United Kingdom
Winchester Cathedral

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    • Day 11

      Winchester

      May 13, 2023 in England ⋅ ⛅ 11 °C

      Today was the last day of our Corners of Cornwall Tour and Cornwall gets a big tick from us.

      We headed back to London where we will be for the next 4 nights. On the way we stopped at Winchester which was the home of King Alfred the Great and it was a pretty medieval town.Read more

    • Day 32

      Winchester

      June 14, 2023 in England ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

      Last evening we had a nice dinner at the Renegade Brewery near to Compton. It was lovely to have Jane's dear 100-year-old father join us and I enjoyed my first-ever Strawberry cider. It has been great to renew our 40-year-old friendship with Tony & Jane and it is always sad to leave. It was an easy drive down to Winchester this morning although there are a lot of trucks on the roads - like Northern Italy! We found our lodgings in Hyde Street, and it feels like we are in a basement although at the moment we are grateful for the cooler retreat from outside as once again it is hot and our hay fever is playing up! It was great walking around Winchester - it's a good sized English town and the Cathedral is great - steeped in history. We paid 10 pounds to get in but enjoyed a 1.5-hour in-depth tour with an informative guide. It has a history going back to Saxon times with several bishops buried there from important times like the signing of the magna carta. The stained leadlight windows were huge and put together again after the roundheads smashed it all during the English civil war. Gothic arches were prominent as were several chantry chapels. Jane Austen is buried here as she died in Winchester. The 'screen' was full of historic statues - most impressive all round. Afterwards, we shared a healthy halloumi salad and then walked around seeing the City Mill, a lovely canal flowing through Winchester, the posh schools, and so on. The only thing we didn't like is the ongoing heat and hay fever!!Read more

    • Day 7

      A Cathedral, and a Castle

      August 7, 2023 in England ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C

      What a lovely part of the world! The southern part of the UK at this time of year, and especially after all the rain in July, is very green and scenic. Helen took us for several drives through the beautiful countryside, very rural but very pretty. The famous Goodwood polo fields are close by with lots of polo games taking place. It was the first time we had attended a polo game and were surprised when we were told that in 4 x 7 min quarters it was not uncommon for riders to use up to 6 different horses!! Definitely a rich man’s sport! It was somewhat intimidating for the horses to be at full gallop chasing the small white ball heading directly towards the spectator crowd near the edge of the field and just before the crowd ducked for cover the horses would be pulled up at the last minute. It’s no wonder the horses are changed so often!
      Goodwood of course is also famous for its historic car racing track, but this was not operating during our visit.
      We visited the city of Winchester, home of the Cathedral immortalised by The New Vaudeville Band in 1966, and looked around the huge building. And of course Carolina and Helen went off shopping while Peter was left alone to split his time between any comfortable coffee shop he could find and being bored out of his brain.
      At nights we all caught up the latest and funny Jeremy Clarkson series called The Farm, all about his farming endeavours on his 1000 acre farm in The Cotswolds. In the mornings we would wake up and look outside the window and watch for the deer that come in from the woods in the Commons nearby.
      These days were very enjoyable relaxing with friends while seeing some of sights of southern England.
      On our last day in this area John and Helen took us to the medieval town of Arundel and the castle. A very relaxing day with them including lunch.
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    • Day 24

      Winchester cathedral

      August 24, 2018 in England ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

      Very interesting church, no big towers or spires but does have bells, dont know where.

      In the middle of a £22milion restoration. 11 of that is from their National Lottery, what could we have done if we hadn’t sold ours off.

      The present church was started bt the Normans but there was one on the site since the seventh century. Been changed and restored many times over the years. One of the best stories I’ve stolen from Wikipedia. Memorial to Walker is in the cathedral.

      “Restoration work was carried out by T. G. Jackson in 1905–12. Waterlogged foundations on the south and east walls were reinforced by diver William Walker, packing the foundations with more than 25,000 bags of concrete, 115,000 concrete blocks, and 900,000 bricks. Walker worked six hours a day from 1906 to 1912 in total darkness at depths up to 20 feet (6 m), and is credited with saving the cathedral from total collapse.[24] For this he was awarded the MVO.[25]”

      He definitely deserved it.

      To make the day Bern stumbled on Jane Austen’s grave as she died in Winchester. It’s also got KIng Cnut and Edgbert of Wessex along with a host of not very famous kings. They aren’t pulling in the £8 a time though.

      Excellent place. Then onwards for some more driveing in the rain and some side trips through supermarket carparks (thanks Karen) to a small market town called Alton.

      Tomorrow Jane Austen day.
      Read more

    • Day 1

      Winchester, part 2

      September 11, 2020 in England ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

      Winchester Cathedral is is one of the largest cathedrals in Europe and founded originally in 642. Jane Austen is buried here, amongst many others. It is a magnificent place and has a beautiful quire as well as a Holy Hole into which pilgrims would crawl to be next to the bones of Saint Swithin. Beautiful mortuary chests are positioned along the top of the quire. We visited the interesting Kings and Scribes exhibition that was on.

      We visited the tiny St Swithun-upon-Kingsgate Church literally above an arch in a road and proceeded past The Pilgrim's School to the remains of Wolvesey Castle for a visit. Then a nice walk along the River Itchen with the playing fields of Winchester College on one side of us. Crossing the road, with views of St Catherine's Hill on the other side, the walk finished at the Hospital of St Cross and its Almhouse - the oldest in the UK.

      A great place.
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