From the sea to the forest

On the way to Salisbury

I spied a crocodile this morning on the road out of Lynmouth. One of the many unusual decorative features the locals of Lynmouth call sculptures; scattered around their town. These bizarre creations are made of mysterious assortments scrap metal. Some look like they have been pilfered off medieval chain mail, others look like they were once part of old diving equipment. The resulting creatures are weird and unusual to say the least. One place claims to be the home of aliens; and given their tastes in sculpture I would not be surprised to find a galek or two behind the closed doors of Lynmouth.

Lynmouth with the tide about half way in. This part of the coast has a massive tide range.

We have just driven the most dense forest imaginable, Exmoor State Forest to be exact – Robin Hood and his merry men would be right at home in these parts and after negotiating 25 degree gradients through the forest we have reached the plateau, which opens out to rolling hills of compact, mauve heath ... not a tree in sight; an amazing contrast to the lush, dense woodlands of earlier. In places the forest is so dense that it forms a canopy that arches over the road completely, creating a tunnel effect. We have needed all our faculties on the road this morning, not only have we needed to be on the lookout for wandering sheep, but pheasants and deer have also been obstacles we have had to avoid.

Salisbury

Once we cleared the rolling hills of Devon it was freeway travel most of the way to Salisbury. We ignored the Park and Ride signs and drove into the centre of town and easily found a park. We had some lunch and then walked up to the Cathedral.

The ham and cheese croisant comes with crisps, most things come with crisps!

It is an impressive building built in a very open area of Salisbury. We normally see Cathedrals hemmed into narrow plots in the centre of town but not this one, it has acres of land around it.
It is a massive building but the main church is built in a restrained Gothic style. The builders have created a Cathedral that is strong and tall by using a central nave with side isles. Inside it is a very long and high interior but very much over scale for a place like Salisbury (more on that later). The Cathedral is different in that it is also a monument to recent events, having memorials to Iraq casualties as well as tombs for 13th century knights.

Salisbury Cathedral is massive and surrounded by large grassed areas. The spire is the tallest in the UK.

So massive you would have no idea what was happening at the altar if you were even a third of the way back!

We both came away thinking why would you build a monster Cathedral in a place like Salisbury. The answer lies really in the history of Salisbury and Old Sarum, just out of Salisbury. Old Sarum was the home of the Kings of England from the iron age until the Normal conquest and then from the time of Henry I (1100 – 35), who moved his court from Winchester to Old Sarum, until the reign of John (1199 – 1216). We drove out there and walked up to the remains of the old castle. The iron age hill-fort, the remnants of the Norman castle and the remains of the cathedral are there to explore. It was great looking at the history of the site and the information available helped it all to make sense.

King John had a falling out with the cathedral clergy and the bishop happened to own the land that is New Sarum (Salisbury) and decided to build a new cathedral there. The cathedral at Old Sarum was demolished to provide materials and important graves were moved and that is why Salisbury has this crazy big cathedral. The arguments between King John and the Bishop of Old Sarum were the catalyst for the creation of the Magna Carta. An original version of the Magna Carta is displayed at Salisbury Cathedral and we were surprised at how small it is, about the size of an A3 sheet in fine latin print.

Old Sarum was great because it provided information to make sense of the place and put it into some perspective with its surrounds. After our time at Old Sarum it was time to head back through Salisbury to Rhinefield House at Brockenhurst.

Entrance to Old Sarum using a modern bridge over the old moat to the original stone age ring fort. The remains of the Norman gate can be seen.

The central area of the ring fort that would have been markets and meeting places from medieval times.

The remains of the Royal Court buildings inside the fort at Old Sarum.

The fort was well protected from all sides.

Rhinefield House

Bernie has chosen this New Forest location for our last night on the road before we head to the hustle and bustle of London tomorrow. I am almost reluctant to leave our nomadic travels as each day has been an adventure, discovering new and even more wonderous places to experience.

It was an easy 30 minute drive South of Salisbury and the last few kilometres are through the Rhinefield Forest. Rhinefield House has existed in its present form since the 1880's but there have been dwellings on the site since the "New Forest" was first proclaimed by William the Conqueror in about 1097. The house is a great mix of styles from English Manor to European Gothic. Rooms have been built with themes with the main dining room being the Armada room with a great overpiece of the English fleet routing the Spanish Amada and the Alambra room being copied from the Alambra palace in Granada, Spain.

The facade of Rhinefield House.

The back of Rhinefield house.

Not quite Versailles but still impressive.

 

The roof and light of the Alambra room.

A corner of the Alambra room.

Detail of the walls from the Alambra room. Craftsmen from Spain spent 2 years building the room.

We relaxed by the ornamental pools before heading off to dinner. Overall it was a great day with the contrasts of the ruins of Old Sarum and the scale of Salisbury Cathedral and then the serenity of Rhinefield House.