Salisbury
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We have recently returned from two nights in Salisbury,
staying at the historic Rose & Crown coaching inn on the fast flowing River
Avon. I had read on the internet that it is haunted but unfortunately we
didn’t see any ghosts! We arrived in Salisbury in the afternoon on the
London train. What a relief it was to be able to walk down a gentle slope
at the station rather than the user unfriendly steps that one encounters at so
many other stations. It does make all the difference. We got
a taxi to the hotel – a journey of about 10 minutes. It was a rather cold
and grey March day, and unfortunately it remained like that for the two days of
our stay, but our room in the hotel was cosy and warm.
On our arrival we began unpacking and then took a brisk walk
into the centre of town. From our hotel it took about 12 minutes. We passed over a bridge and saw many elegant and listed houses and buildings on
our way. We used the cathedral as our focal point to get to the
centre. However I have to say that (unlike many towns) Salisbury’s
tourist attractions are well signposted, and we easily found our way to the
centre of town. One street (I think it was Catherine Street) consisted
almost entirely of charity shops – 10 in all. I like to browse in charity
shops, and here I was spoilt for choice
After a quick look in M&S and some of the other well-known
stores we walked back to our hotel where we finished unpacking and prepared for
our evening meal in the hotel restaurant.
The following day we set off into town soon after
breakfast. My husband and I parted company so that I could look in the
charity shops while he looked at the bookshops. At 12.30 we had an
arrangement to meet my brother and his wife for lunch at Prezzo, which is
located in a historic timbered building near to the cathedral. My brother
and sister in law live in Bristol, so Salisbury is a useful place to meet,
being halfway between our home and theirs.
After lunch we looked at Arrundells, it was the home of Edward Heath, the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, but didn’t go inside, as we wanted to have a tour of the cathedral,
which we did, after walking round the grounds for a while and taking photos of
the (mostly wire) sculptures. There is also a sculpture of the Walking
Madonna by the famous sculptress Elisabeth Frink.
The tour of the cathedral was excellent, very comprehensive
and lasted about an hour. We were shown around by a very knowledgeable
lady who explained everything very well. She told us that she has been a
cathedral guide for 45 years. We learnt a lot, for example, we hadn’t
realised that Salisbury cathedral has the highest mediaeval spire in the
world. This was built in c. 1310-1330. There are tower tours that
go up the spire but neither my husband nor myself has a good head for heights
nor the energy to climb its 332 steps, so we decided to give that a miss.
After the tour we went into the cathedral bookshop which was
very well stocked with souvenirs, and all types of merchandise. There is
also a cafe which we didn’t visit on this occasion as we were still full up
from lunch.
After another walk round the shops (there are certainly
plenty in Salisbury) we slowly walked back to our hotel.
We would have liked to have visited more, but alas, time was
against us. There are a number of museums, for example the Salisbury
Museum, the Salisbury Art Centre, Mompesson House, the Old Sarum Airfield
Museum, and various art collections, which all sounded interesting, as did
Arundells, Edward Heath’s house, but unfortunately we just didn’t have enough
time to do everything. Another time … we might even see a ghost next time
too!
Jenny Lunn visited the area
whilst she was a guest blogger at the Rose & Crown Hotel. Read
Jenny's review.
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