20th January 2020

Colin had suggested last night that as the weather forecast looked so good (cold, sunny and frosty) that we should try and head out for the day. We thought we’d try and use our National Trust cards to reduce the price of the membership and I found a small place in Winchester (£11.70 for two of us!). Although this in itself was not very interesting, I have been trying to get to see the Anthony Gormley sculpture in the crypt of Winchester Cathedral. I telephoned the Cathedral to check on the situation and was impressed to receive a reply advising that not only was the crypt open but it was also partially flooded which I have been waiting for!

It was a lovely drive and we man aged to drive into the city centre to park. The cathedral was surrounded by over 15 large lorries which turned out to be there because they were building the scenery inside the cathedral to film scenes for The Crown of Lord Mountbatten’s funeral and Prince Charles and Diana’s wedding as it will stand in for Westminster Abbey.

We found our way around the lighting cables and scene makers to the crypt. It really was as lovely as I had hoped and the water was just right and perfectly still for reflections.

We wandered around the cathedral afterwards and saw caskets with bones of past kings from over 1,000 years ago. The walls are quite crooked as the cathedral is built on a bog and so was subsiding until the Edwardian era when a diver spent 5 years working alone to shore up the foundations - amazing.

After lunch we headed to the City Mill which dates from the fifteenth century. It was fascinating to see the fast flowing mill race and even more so the CCTV footage of the wild otters that pass through the mill.

The temperature dropped quite rapidly later in the afternoon so we headed back to the warmth of the heated car seats and made our way home.

Positive: I finally saw the Anthony Gormley sculpture in perfect conditions - it really it stunning

[JackieR]

A beautiful perfect capture of the statue. The crypt was locked today the water was so high, but a very nice young man offered to show us the crypt, the water level had dropped, so he let us down on understanding went no lower than the dry steps!!