To Poundbury

Down to Poundbury last week, on our way to Holne. Pit-stop at the 'Duchess of Cornwall' at Poundbury.

Congested and rather slow until we got to Fleet on the M3. Perhaps the result of the wet weather. Encountered just one Tesla, same model but different colour to that noticed at reference 2. Which last, as it happens, I have not seen for a bit. Perhaps it was just a work car, brought home for a few days to show it off?

Fake pillars of Fleet

Stopped at the handsome new shed at Fleet Services for some tea from the fish and chip stall there, no trusting the stuff from the coffee stalls. Said to be genuine Yorkshire tea, with real milk. Tasted OK. Fake pillars first noticed (and scored) at reference 1.

Entertained by a well-behaved party of Asian children, primary aged, all boys with a sprinkling of whites. Looked after by white ladies. The chief lady looked rather surprised when I asked if they were to do with a Gurkha regiment, there being a noticeable number of people of Nepalese appearance settled in the area. I had thought that she was, perhaps, the OC's wife. Rather economical with the truth, she explained that they actually came from a London school. Presumably some private school catering mainly for the children of east Asian expatriates. Perhaps Chinese businessmen looking after their holdings over here.

At some point turned off the A303 onto the A354 road for Salisbury, and at some point after that pulled off the road for our picnic. Bit cold outside, so we settled for picnic in the car, which was just as well as it came on to rain and hail. Quite a sharp shower for a few minutes.

Pushing on, we came to a place called Winterbourne Whitchurch, and pulled off the road again to inspect the church there, its presence being suggested by the name.

Fancy facings

The fancy stone work to the tower may not be original. Maybe the work of the Victorian restorers, with motifs not unlike those of the Victorian artisans' cottages featured in Wikipedia at reference 3. Very substantial they are too.

Relative?

The fancy list just inside the church tells of one George Henry Wynne MA who did service as vicar from 1865 to 1904. A very long shift by modern standards, where moves every five years are more usual. But then, in those days, lots of people were content to sit in the same jobs for their working lives. However, despite his long tenure, no footprint on the Internet to speak of, and the best that Google can do is turn up a Rev. Wynne who was expelled from his fellowship of All Souls at Oxford on account of his defection to Rome - this being recorded in the splendidly named Warden's Punishment Book. This Wynne may have been related to our Wynne. There were other ecclesiastical Wynnes, but these were Irish and clearly quite wrong.

Unusual decoration

Unusual decoration to some of the principal columns and arches. No idea whether it was old or new in execution, old or new in design.

Sanctuary lamp

A view of what I took to be the Sanctuary Lamp, looking west. A lamp which was not lit and an altar which looked as if it had been decommissioned. But the church as a whole must still be in commission or they would have removed the lamp. Odd that it was not lit though, given the exhortation in Exodus 27:20-21:

20 And thou shalt command the children of Israel, that they bring thee pure oil olive beaten for the light, to cause the lamp to burn always.

21 In the tabernacle of the congregation without the vail, which is before the testimony, Aaron and his sons shall order it from evening to morning before the Lord: it shall be a statute for ever unto their generations on the behalf of the children of Israel.

A further visit for further investigation called for.

Curious pulpit

Curious, 500 year old font

Yew avenue outside

We decided against further heritage activities, such as Hardy's birth cottage or death house, opting instead to check into the Duchess.

Pizza van - Queen Elizabeth Square

Pizza van - Ewell

In due course, took a stroll outside. At 1800 or so, it was rather cold and bleak and would have been improved by a bit less wind, a bit more sun and a bit more street life. On which last point, a pizza van did open up in the main square for a couple of hours or so in the evening, complete with three traffic cones, the first visible admission that parking controls are sometimes needed, however generously one lays out one's town. A relative of the one which parks up in the approach to Ewell Village from the by-pass.

Poor detailing - one

Poor detailing - two

Despite the money that had been thrown at the town, some of the detailing was poor. Even supposing that the blacktop is covered with yellow grit in due course, that does nothing to hide the way that the fancy cobbles have just been cut to the line of the pavement, rather than finished off with a proper boarder. And while efflorescence is hard to stop, something looks to be wrong with the drainage, with a good growth of algae behind the down pipe. Or as a regular in TB used to say, these modern architects are all fancy book work and know nothing about buildings, about basics like keeping water out of them.

Book supply

The area of the bar where we took our apéritif was supplied with reading material, in the way of at least some Wetherspoon's houses. But we were impressed by the selection of more or less new Everyman Classics, a cut above what you usually get. We wondered what the brewer had to pay for them, given that Amazon charge about £10 a pop.

The Sancerre

And so to dinner in the grand upstairs dining room, although the grand was slightly dented by our first table being covered with splatters of wind blown wax from the candles of the night before. Our waitress was very pleasant but seemed very new to the work and it also seemed to us that the menu had been downgraded a bit since our last visit - cardboard with food one side and drink the other - but that may be a memory failure. Rather more like a regular pub. But the food was satisfactory for all that. Crab mayonnaise to start was good - and would have been better had it been served with white bread rather than brown sour dough. Steak pie was fine - and it came with cabbage - which would have been even better without the bits of bacon. The pie was strong enough not to need flavour enhancements of that sort. Sancerre fine. Waitress thought that Calvados was a sort of tea, so I had to settle for Jameson's in that department. But I moan too much: we had a perfectly satisfactory meal in a splendid dining room. Long may it last!

PS: there might have been lots of heritage and lots of brown wood, but the stairs were mainly made of sensible steel. In which connection see also reference 4.

Reference 1: https://psmv3.blogspot.com/2018/01/fake-22.html.

Reference 2: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2019/03/tesla-comes-to-town.html.

Reference 3: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winterborne_Whitechurch.

Reference 4: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2019/05/fake-71.html.