I had a pre breakfast walk, retracing my steps from the previous evening on the off chance that I might spot the missing Radley charm. As expected, I didn’t but I enjoyed walking in the early morning sunshine along the almost deserted streets of Winchester.
When breakfast arrived it was not as we expected. Yesterday the breakfast items had been on the plate and toast on a platter in the middle of the table, but today toast was served on the plate with the breakfast. This meant that the plate with the full English breakfast was piled high with toast. One order was asked for only one egg please but two arrived with more bacon than we had had the previous day. The phrase is breakfast was inconsistent, we couldn’t guarantee what we were going to get each day.
Before the 11.15pm Easter morning Eucharist service we took a stroll around Winchester taking in the Dean Garnier gardens and listening to the church bells ringing out. The weather was glorious. We returned to the Cathedral and had to line up and queue a short distance away. The Matins service that started at 10pm was still taking place as the congregation for the following service was arriving…
Eventually the earlier service finished and we were allowed to enter the Cathedral. We were a bit underwhelmed by the service as it fell short in the appropriate ceremony for what is a joyous occasion. The procession didn’t walk the full length of the church, proceeding only as far as the dignitaries before returning to the front of the church.
A lot of tea shops were closed but we found a lovely cafe located up a side street, one we had not been to before, Cafe Winchester. There was a great selection of food; I opted for courgette cake which was delicious. The sandwiches that Mr C and mum chose were thick cut and huge! Mr C decided to have a milkshake which he slurped noisily (on purpose), much to the amusement of the staff.
After lunch we walked to the Winchester City Mill where milling was taking place. The garden was open (it had been closed due to flooding on our previous visit) and the water was in full flow. There were staff on hand explaining about the mill and the visiting otters which they film and record on a webcam. It was a much better experience than our previous visit.
Next we made our way back towards our accommodation stopping off at St Swithun Upon Kingsgate Church before visiting the Saint George Tea Room where we ordered tea and a hot cross bun. Two arrived and when we queried this we were told that a portion consisted of two. It is a good job there were three of us!
We relaxed in our room before dining in Rick Stein’s Restaurant. I chose fishcakes which were delicious. As we were leaving an Australian couple from Newcastle near Sydney started talking to us after the lady commented on my mum’s cardigan. The couple were on a tour around the UK and their next stop was Chester before moving north to Scotland. We were asked if the rail route they had chosen was the best one; they needed to take a convoluted route because Euston Station was closed due to engineering works.
We had a drink in the William Walker pub where we received a warm welcome before returning to our room for the evening.
Tags: Cafe Winchester, Easter, Easter Day, Rick Stein, Saint George Tea Room, Weekend away, Winchester, Winchester Cathedral, Winchester City Mill
