Winchester was the capital of Alfred the Great’s Wessex and of England under the Normans and Plantagenets until the 1200s when the seat of power moved to London. The cathedral, built on the site of the former Saxon site, was begun in 1079 in the Norman Romanesque style and continued into English perpendicular featuring the longest nave in Britain, though some authorities put it second after St Albans.

We will have a guided tour of the Cathedral seeing the illuminated Winchester Bible, the crypt, the tomb of Jane Austen and the statuette commemorating the ‘Winchester Diver’ William Walker who dived into the flooded crypt over a period of 5 years to underpin the foundations. There will be a chance to see the Treasury inside the Cathedral before an optional lunch in the Refectory. Alternatively you may wish to have a packed lunch on the Cathedral Green or eat in one of the many hostelries in the city only a short, flat walk away.

In the afternoon we will have a guided tour of the 14th century Winchester College which has the longest unbroken history of any English school. The tour concentrates on the medieval heart of the college.

There will be time to visit some of the other attractions such as the working City Mill (NT) grinding flour from corn, powered by the River Itchen and close to Alfred’s Statue. Other attractions include the Great Hall with ‘King Arthur’s Round Table’ built in the reign of Edward I, West Gate, the military and city museums, the college area and the Hospital of St Cross.

Your admission charge from the morning (included) will also allow you back into the Cathedral in the afternoon if you wish to listen to the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra who will be rehearsing for a concert to be held during the evening.

The price for the trip is £18 per person and we depart Purton at 9.00am, returning about 7pm.