Winchester Cathedral, 2016

We visited Winchester, the Saxon capital, and its cathedral, in 2009, and I was sufficiently impressed to do three posts on the great old church. It's a fun place, with way more going on than just religion and architecture. The three posts are: http://roadeveron.blogspot.co.uk/2009/10/winchester-cathedral.html, http://roadeveron.blogspot.co.uk/2009/10/winchester-cathedral-ii.html, and
http://roadeveron.blogspot.co.uk/2009/10/cultural-treasures-of-winchester.html. I took a hundred or so pix this time, but wanting not to duplicate the 2009 posts and pix, I'll just post the new bits here.

Near the cathedral, the site of Nunnaminster, the monastery
founded by Ealswith, wife of Alfred the Great, in 903; interesting
stone caskets...one size fits all

You have to love a cathedral that has its own bouncy house!
Custom-built, too

I assume most visitors, Americans certainly,
enter the cathedral thinking of the song--how
many cathedrals have their rock song?--perhaps
quietly singing "Oh-bo-de-o-do, Oh-bo-de-o-do" 

But this time, and most of the two hours we were there, the
strains of "Oh-bo-de-o-do" were beautifully drowned out by a
full rehearsal of Elgars' majestically soaring Dream of
Gerontius; heavenly sights and sounds!

Last time I did manage to find Jane Austen's
burial site

But missed the shrine

And the window

And we completely missed the Epiphany
Chapel, with its William Morris windows;
here, the Annunciation

Visitation

Adoration

Epiphany

Probably 12th century fresco recently discovered
in a cleaning

Another shot of Romanesque meets Gothic
(Perpendicular) (north transept)

Not pictured: William Walker, the diver who
single-handedly saved the cathedral, replacing
its wooden foundations; the Isaac Walton
"Fishermans" Chapel, the oldest carved choir
in Britain, assorted relics, sculptures, the great
screen, the effects of the Parliamentarians'
visit, the crypt, etc. See the previous posts.

Glorious place, great day

Hinton Ampner

Our next stop was going to be Winchester Cathedral, but, finding no lay-by to pull into for lunch, we stopped at Hinton Ampner, another National Trust home and garden we'd not heard of, and followed the crowds from the over-flow carpark to the house. The house was built in the latter 20th century, replacing the Georgian original that had burned.

Wisteria wall; Vicki really likes wisterias

Cruel and unusual punishment for a magnolia

Front of the house; the rhodos are coming on now

Tiny roses

Trained on another wall

Chandelier in main drawing room

Many of the great houses took in children from London and
other cities during WWII, sometimes whole schools; this is
from a reunion of a girls' school that resided at Hinton Ampner
in those years

Drawing room; not Georgian

View of the grounds from the drawing room

Library

Dining room

Champagne trolley

Master bath

Master bedroom

Beautifully delicate quilting, done by the three sisters of the
owner; none had an heir, so the house came to the National Trust

Roof repairs have required that many of the furnishings be put
in storage for the time being

Plenty remains on view, however

In the side gardens

Thus, tulips still going strong

Ancient parish church in the background

The door of which is Saxon

Out behind the house, above the formidable ha-ha

The grounds

Largest cattle grate yet

Back of house

Woolbeding 2

Continuing our visit to Woolbeding Gardens, near Midhurst...

Hermit's Hut; we thought it was a Gothic tiki hut

Now in the woodland walk, interesting borders all around

In the small pond

Major water feature

Looking back to the Chinese bridge

In the bird hide

Anti-squirrel housing

Looking back across the meadow

First view of an impressive oriental plane tree

In the orchid house

Up close with a conifer

Closer up with the plane tree

Ditto

Now in the hornbeam walk, a pleached tunnel we very much
liked

Thus

Impossible to say where one tree begins and another ends

Terrace garden; last stop on our tour of a most interesting garden

PS...a favorite thing omitted: a rootery, over near
the bird hide