Bosham and Winchester

 

Monday

4/15

Holy Trinity Church in Bosham; Winchester Cathedral  -Got up and out pretty well. 1015 we were on our way. We stopped at Holy Trinity Church in Bosham. It’s right on the waterfront, idyllic setting. The guide I printed was super helpful for all the details we might have missed on this very old Norman church. Lots of history in Bosham. Harold and Bayeux Tapestry. -We walked through the sailing club and ended up at cute Shoreside café where we had coffee and pastries. This area of Bosham is affected by the tides so a lot of houses and business have barriers against water. So it’s not just our street, lol! -Back in the car, plugged in Winchester Cathedral into the phone and off we went. Pretty quick and relatively easy drive until we got into Winchester and couldn’t find legal parking anywhere close to the Cathedral. And no signs directing you to its parking lot. Frustrating. We ended up a place that was up the hill and far away, then at another closer one but couldn’t get the parking app to work. So went to find another and got parked all fine up on the 7th floor but still couldn’t get the app to work and they didn’t take cards, only coins, which we didn’t have. Husband asked a guy in the (clean) toilets and he and his girlfriend sweetly paid for 2 hours of our parking. -We walked the few blocks to the cathedral-very cute area. We got there just in time for a tour with Martin. He asked if anyone had been before and we said we had during the flower show (in 2015) so didn’t really see much. He said they didn’t offer tours during the flower show. -Martin did a great job. Very knowledgeable and a great sense of humor. He talked about Winchester’s “most famous resident,” Jane Austen, but disparaged the books as, “they don’t like each other then they get married.” I said, “not exactly.” He asked if anyone was JASNA (“I am”). He pointed out that only 4 people attended her funeral at like 4am and she may have been buried there because of her father’s clerical connection because she really wasn’t a Winchester resident. The grave on the floor doesn’t mention her books but the plaques on the wall do—later placed by her brother. JASNA provides funds for the flowers at the grace. Really great. -The other very moving anecdote was about retired diver William Walker who shored up the cathedral foundations by diving into murky water underneath and putting down concrete. He did this every day for 5 years (1906-1911). There’s a small bust in the back of the cathedral and another one outside. He died in 1918 of the Spanish Flu. -It was about a 45 minutes drive to The Fox at Barrington in the Cotswolds where we had reservations for 2 nights. Very pretty area. We got our room, settled in at the bar for drinks, and then had a nice dinner. Very peaceful.

Fox at Barrington