Weekend in Winchester
Vee and I have spent the weekend visiting my (much younger) half brother Chris (a Treasury official) and his partner Janine (a Spanish language teacher). They live in a village called South Wonton just north of the historic city of Winchester.
On Saturday afternoon, we drove through the New Forest and down to the south coast where we took a ferry from Keyhaven out to Hurst Castle, a fortification first built at the time of King Henry VIII. We walked back along a mile and a half long shingle spit from which one can see the Isle of Wight and the Needles. This created an appetite for dinner which we had at the unusually named restaurant “The Half Moon & Spread Eagle” in Micheldever which is under new management .
This morning we travelled over to a place called intech which is a space centre and planetarium on the outskirts of Winchester. The planetarium only opened a few weeks ago and it is the country’s largest. We were able to view two presentations at the planetarium: one on the solar system and one on black holes.
Next we went into Winchester. First we called into something called the Winchester Discovery Centre which is a complete reinvention of the idea of a library. Finally we had lunch at an outlet of the “Prezzo” chain where every member of staff – including the chef – was Polish.
Except for first thing this morning, the weather stayed fine and sunny and it was a really good trip. Thanks Chris and Janine!
April 27th, 2008 at 9:11 pm
we went to the intech planetarium a couple of weeks ago. it was most excellent !
April 28th, 2008 at 12:19 pm
I didn’t know that Micheldever was under new management.
April 28th, 2008 at 7:56 pm
Funkypancake – you moved quick!
Philip – sorry for the sloppy prose!