed the clear pastic begging bowl was almost empty (perhaps it had just been emptied!). The space was breathtaking, the architecture was impressive and the soft light coming in through the stained glass windows illuminated the space in a warm light. 
Wednesday afternoons is clearly not a busy visiting day. Except for a large group of students fighting and rolling around on the grass outside, there were only a handful of visitors, mostly speaking foreign languages.
This is our heritage and it’s something to feel proud about. It’s easy to forget about where we’ve come from when you are always looking where you’re going but it’s healthy to be reminded that the things that made us what and who we are today are things like this. I paid my 6 pounds as I left.
I reckoned that it’s a small price to pay for protecting our history. What buildings going up today will be attracting donations in hundreds of years time?