Pest Control in Wells

Wells is England's smallest city, centred on the magnificent cathedral and the medieval buildings around the Market Place and Vicar's Close. The city sits at the foot of the Mendip Hills with springs rising from the limestone that give Wells its name and these water sources feed into the moat around the Bishop's Palace and out through channels that run beneath parts of the old town. That underground water and the age of the buildings create real challenges when it comes to rats. The old stone drains and culverts that carry water beneath the cathedral quarter and the streets around St Cuthbert's Church provide rats with routes that are almost impossible to seal completely. We see rat problems in this part of Wells year after year and managing them requires ongoing monitoring rather than a single treatment.

The residential streets beyond the cathedral close spread across the lower slopes of the Mendips, with the housing mix ranging from medieval cottages on Sadler Street and St Thomas Street to more modern estates towards Glastonbury Road and the Haybridge development. Mice are common across all of these areas but the older stone buildings in the city centre are where most of the difficult jobs occur. Thick walls with rubble cores, timber-framed upper floors and slate roofs sitting on rough timberwork all provide the kind of hidden spaces that mice nest in. Student accommodation linked to the cathedral school and the various guest houses and hotels in the city centre also generate mouse calls, especially during the colder months.

Wells's position as a tourist destination and the busy food and drink scene around the Market Place and the High Street mean that commercial pest control is a constant need. Restaurants and shops in listed buildings face particular challenges because structural alterations for proofing need to be done carefully. Wasp nests turn up regularly in the stone walls and eaves of old buildings during summer and the wooded hillside above the city towards Wookey Hole brings squirrels into the larger properties on the north side of town.