In the Close of the beautiful Winchester Cathedral, (this is one of my favourite places), a Christmas market is held every year. There is also an ice rink and I watch the participants longingly but the Saint has banded me from it until my hip co-operates.
For three months after Christmas each year, the chairs are removed to allow folk to experience the cathedral as it would have been used when it was originally built. People used to stand for services.
It also allows one to feel the vastness of the space. If you place a golf ball in the floor here, it will roll to the back of the cathedral as the floor sunk down at the far end.
Most years, the crypt floods as the Cathedral is built on a wetland. It had to be shored up a couple of decades ago as it was sinking. There is a wonderful story about the diver who worked at this but I shall leave that for another time.
The statue is called Sound II and is by Anthony Gormley. I love it.
Through the arches is the ice rink.
This dress is made of magazine pages. Isn't it gorgeous?
The array of stalls and the quality of the work is outstanding.
The Christmas tree is really special. It has messages and decorations made by the children and their siblings from the Naomi House Hospice.
Here people are concentrating on keeping their balance, to not fall on their bottoms on the ice hence no one noticed me.
These are collapsable fruit baskets
and some beautiful handmade leather goods.
One year I bought some of the pottery from this stall for Trudi's Christmas present and we eat from it every time we visit her in France. I believe it may have featured in this blog before as 'still live photography' or 'breakfast in France'.
The stalls market are placed around the ice rink, which holds centre court.
At this junction is the food court where I am off to have a crepe made by the lovely lady who comes over from Brittany every year. I also get to practice my very averagely poor French and we laugh together at it. The corrects me very prettily and I say, 'Merci'.
On my way to her stall I found an organ grinder.
At last, my mission is accomplished. Can you see my crepe behind all the delicious toppings. It tasted wonderful.
Suitably fortified, I can now enjoy some more market stalls.
One of my favourite stalls has these card in them. I love this one with the caricature of the skating rink.
One year there was one of the Choir Boys skating which was such fun.
Sadly, it was at this point that my camera's battery died. I hope you enjoy this little vignette of a wonderful yearly event.
Happy Holidays Everyone!!! Enjoy the time however you choose to spend it. May you be richly blessed.
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