We like to spend the Easter weekend in a location where we can join the Sunday Easter service in one of the English Cathedrals. This year we chose Winchester, a place where we have previously enjoyed several mini breaks.

We broke our long, tedious journey for lunch at Gilks Garage café in Kineton.  The Café is themed to its former use in the motor trade. The menu is extensive and I was spoilt for choice, eventually settling on a vegetarian (vegetable) sausage bap. The sausages were served on a lightly toasted bun. Another hidden gem revealed to me by the Extra Mile book.

Suitably refreshed we continued our journey to Winchester stopping briefly at a service station for a leg stretch. When we arrived in Winchester we booked into our hotel, The Winchester Wessex. It is no longer a Mercure hotel and has been rebranded as Winchester Wessex Hotel by Sunday.

First impressions were favourable; we were greeted by a lovely young man who booked us into our room. The room itself, one that looks over the Cathedral Green with a view of the Cathedral, had been spruced up and looked cleaner and fresher than it did on our previous visit several years ago.

We dumped our bags in the room and headed into town where we checked out the board game shop. We were overwhelmed by the number of board games on offer. One game had been on my radar for a while but I chose to leave it on the shelf (for now). We had a mooch around Waterstones and Robert Dyas before returning to the hotel to unpack and enjoy a refreshing cup of tea.

When it was time to dine, we walked to the nearby Fish and Chip Shop, Shoal, for a freshly cooked chippy dinner. I chose haddock accompanied by a glass of rose wine. The food was delicious.

The night was still young so we retired to the nearby Crown and Anchor which had Timothy Taylor Landlord Ale on tap. That made Mr C content and, of course I chose a lovely glass of rose wine. The atmosphere was comfy and initially quiet until a group of very loud ladies settled on the table next to us. This caused one gentleman drinking quietly on his own to beat a hasty retreat (after finishing his beer) to move to another nearby pub.