Salisbury day out

Recently Angie and I took advantage of a midweek hotel deal in Salisbury, two nights for £98 for two including breakfast at a Swallow hotel, The Rose & Crown, an old Coaching Inn.

Regrettably the trip did not start well. Angie was repeatedly sick before we’d even got to Stow on the Wold and stopped us ever ten minutes to throw up which seriously marred the trip down. At one point I got so fed up with her that I threatened to leave the car with her and hitch hike home, or walk. I would have too. Quite frankly I didn’t care which I was so damned angry at her for not at least trying to sort herself out. All my bluster and bullshit was to no end so I just sat and did my ‘Guard dog’ routine while she slept it off. I also wandered off into the touristy limestone charm of Burford for a while and bought her a pack of Rennies to soothe her obviously acid stomach. At half past three she could stand, and at about four thirty we were ready to move. All of the rest of the way to Salisbury I have never driven so carefully, just to avoid upsetting her. A routine two hour trip from Stratford ended up taking almost nine hours. No matter, we got there in the end.

Finding the Rose & Crown wasn’t that difficult, although it is tucked around the back of the Cathedral Close. Much of the hotel building itself dates from 13th Century and from inside looks to have been designed by a medieval committee when the ale was flowing freely. There are some splendidly detailed carved doors and details which are a whole blog entry in themselves. Regrettably I didn’t take any photographs, but they are splendidly gothic.

As for our room, I could sit here behind my keyboard and nitpick at minor things like frayed bedspreads, no air conditioning, no Wi-Fi or broadband and the humid and occasionally thundery weather, but tell you the truth we had a very pleasant time of it. The room was large, en suite bathroom clean and spacious, more reminiscent of American room sizes than English. Ten TV channels on a newish set so you could keep up with the news if you really wanted to.

The biggest plus point for me was the chalk stream running right outside the hotels restaurant where trout as long as my forearm swim in perfectly transparent water. Each of the two days we stayed was full of little surprises. For example, feeding the ducks after breakfast was not without its amusements. A little Mallard cross duck comically begging at my heels like a puppy for cold toast, a family of Swans, Moorhen, and a host of teal and mallard all obviously used to getting their breakfast leftovers.

Less than three hundred metres away across the water meadows on the rivers far bank is the beautifully engineered spire of Salisbury Cathedral. Inside the visitor centre (£4 donation / admission) are models and photographs of the whole construction. My only comment is that the people who designed the hexagonal internal wooden bracing inside the spire really understood diagrams of forces. The Cathedral itself is a gothic marvel constantly under restoration and is home to one of the best preserved originals of Magna Carta, a surprisingly small and unadorned piece of vellum covered in still legible church Latin. Photography sadly, is not allowed because the flashes may degrade the document and since it appears to be currently whole and complete any such damage might be unforgivable to such a fundamental document.

Other places worth a look around the Cathedral close include the Salisbury and South Wiltshire and Wiltshire Regiment Museums. A couple of pieces of statuary in the close are worth a look; the Walking Madonna, a representation in bronze of a ghost allegedly seen walking the close grounds at night, the left hand of which is polished by people shaking hands with the statue for good luck. The second is a metre and a half diameter disk of polished Onyx set on its edge in a steel plinth.

Salisbury as a town is packed with architectural gems from detailed carved weatherboards to the gothic market cross at the junction of Minster and Silver Street. The one way system is difficult to navigate and the parking rigorously enforced, so the best way to get around is on foot. Use the out of town Park and ride or leave the car in your hotel car park and walk. A wide variety of coffee shops and restaurants make for frequent easy stops, but the only Wireless Internet access point appears to be at the local Starbucks in Silver Street.

As regards other points of interest, you could try Fisherton Mill off Fisherton Street and watch local artists and sculptors at work. You could even simply laze around in one of the towns parks and sit by the one of the network of chalk streams that give the town so much of its character.

Talking of restaurants; if you like Italian food, try the Prezzo in High Street. The food was superb, the staff attentive, cheerful and mostly Italian (Well they sound Italian) and the prices reasonable. Well worth a visit for dilettante diners like myself. The heritage setting does have its downside, as the upper dining floors are rather uneven and the only way to stop your table wobbling violently is to stuff a strategically folded napkin under one or more of the table feet. Despite that, I would happily dine there regularly, if my only waistline could stand the strain.

Overall verdict; Nice town, with a little something for everyone. Clean, plenty of green space, heritage, food, places to relax and party. I like it. I think I’ll move.