I awoke refreshed, the bed was so cosy and comfortable. When we arrived in the breakfast room it was surreal, there being only one other couple in the room (a few others arrived as we were about to leave). We were given a menu of breakfast items that were cooked to order. I enjoyed what I ordered, although Mr C was not completely satisfied with his breakfast.

Before returning to our room, we reported some minor issues with our room; a bedside light was not working, the shower hose did not allow water to flow and the curtain had slipped off the rail. We were surprised when a man from the maintenance team arrived at our room a few minutes after us. He fixed the light immediately; it had been unplugged behind the bedside table where we had not thought to look. He took the other issues away to be repaired later in the day.

Our destination of the day was Beulieu Motor Museum. Mr C’s SatNav did not choose the most direct route. When we arrived near to where we were supposed to be it took us on a circuitous route where we never quite arrived at our destination. The detour gave us the pleasure of driving through the New Forest and seeing the delightful wild horses.

Realising that we were ‘getting nowhere’ we stopped to reprogramme the SatNav, using the town and not the postcode. By this stage we were missing my TomTom with its more accurate and accommodating route directions plus live traffic updates. As we travelled on the more direct route to our destination we encountered a long line of traffic in the opposite direction. The hold up was a random donkey trotting up the road in front of the line of traffic.

We eventually arrived at our destination and parked in one of the few remaining parking spaces.

We chose to visit the Abbey and House before the Motor Museum. Stepping away from the museums and entrance area, the crowds thinned out and we were left with peace and quiet.

The house had items of interest that weren’t part of the experience on our previous visit. The interestingly themed bedrooms and bathrooms were a delight to see, as was the display of photographs and memories of the late marquess that his son the current marquess had personally chosen to share in memory of his father.

We walked back to the café and museum area via the gardens where we didn’t linger long; it was too early in the year for the garden displays. In the café we enjoyed sharing a sandwich which we each followed by cakes of our choice.

We enjoyed the motor galleries and were reminded of some of our favourite exhibits. Afterwards we returned to the café for a drink before our return journey to Winchester. Once again, the SatNav was trying to take us on a weird route. We ignored it, forcing it to take us on a more direct route to our destination.

Eventually we arrived back at the hotel to find that all the maintenance work had been sorted out, although the debris from the faulty shower had been left behind next to the tea and coffee facilities. Room service, which you have to order each day, had been a little half hearted, the bed had not been made up.

We chilled out in the room before it was time to dine in Rick Stein’s Restaurant. The food was delicious. I chose a soft-shelled crab burger, which to my shame, I forgot to photograph. The crab came complete with legs which are completely edible. For a Friday night, the restaurant was not as full as it had been on our previous visits. Probably a sign of the times and prices. This was the most expensive meal we have had in recent times. It was almost as expensive as the tasting menu and wine flight we enjoyed in the Peacock at Rowsley for our anniversary in 2025. The meal at the Peacock included more personal and attentive service, making it a very memorable experience.

After dining we returned to the Crown and Anchor which was lively and noisy in a different way than the previous evening. It was Karaoke night and everyone was having a lot of fun.

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.

Janine Di Giovanni

Joseph Campbell

Click on the photo below to access my video taken from the peaceful Dean Garnier Garden on Easter Morning .

Click on following link to view video

https://www.flickr.com/photos/-cherrypie-/46754200015/in/dateposted-public/

The Church of St Swithun upon Kingsgate has been a place of worship for more than 750 years. The church, built in the middle ages is located above the medieval Kingsgate, one of the principle entrances to the city. The church is unusual in that it forms part of the city wall.

From Wikipedia:

The first mention of the church is recorded in 1264, when it was apparently burned by the citizens of Winchester during a dispute with the Priory.^[2] Most likely the church served as a chapel for lay people who worked for the Abbey.^[1] In 1337 some woodwork was done on the church, costing a total of fifteen shillings, and in 1484 the windows underwent repair.^[2]

St Swithun was an Anglo Saxon saint, born in Winchester and in 852 becoming the 19th bishop of the city. He died in 862 when King Alfred the Great was still a young man.^[2] It is possible that St Swithun was tutor to the young king, and accompanied him on a pilgrimage to Rome.^[2]

By the 17th century the church had fallen into disrepair, and had become home to one Robert Allen, the porter of Kings Gate, and his wife, “who did and doth keep swine at ye ende of the Chapell”.^[1][2] The situation was improved around 1660 when the church was restored, its bells re-hung in 1677.^[1] It has remained a place of worship since that time.^[2]

The ‘Post Box’ room is situated above the the old victorian post box which gives the room its name:

Your room ‘The Post Box’ is named after the 1854 Victorian wall letter box over which it sits. As one of the oldest Post Boxes in England, it was probably installed at the instigation of Anthony Trollope (himself a Wykehamist) who was at that time the Postmaster General and also writing his novel ‘The Warden’ in which the local area is strongly featured.

Many famous politicians, military figures who were at Winchester College would have used this tiny post box over the 150 years of its life. Names like Hugh Gaitskell, Field Marshall Lord Wavell, the Nawab of Pataudi and many others spring to mind.

The local Post Office has, for the last 150 years, combined with the local General Stores and Grocers’ Shops to serve the needs of the bustling local community which centres around the Cathedral and the College. Today the tradition survives and still, against all trends, the Post Office and Shop continue very much as they always have done.

Tales of the characters who have run the local Post Office and Shops abound – but I particularly like the story of a local who recalls the story of a Postmaster in the 1920’s who had his life so organised that he could sit on the lavatory, fry his breakfast and keep a beady eye on the Post Office through a wooden hatch – all at the same time.*

*From information in the room

Winchester City Mill has stood at the heart of the historic city of Winchester – the capital of Kind Alfred’s Wessex – since Saxon times. With a history of over 1000 years, Winchester City Mill is also the oldest working watermill in the country.

A rare surviving example of an urban working corn mill, the City Mill was rebuilt in 1744 and remained in use until the early 20th Century. Having entered the care of the National Trust in the late 1920’s, the City Mill was restored to full working order in 2004.

Jennie Jerome Churchill

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.