In August 1894, George Gissing visited Somerset. In a letter to his brother Algernon, dated the 4th August, he writes of enjoying 'a most delightful walk from Cheddar to Wells, along the lower slope of the Mendips – about 8 miles. It if exquisite country'. 'Wells itself' he adds 'is ideally situated, amid the hills which break away from the windy Mendips to the great Somerset level. A peaceful village – little more' Exploring the village, Gissing describes how after a 'turn of the street you come upon that glorious cathedral, set amid surely the most beautiful Close that exists, the entrance at each corner through archways of grey crumbling stone'. Four years later, writing to Margaret Bernard from Italy in January 1898, he recalls Wells as 'ideal' and always having had 'a strong hold on my imagination'.