Arrival Date: 2023-04-09
Departure Date: 2023-04-14
Accommodation: Mercure Winchester Wessex Hotel
We left home at around 9:30 on Sunday morning, bound for the South of England, arriving in Salisbury at lunch time ready for some food. We stopped in at the Ox Row Inn for a lovely friendly lunch and had a walk around the city.
We didn’t visit the cathedral, and didn’t find any vials of perfume in the hedges, but did pick up a slice of cake for later on. It was a nice city, but everything was closed (being Easter Sunday), so we didn’t really get to experience all that much.
From Salisbury, we drove to Winchester to check into our hotel. It’s right in the city centre, looking out onto Winchester Cathedral, a lovely view! Although parking’s a bit of a nightmare, and the place could do with a renovation. The carpets everywhere are threadbare, and for some reason they have South African or Indian plug sockets in the rooms. But both our room and the breakfast room look out onto the cathedral, which is nice.
We went for a walk around the city and the outskirts of the cathedral, and eventually settled in at Three Joe’s Sourdough Pizza place for some dinner. The service here was very slow and inattentive, and the pizzas were distinctly average, we wouldn’t go back here.
Another walk around the city, we had a nightcap at The Bishop on the Bridge, which was a really nice pub, then back to the hotel.
Monday morning was Helen’s birthday, so naturally she woke up at about 4am eager to open presents. She finally woke me up at 6am, and we opened her presents together. After this, we went downstairs for breakfast in the hotel which was nice, then back up to the room for a lie-in.
Eventually getting up at about 10am, we got ready for the day and went to the spa for some treatments. Helen had a facial while I had a massage. Very relaxing! Back in the city centre, we stopped in at The Old Vine for some lunch. Helen had a Shakshuka, while I had ham, egg, and chips.
In the afternoon, we gave the city a proper explore. We checked out every independent book store and bought some more birthday presents, taking more scenic walks, then relaxed in the hotel for a couple hours before dinner.
Dinner was served at Palm Pan Asia, a Thai restaurant just around the corner. Food here was incredible, and the service was amazing. We ate far too much, and it was so good we booked to come back again on Thursday. Full to the brim, we slowly stumbled back to the hotel to unwind and sleep. It was so good in fact, that I even forgot to take pictures!
Did you get to sit on “the bench” in Salisbury? Looks like a lovely place where I’ve never been.
We didn’t know which one it was, but we found a bench to sit and have a little ice cream on!