For completion, but not really for the discovery of new information or much in the way of the usual rambling travelogues I tend to favour, here are some photos that round off the last day we spent in Salisbury for our weekend break in April 2022.
In the previous posts from this day that you may or may not have (and very likely haven’t) read, we’d taken a look around nearby Wilton House after first popping across to Old Sarum. We returned to our hotel – the Rose and Crown Hotel – with plans to check out a small cider festival taking place at one of the pubs in town. However, there was enough time and pleasant-enough weather first to treat ourselves to a bottle of (rather overpriced) Prosecco out on the hotel lawn beside the River Avon, taking in the views of the swans and the paddle boarders upon it.
So, Prosecco quaffed, we headed off into Salisbury, and this took us over the bridge we’d used on the previous day but this time I felt the overwhelming urge to snap a few photos of St Nicholas Hospital. This hospital can date its origins back to at least 1215 and it has served as a Christian almshouse for clergy and lay people with limited means and in need of shelter so long as they are Christian and prepared to worship daily. A mixture of “ah, that’s nice” and “ah, that seems somehow weirdly un-Christian” to me. “Of course we’ll help you… for a price!” Fortunately, that price is mostly an imaginary one, and hopefully it gives people enough time to get on their feet and do something with their lives without that bit of coercion.
That cider festival was taking place at The Winchester Gate and it was pretty rammed out the back where live music was being performed and everyone was enjoying the large range of ciders on. We opted for the quieter inside area and tried a few of the offerings. All very good, and the pub seemed to do a good standard range of ales too. Pretty much our sort of pub, in fact. I will say that the pressures of the festival and dealing with all the people queueing up with their tickets for the ciders seemed to be taking its toll a little on what I assume is a normally far more friendly staff because curt and scowling responses were what we were treated to, but perhaps I’ve just got one of those faces that antagonises people. In fact, I’m pretty sure I have.
There was time for another couple of pubs before grabbing some food, so we headed towards Market Square and had a drink in each of The Anchor & Hope and the Ox Row Inn. Very friendly staff in the former, and very friendly patrons in the latter, so that was nice.
And that just left a short stroll to get some food to soak up some of the day’s alcohol via a visit to Wildwood just off the square. Nice cocktails, and we had no complaints about the food at all – you know the sort of thing you’re going to get from a chain restaurant like this – but service was a bit hit-and-miss given how quiet the venue was. It served its purpose, though.
And that brings this weekend in Salisbury to a close. A very nice place to visit with a lot to see, and I think we chose our hotel well. Getting such good weather for our visit helped a lot. Highlight of Salisbury for us would be Arundells, and if you’re in the area then Old Sarum is definitely worth a visit too. Click the “Salisbury Weekender 2022” tag below if you want to check all the posts from this short travelogue series.