So recently being extremely bored I decided to travel to Glastonbury. It’s a town in Somerset UK that’s well known for its yearly music festival where for five days people come from all over the world to congregate at the nearby village of Pilton to listen to various popular music artist. Even left wing politicians descend on the festival to plug for votes from the young demographic that tend to frequent it.

I’ve made a habit over the years of visiting after the festival as the festival goers tend to not only horrendously litter, but also leave their camping gear rather than pack it up. This discarded equipment and clothing is collected by local charity shops and resold. So finding rich kids discarded high cost outdoor kit at a cheap price at shops where all the proceeds go to charity is to good an opportunity to pass up.

Despite the fame the location has gained from its yearly festival, Glastonbury holds so much more than just a place to get intoxicated in a field while feel good tunes are played. The area has been inhabited since the Neolithic period and is steeped in myth and history. As you approach the town from the the direction of the flats of the Somerset Levels you can see the Glastonbury Tor standing proudly on its mound from miles away. This stunning hill structure and the odd geography of the area has lead to stories that walk the line of history and myth. I.e Joseph of Aremethia arriving and performing miracles and hiding the holy grail, King Arthur and the tales of Avalon, and even the presence of a landscape zodiac. This has lead to it being a sort of mecca for neo pagans and new age enthusiasts to frequent and the main business there is just that. New age spiritualists shops.

Historically and more realistically the area over the past two thousand years has seen dramatic power shifts, bloody wars, and amazing architecture rise and fall into ruin. I always enjoy my visits to this little town simply due to both myth and history sitting so neatly next to eachother.

So without further preamble let’s take a stroll around this lovely and quirky little town. We’ll start with the church.

It’s a rather beautiful building. I do get the suspicion that their parochial church council wouldn’t say no to more funding for maintenance though as you can see a lot that requires attention to the structure itself. It’s a tough situation most religious historical buildings face here in the UK. It’s very easy to look and go on pretty building. But the volunteers and community members behind keeping these structures standing in tact for future generations. Im fond of this one because it houses some absolutely beautiful art and there’s a lot to take in. So onward to the book shops.

By the time we had visited every shop my coat smelled of incense. In fact walking down the street you are hit with non stop walls of nag champs pouring out of each store you pass. I wasn’t able to take a lot of photos of the insides of shops as when I asked the store owners would say no. But there were some nice shops and galleries that welcomed it. In fact I stopped and chatted with the lovely people who worked there and unlike a lot of locations I stopped at they were friendly and extremely welcoming. The statues in the last photo were made by a local artist who crafts them all at her kitchen table. There are some very talented artists in the Glastonbury bubble and just a browse of these people’s work is always a joy.

It’s worth a note that the book stores here can house hidden gems. Especially the ones that deal second hand. I managed to find a rather expensive copy of Jacque Vallèe “Passport to Magonia” while browsing. Though the Gardenarian Wiccan phase seems to be stuck on a loop in Glastonbury there are some real bright folk who kick around the town. I’ve often listened in on folks in pubs here discussing topics of physics and consciousness that are grabbing. Basically it’s not all hippy music and commercialised spiritualism.

Speaking of..



So this is the free spiritualist center.... free is to be taken with a pinch of salt though. There’s a plug. The triangle chair is free to use for like 15 minutes of meditation then you have to pay to sit in the chair and meditate... so yeah. All for encouraging folks to pursue exploring higher consciousness.... just not entirely sure about this one. But Glastonbury does tend to always have meditation workshops being advertised and some of the folks I’ve met over the years involved in those are really great people.

So now onto the abbey. We didn’t go in as it was nearing its closing time and I wasn’t going to pay for a 15 minute walk.



I am sorry I can’t take you guys in on this post. But the abbey itself could take up a whole one. It was left to ruin after the reign of Henry the VIII when he dissolved the monasteries in Britain. The last Abbot Richard Whiting was hung, drawn, and quartered as a traitor to Glastonbury on the Tor in 1539... bad day at the office? Either way, when I go back I’m going to devote an entire post to this site as there’s a lot to cover.

Speaking of the Tor.... let’s take a walk out of the town and I’ll show you guys the view. Uphill we go.

So this is St. Michaels Tower. Aka the Glastonbury Tor. It was built sometime between the 11th and 12th centuries but the site has shown evidence of use going back to the Roman period. The mound itself has multiple origin theories so I just settle on the I don’t know take. It’s fun to think about and read up on though. The use of the hill in worship is documented all the way back to the Saxon period when monks lived in caves dig into the mound itself and pottery evidence of use during the Roman period has been found. There’s also been Mediterranean style pottery found around the site which is interesting.

It’s interesting that almost directly south is Montecute folley which is almost a twin sister to the hill the Tor is built on. It was built literally right next to Ham Hill which is one the UK’s earlier sites of human occupation as well. It’s a location that has the same style of myth surrounding it. Some have said it’s where the holy grail is buried. Folk lore around these sites is always fun to look into and always has commonality with its neighbors. Interestingly Montecute village residents have the longest life expectancies in the UK.

Well we sat and took in the view on top of the hill and watched the sunset before deciding to head back into town for food and coffee. All in all it was a pleasant day out. I will do a more in depth post the next time I’m out there. We had a rather late start to the day on this one so it was a quicky.

Thank you for taking the time to give my humble little post a look through. I look forward to checking out all your amazing content and as always Steem on.