From Abbey to Cathedral

Before I forget, I must comment on the quality of food in rural England. This is not the country I visited thirteen years ago. Every meal to date has been excellent! Last night we lodged at a pub/B and B called the Running Horse in Littleton. Our expectations were low, very low. Instead, the dining room was a warm atmosphere of rust-coloured walls, and chunky wood tables surrounded on all walls with bookcases constructed from solid old timbers stocked with hundreds of old leather-bound volumes. The service was good, the menu varied and the food excellent. Not a single overcooked veggie or deep fried entree.

After a scenic drive through the countryside we arrived at Lacock Abbey. It has an incredibly varied and interesting history. The abbey was founded in the early 13th century by Lady Ela, the Countess of Salisbury. In the 16th century, with the Dissolution of the Monasteries, it was sold into private ownership and converted into a residence. The Talbot family acquired the estate in the 1750's and retained it as a family home until 1944 when it was donated to the National Trust. The medieval cloisters and most of the ground floor rooms have been preserved in their original state. The home above it is large with rooms organized in a square above the cloisters. This site has been used for many films including Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

The most famous of the Talbots was William Henry Fox Talbot, well educated and a curious inventor. He is credited with developing and patenting the photo negative in 1835. On the grounds of the estate is an extensive photo museum.

 

 

And there was an extra delightful surprise that perhaps only my library friends will appreciate. At noon in the cloister, Cornelia Funke, dressed in a wonderful costume read from her newest book and then answered audience questions. Talking with her afterwards, she lamented the demise of school libraries and offered to try to arrange a protest reading in Beaverton. Do you think she was serious?

 

The village of Lacock is situated next to the Abbey. If you removed the cars it would look almost unchanged over the centuries. For our good fortune, modern cooking facilities and an outside tearoom provided us with a late afternoon tea.

A visit to Wells Cathedral ended our day. There are no tours on Sunday so we self guided inside and out. Like all English cathedrals it was a work in progress for many centuries. The outside facade below the towers is covered with sculptured figures. Closely examined we saw that many had lost their heads in the Civil War and others seem to have been damaged by weather. It is still an amazing feat of construction. The streets of buildings surrounding the Cathedral have been retained intact to create the feeling of a Cathedral neighborhood. The street named the Vicar's Close with several blocks of row homes and cobbled streets is atmospherically medieval. Out of time we reached the Bishop's Palace after closing. Perhaps we missed something but it was a great day and Mike and I were not disappointed.

 

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