This morning I was able to walk part of the early morning walk that I used to walk around town. I started walking up the hill and onto the arbor.
I love coming up here in the mornings as each day greats me with a new view out over the town and into the hills beyond that mark the seasons as they pass. The Hampshire Hog weather cock at the top of the clock tower always makes me smile. I have yet to capture a good photograph of it. Here it is just a dot in the sky.
I walked across the arbor, over the railway bridge and into The Barracks. I love the colours of these gracious buildings.
This is the view across the gardens. The trees stand like sentinels guarding the fountains which are being repaired or cleaned at the moment so they are not working. Usually the sound of the water echos across the square.
I walked down behind the courthouse and out past the gatehouse. Across the road, just past one of the solicitor's buildings, a wisteria bush is about to burst into bloom. The flowers are still tight buds.
At the bottom of the road is Mulberry House which looks quite posh. I love the door with the tiny windows and boot cleaners on either side.
As I continued down the road alongside Mulberry House, the Cathedral comes into sight. It is one of those beautiful buildings that lifts your heart each time you see it. I walked through the cloisters. It always makes me wonder how many monks and nuns have walked this same path. Now it has disabled access to the building and many towns folk walk through them as an access to town or the college.
From the cloisters I walked along to the mayor's garden. It is one of my first memories of our first visit to Winchester when we came here for Borneo's interview. It was a fantastic sight, beautifully in bloom in September and a riot of colour. It is like that most of the year I have since discovered. At lunch time it is filled with people who come out to enjoy it but 7am in the morning is a bit early for most people.
The tree to the left is called a handkerchief tree and comes from China. It is also called a dove tree. It has just started to bloom and the flowers hand down looking like paper handkerchiefs. I watch for it to flower every year. When it is fully in bloom the tree is white and you can hardly see the leaves.
It is still magical for me to live in a place where it is so easy to walk around. I do love it.
