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| Abbey |
And all this was made extra fun by the weekend market, set-up in the heart of the city, along with an art, crafts and gift fair just in the City Council hall.
Winchester is truly a very tiny but gorgeous and colourful city. Filled with rich history, the city has the feel of the old english towns and traditional european cities, with old Roman bricked roads and tiny high and low lanes, vintage decors around the city and outdoor eateries, especially on a bright sunny day. Situated just about 15 minutes train ride from Southampton, it is an absolute delight for half a day outing to come to during the weekends, well thank God for that cause Soton (otherwise Southampton) itself is unbelievably boring... Lol!!! So, it is a nice, short and quick getaway one could grab after a long week of work.
Winchester was once the fifth largest town in Roman Britain
by surface during the prehistoric era. It used to be the de facto capital
of Wessex in about 686, during the Anglo-Saxon times, before London became the
capital. It was the capital to the Kingdom of King Alfred the great.
Winchester is also the final resting place for the legendary Jane Austen, and
even inspired famous poet John Keats for some of his most cherished works. I have
been to Winchester a few times already and I must say, if I had an option, I
would love to live there instead. I mean, it is pretty, always cheerful
and blooming, it is small hence convenient for travelling, it is quite so
great for student life and it has an excellent street full of varieties of
quality pubs, restaurants and modern to vintage shops!!! Oh and don't
forget the tea houses :D
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| Bricked road |
Well I am being honest when I say Winchester is indeed very small. You can literally finish cruising through all the major tourist spots in a day. However, if the sky is clear and the day is bright, you can take all your time and enjoy the best of what it has to offer at your own leisurely pace… Here are the major attractions I would recommend:
1. The Great Hall
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| Great hall |
Coming down from the train station towards the market place the first stop is the Great Hall. Built
by Henry III himself between 1222-1235 the Great Hall is a "castle"
built with flint and stones… This place is especially famous for King
Arthur's Round Table, dating way back to 1275. It is free to enter and quite a treat to historians especially interested in english royal history. From outside, it is a rather simple, medieval looking stone building, with excavated remains right opposite to its huge wooden front door. Inside, there is the huge famous green and white Round Table hung up on the right hand side wall (from the main entrance) with the names of all the legendary Knights of the Round Table written around the edge of the table surmounted by king Arthur himself on the throne. Beside the Round Table wall hang, at the left corner, is the giant statue of Queen Victoria from 1887 made in bronze and gold. Apart from that there are other lists of names of all the MPs representing the areas for 100s of years painted on the wall, and time lines telling the history of the Great Hall and the Kingdom itself, and finally the huge lovely stained glass windows. Princes Charles's wedding memorial gates are placed at the wall opposite to the Round Table.
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| The bronze Queen Victoria statue with gold headpiece |
Outside the Great Hall, opposite to the front door, there are the ruins of the castle foundation and walls leading to lower levels of the castle. Couple of steps down the stairs to the right of the ruins is a round blue Roman mosaic structure I couldn't quite understand (See below)… Next time may be...
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| Mosaic |
There is also a gift shop and museum along side the Great Hall that you may visit for memorabilia and souvenirs. Beyond the Great Hall is a tinie-tiny medieval looking garden called "Queen Eleanor's garden". Blah! Blah! Fancy name… Nice grape vines, fruiting once every year… But seriously, it is disappointingly small. Do not bother! I mean I LOOOOOVE gardens but ones that are worth spending time in. This was too small and compact for my liking :( However, it does lead to further military museum and Long Block dating 1899-1904. So, keep exploring!
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| Vine archway in Queen Eleanor's garden |
2. Market place
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| Weekend Market |
From fantastic local artists, hidden talents to intricate crafty items, you will find it all at the Winchester market, along with vintage stores and brasseries, patisseries and brand shops, all sorts of goodies and mouth-watering restaurants. The market place is always buzzing with life, especially during weekends when there is the weekend market set up with various many stalls of trinkets, arts, crafts, clothes, and food… Lots and lots of yummy food, from ciabattas to crepes, hog roasts to fresh fruits… Yesterday was just another weekend market, and as usual there were budding artists promoting their art/music.
Each time, there have been at least one unique talent who have blown my mind away... Last time it was a lovely Opera singer, this time it was this guy with his skills with sand!
During weekdays you don't have as many open stalls, but there are still some by the local stall owners. Apart from the stalls, you can also enjoy the vast gamut of fancy stores, coffee shops and restaurants in the area.
Town centre
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| Sand artist |
In december, the annual christmas market at the Cathedral ground is fantastically a real special treat. They even set up a temporary ice-skating rink! Love the tinsels and bright lights, love the smell of mulled wine, love the buzz and jingling bells, love the whole city in all its glory.
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| Christmas market |
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| Christmas market |
Fabulous people I tell you, such a treat… I am always tempted to break my bank and blow my money away whenever I am there… So please BEWARE shopaholics!
3. The Cathedral of Winchester
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| Cathedral |
Taking a route midway through the market towards the city museum is the Cathedral. Winchester Cathedral is THE longest Cathedral in Europe, built wayyyyyyyyyyyyyy back in 1079 (wow! now that's freakin' old!!!) with architectural endeavours ranging from 11th century all the way to 16th century. An interment of Jane Austen along with several bishops and Kings. There is tons to write about this place but I will hold my pen (fingers in this case :p) till I have actually visited the insides of the Cathedral personally and properly. This is the only place yet to visit thoroughly.
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| War memorial |
Now, I'm not really big on cathedrals and churches but this here is a grand piece of history right here. Much detailed description can be found online however, one has to see it for themselves to know it thoroughly :p And hence, I will come back to explore it in proper details further more. For now, I have only explored the grounds around the cathedral, visited the grand Christmas market in december within the cathedral premise and spent some time by the war memorial.
When walking back from the Cathedral front towards the market through the parkway packed with acorns and squirrels (mind you there are other ways back too) you will reach the mail gate to the park. There is a fancy colourful light changing tall metallic prism like sculpture just by the gate leading to the park around the Cathedral that can be texted to via O2 services requesting the colour you want it to radiate! Cool ain't that?!?
Fancy artistic bollards painted or covered in mosaic are placed around the City Museum. This one is the London 2012 Olympic Games art designed by Winchester and District Young Carers:
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| Painted bollard |
See 15 more here.
Not writing it in another section since I haven't been in there yet (leaving something for next time of course), but City Museum seems to be an interesting tour to go for, laying out the story from Iron Age to the current time. And what do ya know, free entrance!
4. Winchester City Guildhall
Then there is of course the massive City Guildhall. It is built right next to the river and Abbey garden. I love buildings, especially old ones, but this one is not quite as old as the Great Hall. Built back in 1871 it is made in the "Gothic revival" style (wonder what that is…). I love the way it looks though, all grand and classy :) There are occasional activities and exhibitions held inside that can be a good visit.
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| Guildhall |
Like yesterday, the Guildhall held a small but lovely gifts fair inside, very conveniently just a day before the Mother's day, with pendants and fudges and scented candles for sale. It was quite nice indeed :) And guess what, while at the gifts fair I found a fabulous and unique gift for mommy:
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| Chinese painting Jasper |
This is a type of Jasper (underground formed mineral based stones that are either naturally speckled or designed). This particular one is called "Chinese painting Jasper"! That is because of the scenery naturally forming in it that looks a lot like Chinese paintings. The so called scenery is formed due to the minerals seeping into the cracks in stones and solidifying, forming the pretty pictures in different colours that we see when the stones are sliced open. Are they pretty? Oh nature, you baffle me yet again! I'm a sucker for you!!!
Past the Abbey Gardens further down the road from the Guildhall, right in the middle of the road, over the river, before we take a turn towards the road to Southampton there is a colossal bronze statue of King Alfred the Great standing tall with his massive Saxon sword and shield. Made by Hamo Thornycroft in the early 1900s, this statue is an excellent landmark for the people coming to or even passing by Winchester.
King Alfred the Great
6. The city mill
If you fancy a little walk by the river and learn about water power walk right in to the old corn flour mill. Up ahead from the statue of King Alfred the Great, garnering power from the River Itchen, there is the city mill. It is a working water mill, restored back in 2004 after 12 years, that exhibits the old ways of making corn flour using tidal strength. With rotary querns, balances, water wheel and audio-visual displays it can be a good experience for all. It's a bit of a pain though since it is tiny and you have to pay to enter, my opinion - not quite worth it, but it is indeed informative if you ARE into that kind of thing no matter how small, and it also houses the National trust shop.
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| Is this Holland? |
However, whether the mill itself is interesting or not, the view is definitely spectacular... The panorama from the mill window gives me the feel of being in Venice or Netherlands, with buildings right by the water front and river running through the houses. At least that's worth my time :)
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| River Itchen |
Food glorious food!!!
There are 50 odd food joints in Winchester to fit your mood, from fine dining experience to casual pubs, pay and eat stalls to cozy cafes and tea houses. You will find varieties of cuisine like Chinese, Italian, Japanese, Indian, etc. to all sorts of food-mood preference like patisserie, vegan, sweet shops, and even all seafood eatery… There is everything for every palette.
Now I will not list everything here except say that they are ALL worth a try... And the best bit is that they are all close to each other right at the town centre, around the market. So, you can go crazy and shop till you drop, and then cozy up and eat your heart out in any one of these restaurants. I have tried a few myself and believe me when I say, they are GOOOOOD!!!
Now I will not list everything here except say that they are ALL worth a try... And the best bit is that they are all close to each other right at the town centre, around the market. So, you can go crazy and shop till you drop, and then cozy up and eat your heart out in any one of these restaurants. I have tried a few myself and believe me when I say, they are GOOOOOD!!!
So, help yourself ;)
For those not too hungry for a big lunch but would like to munch non-the-less, I present you:
Bless the one whoever came up with the tradition of cream tea and tea houses!!! This also applies for ones with sweet-tooth, or craving for pastries and cakes with a nice pot of tea (cause... England!) instead of a hearty meal… I especially love this part of the visits to small towns as they seem to relish keeping up with the traditions!
For my first and last visit we had enough time to sight see, tour a few attractions, and indulge in some cream tea, (the other visits were during night time, so the tea houses were already closed). Anyway, the first time I came, we went to the one called "Ginger two" in a small alley just near the central section of the market. Find them here. It's a cute little boutique café with delicious cakes and humungous scones that could feast not just you but your whole army. They also sold crafty articles like metallic hearts, wreaths and vintage sign posts, that would instantly stylise your house, with a hint of a feminine touch...
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| Assortments of pastries and cakes at the Ginger Two |
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| Mine... All mine!!! (*Does evil laugh*) |
Look at the size of that scone!!! My choice - Apricot and cranberry mega scone (almost equivalent to two whole normal scones) with raspberry jam, clotted cream spread, earl grey tea and some fresh strawberry pieces.
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| Devon or Cornwall? I really don't care, I gets to has it either way!!! |
Mmmmmmm…. Savouring every LAST piece!!!
So, I hope this was a fun read and somewhat helpful in knowing a little something about this little yet rich city of Art and history.
Till next time with more globe-trotting...
Such fun, Much love,
aJBcj
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