Breakfast was self-service and, as we had come to expect, there were only a few others in the breakfast room.

We drove to Salisbury to visit the Cathedral and tick off a third Cathedral of our trip in my Cathedral passport. It has been a long time since our previous visit and I had forgotten how lovely some of the Cathedral’s features are.

We had lunch in the Cathedral café where I chose mushrooms on ciabatta which was very tasty. I purchased a couple of guidebooks and a pin badge before leaving. We were hoping to visit Arundells, the former home of Edward Heath but we arrived to find that it was guided tours only on a Tuesday. Our HH membership does not cover guided tours which meant we would have to pay £15 each. We decided to leave Arundells for another day when we could explore the house at our own pace.

We returned to Winchester and had afternoon refreshments in that Cathedral’s café. It seems we like our Cathedral Café refreshment breaks. Suitably refreshed we set off on a walk to find a quiet pathway and secret garden that we had enjoyed our previous visits. We found the pathway but the entrance to the secret garden eluded us.

Our route took us past the Bishops Palace and Cheyney Court and through the archway to the delightful church of St Swithun-upon-Kingsgate which is always a joy to see inside. The route also took us along the River Itchen which was flowing fast after the recent rain. We also walked past remains of Nunnaminster & St Mary’s Abbey which I had completely forgotten about.

We returned to our hotel to find that the booked room service had not taken place (again). Our early morning cuppa had resulted in one of the teabags bursting leaving the contents of the bag in the bottom of the cup. We could easily have sorted this out for ourselves but to make a point Mr C went to reception and requested new cups along with missing tea, milk, sugar and biscuits!

Later we dined in The Royal Gurkha where I chose chicken shashlik, the best I have ever tasted. Mr C chose a spicy lamb dish which was hotter than he is used to; it brought tears to his eyes.

After dining we called in at the nearby Wetherspoons, which we knew would serve good wine and beer and would be open until (at least) 11pm. We had no intention of being sent to our room early like naughty little children for the second night running. We were able to chill out in a lovely vibrant atmosphere watching the world go by.

St Francis de Sales

I couldn’t quite get the angle to frame the moon and the cathedral in the same photograph. I could have done with a bit of time but my companion would probable have got bored and impatient whilst I wandered around for the perfect angle.

The second photo shows the top of one of the trees from the first photo.

I awoke to the delightful sound of cathedral bells before we made our way downstairs for our final breakfast in Stoberry House. Some interesting conversations took place over breakfast including one involving a couple who were thinking of opening a B&B who were seeking advice from our hostess, Frances, on how best to go about getting started.

We chatted to our host, Tim, as we paid the bill and were thanked for making things easy by jotting down the drinks we had had from the honesty bar. Apparently this is unusual and not doing so can lead to some awkward conversations. We said goodbye to Frances who hoped we would be back. As we left the house we checked out a secret lounge that we hadn’t noticed before. Next time we visit this will be our lounge of choice On the car park as we were getting ready to leave we got chatting to another guest about Shropshire amongst other things.

We headed off to Stonehenge where we found that, as English Heritage members, we did not have to join the long queue. We chose to walk to the stones rather than take the shuttle bus, taking in the landscape as we made our way towards them. We took a leisurely stroll around the stones which I found quite peaceful despite the crowds. Back at the visitor centre, we shared a sandwich in the cafe and I bought a new book about Stonehenge before we made our way to The White Hart in Salisbury.

We checked in and freshened up before walking to the Haunch of Venison for dinner. This turned out to be the culinary disappointment of the weekend. The service and food quality did not match up to that of our previous visit in 2014. I finished the meal joking about taking the upside down mint from the plate that had been placed in front of us. It was only after I had eaten it that I noticed there was a rip in the foil. It left me wondering if this is why it had been placed upside down…

After this less than desirable experience we walked through the cathedral crescent, enjoying the view of the moon as it rose over the roof of the cathedral. We ended up back at the hotel where we enjoyed a drink in the hotel terrace garden whilst watching the sky turn from blue to black.

Once  Old Sarum was a major centre of government but all that remains today are the great earth banks and ruined remains of the former buildings.

Uniquely, it combines evidence for a royal castle and cathedral within in a massive Iron Age fortification. During the century and a half when its castle and cathedral coexisted, Old Sarum was a major centre of government.

The earliest fortification was probably raised around 400 BC. Following the arrival of the Romans, Old Sarum begins to feature in recorded history as Sorviodunum, and it was intermittently occupied during the Middle Ages, when its formidable defences became an advantage during the Danish wars of the early 11th century.

However ; it was William the Conqueror’s decision in about 1070 to build a castle in the middle of the old earthworks that was to transform the site. He effectively divided the old hillfort in two, creating an inner set of fortifications which became home to a complex of towers, halls and apartments, and a huge outer enclosure or bailey. The hillfort was also chosen as the site for the new cathedral, and under Old Sarum’s most powerful and influential bishop, Roger (1102-39), both castle and cathedral were rebuilt on a grand scale.

Yet neither castle nor cathedral remained occupied for long. In 1220 the cathedral was moved to Salisbury, in the valley below, and only a handful of people continued to live within the castle or ramparts beyond about 1400. Old Sarum lived on, however, and as a notorious ‘rotten borough’ it continued to elect members of parliament until 1832.*

Standing on top of the earthworks provides an excellent view of Salisbury Cathedral formerly known as New Sarum.

* Introduction to the English Heritage Old Sarum guidebook

Salisbury Cathedral has the largest cloisters of any British Cathedral.

The cloisters were started as a purely decorative feature only five years after the cathedral building was completed, with shapes, patterns, and materials that copy those of the cathedral interior.

It was an ideal opportunity in the development of Early English Gothic architecture, and Salisbury Cathedral made full use of the new techniques of this emerging style. Pointed arches and lancet shapes are everywhere, from the prominent west windows to the painted arches of the east end. The narrow piers of the cathedral were made of cut stone rather than rubble-filled drums, as in earlier buildings, which changed the method of distributing the structure’s weight and allowed for more light in the interior. The piers are decorated with slender columns of dark gray Purbeck marble, which reappear in clusters and as stand-alone supports in the arches of the triforium, clerestory, and cloisters. The triforium and cloisters repeat the same patterns of plate tracery – basically stone cut-out shapes – of quatrefoils, cinquefoils, even hexafoils and octofoils. Proportions are uniform throughout.

Altar of St Margaret of Scotland:

(c.1045-1093). Descendant of Alfred King of Wessex and ancestor of Queen Elizabeth II Canonised 1250.

Wife of King Malcolm III of Scotland. The 17th century frontal is thought to be Spanish but may be Italian, and shows scenes from the life of St. Teresa of Avila (1515-1582).

It is one of the treasures of the Cathedral.

This altar serves as a focus of prayer for the Mothers’ union of the Diocese.*

Altar of St Laurence:

Martyred 258, traditionally by roasting on a grid-iron.

The mensa (altar top) is one of the two oldest altar stones in the Cathedral.*

*Information taken from the sign boards situated in the Cathedral.

The Salisbury ‘choir boys’ traditionally undergo a quaint initiation ceremony.

Chorister initiation – “bumping”

now be said about the rather quaint initiation ceremony for newly made choristers after Evensong on the day that they receive their surplices.

The new chorister is seated on the stone shelf in the south choir aisle with the Bishop’s Chorister and the Vestry Monitor standing each side of him with their hands on his head. They proceed to, fairly gently, bump his head against the stone wall behind him seven times saying:

“We bump you a chorister of Salisbury Cathedral according to ancient custom”.

There is quite an indentation in the stone worn away over the ages!

Salisbury Cathedral lays claim to being the first English Cathedral to found a girls choir.

The year 1991 was a great one for the cathedral’s music when Richard Seal, organist of many years’ standing embarked upon a completely new venture, recruiting, founding and training a girl’s choir, 18 strong aged between eight and 11 years at the time of recruitment. It was the first English cathedral girls’ choir and has gone from strength to strength and when in the cathedral is completely independent of the boys’ choir.

On our visit to the Cathedral we were informed that the girls didn’t undergo the same initiation ceremony as the boys…  They merely got whacked on the head with a prayer book!

The High Altar is the very heart of the Cathedral.  This is the table where Holy Communion is celebrated.  The embroidered frontal changes during the year to reflect the season in the church.

The window behind the High Altar is entitled Prisoners of Conscience and is situated in the Trinity Chapel. It was designed by the French artist Gabriel Loire and installed in 1980.

The centre lancet shows the Crucifixion with gold above signifying Truth, a triangle of light from Jesus’s head shines on the graves of prisoners. The ascending spiral expresses the theme of Resurrection.

On the left, at the foot of the cross, a sorrowing figure of the Mother of Jesus. Centre left lancet shows (in second panel down on left hand side) the head of Jesus from the the back as he stands before Pilate, (in the second panel down on the right hand side) Pilate in judgment and boy holding bowl for him to wash his hands disclaiming responsibility and (in the third panel down on the right hand side) a cock crows three times when St Peter denied Our Lord and the face of St Peter weeping in remorse.

The centre right lancet shows Jesus in a red robe with his head crowned with thorns, blood running down his forehead, being mocked by soldiers. The far left lancet shows the firm faces of convinced prisoners. Far right lancet shows the doubting faces, arrows of doubt, with anchor of  hope at the top left and the green star of vision at the top right.

Even close up I found the detail a little unclear.