Newbury RV Show, 2022

In addition to gardens, churches, museums, and so forth, we also do RV shows, and British RV shows are our favorite: there are all the usual caravans (trailers), motor homes, vans, and such, many tents of RV accessories, peripheral accessories, camping and caravan and motor-home clubs, and such; and, of special interest to us, there are all the bespoke (custom-made) camper manufacturers, usually vans, where the latest ideas and developments are introduced. Seriously. And there is food; well, British food. And there are Brits, good-natured ones: the shows are usually held in "show-grounds" (think: state or county fairgrounds), with room for a thousand or so rigs of every size, type, and age. People come and camp the two or three days the show is on. Just walking among them can be an RV education. And great fun.

This was our fourth British RV show, and our second in Newbury...

https://roadeveron.blogspot.com/2013/06/exeter-rv-show.html
https://roadeveron.blogspot.com/2016/05/southern-motorhome-show-chievely.html
https://roadeveron.blogspot.com/2019/08/norwich-motorhome-and-camper-van-show.html

and, despite no longer having a European RV, hopefully not our last. We were looking for a hardware part for our European-outfitted Sportsmobile/Röbel camper, Le Sport, but, alas, never did find it. Maybe in Germany next fall.

A smidgeon of the campground area

One of the several avenues

This year, mostly vans

So nice not to see the "Let's go, Brandon!" flags

We learned to braai on our southern African campaign in 2017;
at first a couple times a week, toward the end, every night; a great
kind of experience in that great kind of group...

You wouldn't want your black tank to smell like
poo, would you? Not when you can have Old Spice, 
Fruit Citrus, Dark Cherry, Summer Rose, or Berry
Vanilla! They said they were working hard to respond
to the demand for Juniper Gin...

Lunch: she had an unpictured burger, I, the above "hot dog"

Best in Show, according to Vicki: this short Ford
Transit...with...

A bathroom, to which, she assured me, she could easily add a shower

About $60,000 US; probably $125,000 in the States,
with a year's wait for delivery, and then a price "upgrade,"
etc.

Alas, already sold

Meanwhile, I had a nice conversation with the Costco lady,
extolling the free liquor samples at British Costcos ("and one for
my wife over on the other aisle"); she was especially curious how
British Costcos compared with the American ones; virtually
the same, I assured her (truthfully) except for the Marmite, steak and
kidney pie, and the much greater variety of ales and flavored gins....

Show Stopper: the Mink, a futuristic tear-drop two-person
sleeping trailer; by way of explanation, we had one of these in the
later 90s, a prototype from Seattle; some called it "the sleeping pod";
interestingly, no photos of it have survived; it had gull-wing 
doors but was not likely to be mistaken for a Mercedes 300SL

No detail unattended: coffee/tea cup holders in the wheel cover 

Storage, cooking area

Awning and privacy tent included

Food court; anther great show!

Romsey Abbey Sculpture

In this part of the world, of this vintage, it's mostly the sculpture you look at, since there are few paintings or frescoes that have survived. Romsey has some interesting instances of Norman sculpture, including dozens of funny faces, mostly animals, on the corbals higher up. And other things too. And the interpretive signage is excellent.

A bit of Celtic surviving here

The ribbon proceeds all around the interior of the church, just below
the gallery

Now outside; click to enlarge the funny faces

Some bits appear restored

A sheel-na-gig?

Romsey Abbey

Having devoted much of our 2019 UK visit to parish churches on the east side of the island, we thought we'd take in a few on this garden-tour visit too. Romsey Abbey is just a few miles from Hillier Gardens, and it is highly rated as parish churches go. It was a Benedictine nunnery for several hundred years until the town bought it outright from Henry VIII in the Dissolution--similar to Tewkesbury further west and north--and others. Thus a large old abbey church became a large old parish church. 

But there's more. According to Wikipedia,

"Despite the faithful service in prayer of many of the nuns over many centuries, there are scattered traces of irregularities in the conduct of the house, of which the evidence would merit impartial investigation with modern historiographical methods, rather than stale prejudice. Some sources accuse the abbess Elizabeth Broke (1472-1502) of ruling over a period of scandal, including allowing poor dress standards for nuns, allowing nuns to go to the towns taverns, poor account keeping and an unhealthy relationship with the Chaplain."

So what's wrong with a little stale prejudice? I ask. In any case, for further light on the matter watch  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwOslM8JN0I&ab_channel=Duke, and you'll see more of why Romsey Abbey appealed. 

We'll get to the sculptural program in the next post

Elevation: notice the first pier is rounded and definitely on the
Romanesque side; the next three bays' arches are Romanesque; 
the rest Gothic...it takes time to build an abbey, and fashions
change...

"Welcome, gentle sir knight1"

Foundation of the preceding Saxon church

Program for the Tudor painting below

Lower left, depicting Elizabeth Ryprose, the last Abbess at Romsey

Chancel lancet windows

Some of the original paint in one of the transepts

Looking astern, from abaft the beam

Among the more colorful memorials in the church,
mid-17th

"Lord Louis," as he was called by those beneath him...member of

the royal family, among Allied leaders in WWII certainly the most

dashing, presided over India's independence, rose to even greater heights

in the armed services in the 50s; assassinated by the IRA in 1979 

Romsey's deed of sale for the abbey from Henry VIII

Moving outside and some of the sculptural program
we'll get to in the next post

Street scene in beautiful Romsey

Two building in age comparable with the abbey

"Fred and Erma" style, as Vicki calls it