After breakfast it was time to resume our walking tour around Winchester, taking in the sites that were on our ‘To Do’ list. We made our way to the Cathedral which we intended to revisit but when we arrived we noticed a long queue leading to the closed front doors of the Cathedral. Our immediate thought is that there must be a morning service about to take place. We decided to carry along the route and come back later. Whilst I was taking a photograph around the side of the Cathedral Mr C got chatting to a lady who was parking her bicycle, she informed him that the service about to take place was the ordination of the new Bishop of Basingstoke.

We carried on along our planned route and as we passed Winchester College we noticed that a guided tour was  due to start in 30 minutes. We walked on to the new Bishop’s residence and Wolvesey Castle (the Old Bishop’s Palace).  We wandered around the ruins until it was time to make our way back to the college.  The tour was extremely interesting, our guide was very knowledgeable and informative.  There were only  three of us on the tour which added to the experience.

After the tour we made our way back to the Cathedral for morning coffee as we arrived there we realised that the service was due to finish shortly. After coffee we waited to see if we could get a glimpse of the Archbishop of Canterbury in front of the Cathedral. We weren’t disappointed. I was so close I could have stepped through the gate and shook his hand.

Lunch in in the guild hall was was rather chaotic due to it being full of people who had attended the service in the Cathedral. I had a  cheese and chive scone with chutney, it was delicious. After lunch we visited Winchester City Mill and took a walk alongside the river Itchen.  We then retraced our steps and visited the Cathedral to explore things I had missed on the first visit. When I had finished my explorations I was rushed to Peninsular Barracks so that Mr C could visit the Royal Green Jackets Museum to see the Waterloo diorama. On arrival we found that this part of the museum was closed in preparation for a new Waterloo exhibition that will be displayed in 2015 to celebrate the bicentenary of the Battle of Waterloo.

After all that walking we returned to the hotel to put our feet up and relax before a return visit to The Old Vyne for our evening meal in Winchester.

After breakfast we drove to Beaulieu so that Mr C could enjoy the motor museum. Beaulieu is not just home to the National Motor Museum there is also the Palace House, Gardens, Abbey and other attractions.  A full days worth if you wish to see them all. The lady who sold us our tickets suggested we took the monorail trip first to see where everything was. It wasn’t working when we first arrived so we went in the motor museum before doing a circuit on the monorail. We then visited the gardens and went in the Palace House which is one of the best stately homes I have been in. Then we did a quick tour of the Abbey ruins before lunch.

After lunch we returned to Winchester to see the Cathedral.  From the outside the Cathedral looks quite plain but it contains many wonders within and I would recommend a visit. I bought the Cathedral guidebook, another book and a Christmas  Advent candle from the Cathedral shop. As I left I noticed a credit card on the steps between the Cathedral and the shop. I scanned the steps some more and spotted that there was a driving licence there too. We took them into the Cathedral shop, hopefully the person who lost them went back for them.

In the evening we ate in The Chesil Rectory which has an interesting history (more on that later) and delicious food. We called in at The Bishop on the Bridge before returning to the hotel for the evening.