A Quiet Afternoon in an Old Cathedral City

If the week has been tiresome, (and this one certainly has), Alec and I often run away for the afternoon. Nine times out of ten it will be to Winchester, where we enjoy the tranquillity of this old cathedral city, and always end up enjoying the peace and atmosphere of the nicest Inn in town - the Wykeham Arms near to Winchester College.

The wind was bitterly cold today - the whole city, including the cathedral precincts all seemed to be laying low in wait for the spring to burst forth. The only sign of that happening was the clear blue sky and the rare glimpse of daffodils and primroses peeping through - but the rest of us were wrapped tightly in great coats, gloves and many wrapped scarves.

We walked rapidly to the Wykeham Arms, the 18th century hostelry with an extraordinary atmosphere. The interior is crammed full of old prints, old books, pewter tankards and all manner of memorabilia associated with Winchester, the school and the cathedral (including at least one bishop's mitre!). The food is exceptional, the beer varied and the conversation ranging between scholarly and cosmopolitan. On a cold winter's day there is no nicer place to be.

Having enjoyed lunch, we walked back, past the house in which Jane Austen spent her last years, then through Cheney Court - which is, I think, my favourite corner of Winchester. The honey coloured, timber framed houses seem  unchanged from how they must have looked five hundred years ago. They, too, are unclothed now, waiting for a little warmth, when the glorious wisteria covering their front will burst once more into bloom. I can't wait to see it again - how I long for spring to come this year.

After Cheney Court, a visit to the book shop of the Society for the promotion of Christian Knowledge - not normally the sort of shop I would be expected to frequent, but I have discovered there a surprisingly good selection of books on bereavement issues and ethics - in which I have a professional interest. There is also a rather good bargain book selection upstairs - and I have never knowingly turned away from one of those!!

(Cheney Court)

The final photographs were taken in the Winchester City Museum - a treasury in which I always discover something new. This is not a grand museum, but rather displays the minutiae of people's lives, from the Iron age period through to city shop interiors that have been dismantled and rescued in the last twenty years.

Here one can see, at close quarters and in fine detail, pieces of every day Roman glassware and items from a local Romano-British kitchen. There are medieval hair combs, water jugs (each with hilarious human faces on their spouts) and tiles, all pressed and ready for filling with contrasting clay, discovered when a medieval tile factory was excavated just outside the city.

The interior of one of the city's old pharmacist stores is reconstructed here, with blue glass bottles and beautiful blue and white apothecaries jars - all from a time when interior displays in such shops were all hand made and there could be a pleasure in the actual experience of shopping, rather than a mad dash in and out of a convenience store, as we often do today.

Dear visitor, enjoy these glimpses of the lovely City of Winchester, ancient capital of England.

Comments

[Britt-Arnhild]

Thanks you Roz for taking me on a tour in the old cathedral city. I have always loved England, and being guided by you only make my love even deeper.

[Lin]

Roz: What a lovely trip -- thank you for sharing it with me this morning! And how touching to be reminded that some of the most wonderful places to visit are right in our own backyard -- those very placed we take for granted because they're so 'close.' The photographs are so warm and inviting ... I dont' know England at all but thru your words and photos ...thank you for sharing a part of the world you love.

[carolyn]

What a delighful tour of WInchester Roz. I so love seeing England through your words and the lens of your camera.