The Chapter House is tucked away, hiding behind it’s vestibule and on first view it is both a surprise and delight. The octagonal room was completed in 1286 and is unusual in that it does not have a central column to support the vaulted roof.
From the guidebook:
Used from the 1290s onwards for parliaments by Edward I and Edward II during their campaigns against the Scots, the Chapter House is still used for meetings of the full College of Canons and for the installation of new canons. Around the walls are the 44 seats of the chapter, each canon has an equal voice in decision-making and the dean is ‘first amongst equals’, so seats are arranged in groups of six, making it impossible for the dean to sit at the ‘head’ of a meeting.
Some of the Minster’s finest carvings are to be found on the canopies of these seats: a riot of funny faces, animals and mythical beasts, around 80 per cent are original carvings from 1270-1280 and the remainder were carved by George Peter White during the 1845 Beckwith restoration.
Tags: Stained Glass Windows, Weekend away, York, York Minster
It is commonly thought that the King’s State Bedroom commemorates the occasion James I stayed in Burton Agnes Hall on the way to be crowned in Westminster Abbey. This however is highly unlikely because the Hall was not completed until 1603. The bed is Italian and dates from the seventeenth century and is still hung with some of the original blue damask.
Tags: Burton Agnes Hall, The King's State Bedroom, Weekend away
Do everything that you do in this life in the spirit of friendship.
For friendship is the seed, and the universe the tree.
From a Thousand Paths to friendship by David Baird
Tags: Attingham Park, Cherie's Place Thought, Moon, National Trust, Sky, Trees
It has taken me several weeks to get the email working on my mobile phone. I had to resort to going into the T-mobile shop in the end. They had just as much trouble setting it up as I did…
Below is a photo from a nice relaxing Friday evening.
Tags: Beer, Candles, Mobile Phone Pic, Relaxing, Wine
The summer edition of the National Trust magazine advises that today is National Cherry Day. At one time the south and west of England were ripe with cherry trees, but in the last 50 years 90 per cent of their number have been lost and currently 95 per cent of the cherries we eat are imported.
In order to combat the decline of the British cherry, food writer Henrietta Green launched CherryAid. This campaign is to celebrate and save the British cherry. In addition National Cherry Day was introduced. This year an event to celebrate the day took place today at London’s Borough Market.
The magazine also informs me that the first Sunday in August is ‘cherry-pie Sunday’, where traditionally cherry dumpers would be eaten accompanied by a tankard of ale. If any of you are wondering about a cherry dumper, it is a regional version of the Eccles cake.
To enter the spirit of the occasion I went to my local garden centre and indulged in a cherry scone which is something I am rather partial to. I tried to locate some English cherries in the farm shop, but unfortunately only imported ones were available.
For those of you who were expecting the real Cherry, the bottom photo is for you 
Tags: Cherie's Place, Cherries, Cherry, Corel Painter Essentials, FUTAB, me, National Cherry Day, Self Portrait
