So the new job is hectic, but not so hectic that I couldn't take a couple of days off to get away for my birthday on Friday. Bright and early, Ants and I hopped on a train down to Winchester, which has won the honour of 'Georgi's new favourite town in England'.
Its sooooo pretty! 
Winchester was once upon a time a Roman town, called Venta Bulgarum, and after the Romans left the Saxons took over, and King Alfred the Great made it the capital of England (well, of Wessex. The rest of England was run by the Vikings, and known as the Danelaw). King Canute and Queen Emma ruled from here and are buried in the Cathedral: a 15thC house still stands on land given to the city by Emma in 1016.
Above: Roman wall. Below: Statue honouring King Alfred the Great. Very below: the God Begot house, built on land bequeathed by Cnut's queen, Emma.
It was an important city for the Normans too, with the Domesday book commissioned and compiled from here. Various medieval kings enlarged and expanded the military castle at the top of the hill, but the cathedral and bishop's palace, Wolvesey Castle was where it was really all at. There'd been a church on the site since about the 600s, but by the time Mary Tudor (later aka Queen Mary I, or 'Bloody' Mary the rampant Catholic) was married in the cathedral, it was a pretty spectacular place. Still is. If you want to know more, check out Wikipedia.
Happily, the royal hobnobs settled on London for their capital and Winchester never became more than a local market town. So it's still laden with old buildings, bits of Roman Wall, three of the 5 original town gates and Alfred's 8th century street layout. It's the sort of place where you sneer at the 15thC reproduction of 'king arthur's round table', probably last painted for Henry VIII and found hanging (see below) in what's left of the castle fort. Ha!
Oh, and all the museums, gatehouses and other olde worlde stuff is free entry. Bargain.
But Winchester is more than just picture postcard pretty. It's also the first place I've been to in England that can claim a proper foodie culture (except that one restaurant in Warwick, and one place does not a foodie destination make!) So we gorged ourselves on gastropub grub at the Wykeham Arms, where the food was better, and still cheaper, than many other pubs in southern England. Then there was the Asian cafe we found for dinner when Loch Fyne couldn't get us in, and the truly groovy little cafe just over from the city museum (which also rocked) and cathedral close.
A lovely getaway? Oh yes!
Sadly, Wolvesey is closed in February, and the Winchester Bible wasn't on display at the Cathedral, as they're renovating the library. Damn. Guess I'll just have to go back there sometime...
No comments:
Post a Comment