Salisbury Cathedral

It's been way too long since I've written about our last day spent in England celebrating our Golden Anniversary.  Maybe I've secretly not wanted our anniversary trip to end. Some of you may remember me writing about this trip.  If you wish to read all about it, I have been posting in order under the tab above labeled Great Britain.  This month we will be celebrating our 54th anniversary.  Though that gives me pause, I feel the strong desire to finally put this last day we spent for our 50th together and end this trip--well kind of.  Thank goodness my travel journal and photos keep this trip alive in our minds and certainly it is alive in our hearts.

Visiting cathedrals are so special to Grayden and I when we travel.  So we ended our time on our Golden Celebration in Salisbury Cathedral.  We had just a short walk in the early morning to visit this wonderful house of worship.  In a few hours we need to be traveling down to Southampton to board the Queen Mary II for our transatlantic trip back home.

Salisbury Cathedral, formally known as The Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is a magnificent living house of worship.  Its spire is the tallest in the UK at 404 feet tall.  The early English Gothic architecture was completed in 1258.  The spire was built in 1320.  Spires on churches add enormous weight to the structures.  The spire here added 6397 tons to the cathedral and created problems as you can imagine.  Anchor irons and buttresses had to be added or the spire would have certainly fallen under the weight!  Additional beams were added in 1668 when Christopher Wren had tie beams added above the crossing.  Then a false ceiling was added to hide those beams below the lantern stage of the tower.

Salisbury Cathedral also houses one of the four original copies of the Magna Carta!  So much to learn and see in this beautiful place!  My journal tells me that upon entering a morning service was being held.  The children's orchestra was playing along with the magnificent organ.

Lift up your hearts!

We felt priviledged to be visiting at such a time.  Listening to the sermon of the parable of the Good Samaritan being delivered along with the music brought tears. 

 The cathedral is quite large and so lovely.  There truly is a sacred feeling of reverence as we walked around.

The narrow Nave has the lovely Chilmark stone for the walls and Purbeck marble for the columns.

"The windows of a building are its eyes, within those eyes is a character gained over many years.  Take them away and replace them with new and a lifetime of history is lost."  The Salisbury Cathedral stained glass workshop.

It's wonderful to learn that these lovely windows are being taken care of so intently.

In the north Nave aisle the world's oldest working clock stands.  While we were in Cotehele we were told about the clock there is like the one here at Salisbury Cathedral.  If you would like to see this one you can visit my link Here .

You may want to read about it here.

An unusual Baptismal font was installed in 2008.  The work of William Pye is quite modern and unique in its cruciform shape brimming with water overflowing into the cathedral stone floor.

Stepping outside into the Cloister garden we make our way to the Chapter House that houses one of the copies of the Magna Carta which is Latin for "Great Charter."  This great document clearly was a great influence on the United States Constitution, Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights and other countries constitutions.  The Magna Carta though written in 1215 is quite  extraordinary!

Inside the octagonal Chapter House we await the privilege of viewing the Magna Carta!  Since the sun and lights would damage this incredible document, it is housed in a small white enclosure.  No photos of the document were permitted on our visit.

On the stone seats there is a copy (not one of the originals) that I did photograph.

I can hardly believe the things we have done during this incredible four week visit to Great Britain.  It's so emotional to reflect on our amazing time there!  Our Golden Celebration meant the world to both of us.  Walking hand in hand back to our hotel to retrieve our car we feel incredibly blessed to experience all of this with each other.

This afternoon we will be onboard the Queen Mary II for our journey back home.  I've said it before, she certainly takes the sting out of leaving a place that feels like home. 

Coleton Fishacre

Hello friends, we are continuing our recollections of our trip to Britain to celebrate our Golden Anniversary.  Today we are visiting Coleton Fishacre located in Dartmouth in Devon England.  It's only five miles away from Greenway, holiday home of Agatha Christie.  I hope you visited my post There .  So join us as we travel to another exciting property in Devon.

Can you see the water in the above photo?  It's looking toward the western end of the English Channel.  We drive the very narrow road and reach the car park.

After parking the car we need to go check in. Notice all the lovely blossoms still showing their pretty color in the fall. There is a tearoom that we must stop in and have some lunch.  I hope you will join us.

Grayden enjoyed the Hanity Pie.

I chose the Broccoli and White Bean soup.  It was served with a wonderful whole wheat bread along with that wonderful delicious English butter.  Oh how I love English butter!

After lunch we started our tour of Coleton Fishacre.  This wonderful home is full of Art Deco furnishings.  It was home to the D'Oyly Carte family of Gilbert and Sullivan fame.

The Arts and Crafts home was built in the mid 1920's.  Rupert D'Oyly Carte and Lady Dorothy saw this site on a sailing trip and decided to buy it and build their country home here.  The family enjoyed the property close to the sea for sailing trips and swimming in the Pudcombe Cove.  The National Trust acquired the property in 1982.  I love the stonework and the gardens that surround this home. 

You can see the lovely stonework and the slate roof tiles.  Also to the left is a huge fig tree!  I do enjoy seeing the creeping vines climb English homes, but always wonder if the tentacles disturb the mortar.

Making sure there are pollinators in this garden, a home was built for them.

Let's go inside this interesting home.  

A lovely arrangement greets us in the entryway.

The home is full of many items from the 1920's.  It just occurred to me next year this would make most of these collections to be 100 years old!

Such a large toiletry case. 

 

One area of the home that I really enjoyed was the kitchen or should I say kitchens.

In a home as large as this they certainly had help to maintain the home.  Here before the kitchens was a room for the servants.  These house dresses, as my Nanny would call them, look familiar.  Maybe made from feed sack material. 

Such a beautiful Aga stove!  Bread right out of the oven--Yum!

Another stove and nice prep area for evening meals.

I love this old cabinet.  Would you like some tea?

Or coffee if you prefer.

Or maybe you'd like a cocktail.  

Beautiful crockery to make meal planning easier.

A drying room nearby to dry linens and other essentials.  This home has it all for the families that lived here.

The gardens are so lush. There are rare and exotic plants from around the world at Coleton Fishacre.  Fall is a wonderful time to visit here.  Thank you for coming along with us as we travel!  Look at this sight as we were leaving.

Devon, you are certainly a lovely spot on this planet! ♥