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The Chalice Well web site says this...

To be at the well head, to drink the water and absorb the atmosphere in the gardens can be a truly inspirational experience.

...which I understand to mean that the water is potable, not a problem. Photos of the well, for example this one...

enter image description here

...show that it has a cover and a grate. So how do you drink from it? Is the tourist meant to kneel down beside the well and scoop out some water in a container? That seems awkward. Or do references about drinking from the well assume that the tourist purchases a bottle from the Trust?

The Wiki entry for the Chalice Well says this about drinking...

When the Well and gardens are closed, it is still possible to obtain water from the well as some of the flow is directed via a pipe emerging through the garden wall in Wellhouse Lane. A similar pipe on the opposite side of the lane provides water from the neighbouring White Spring.

...which means there's an alternative place to drink the well's water. I am not interested in an alternate place because they do not provide the same level of spiritual comfort. Sadly, the Wiki entry does not explain how to drink directly from the well itself. It could mean that the Trust does not sell the water when the well is closed or it could mean that access to the well itself is blocked.

There are lots of photos on Trip Advisor showing some alternate places to drink water from the same spring, but none show a person actually drinking from the well itself.

I called the Trust to ask, but there's no answer.

Question: how does one drink from the Chalice Well?

Secondarily: if one takes an empty bottle and fills it with water from the well, can it be preserved say for several months? Or does the iron content eventually cause the water to become fouled?

My previous questions about sacred springs and wells in England...

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If you delve further into the website that you link to you will find notification in the disabled visitors notes about having your companions get water from Lions Head in a bottle to drink. And then following that train of thought further to the map of the gardens, the caption on the photo of Lion head is:

The pure refreshing waters can be drunk here.

So it might seem you can not drink from the wellhead itself, but from the piped water that feeds Lion Head.

Guess you need to fill your chalice or bottle, then go back to the wellhead area to soak up the entirety of the original spiritual experience.

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  • I guess I missed that part; I suppose the Lion's Head will not provide the spiritual nourishment one expects, but it can perhaps provide a place for some tranquil reflection. +1 by the way. I'll wait a day before 'accepting'. – Gayot Fow Dec 16 '16 at 7:18
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    From a health perspective, it makes sense to limit water access to that flowing out of a pipe, rather than allowing hordes of tourist to dip their grungy drink bottles in the spring itself. – user13044 Dec 16 '16 at 7:29
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    Curious to know: are you a Brit? – Gayot Fow Dec 16 '16 at 7:43
  • @GayotFow Nope. But we can trace my mom's bloodline back to folks who came over with William Penn, so there maybe some British genetic tidbits in me. – user13044 Dec 16 '16 at 8:10
  • Well then you are either up very early or very very late (or an expat on the continent in which case you are still up very early) – Gayot Fow Dec 16 '16 at 8:29

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