Sunday was another nice day of some local sightseeing.
Dorchester
We started out at Dorchester Abbey, which is quite close by and which we first tried out our tripod last March. This time we had little need of the tripod, being armed with our super-duper-image-stablized-zoomy lens instead.
We got some great new pictures of the church, both of the outside (the sun was out this time) and the wonderful inside details. And our repeat visit was just as enjoyable as the first - welcoming, peaceful and nearly empty of other visitors. Here are just a few highlights.
Outside view - it's a very long church.
Me wandering the churchyard after taking the above photo. Note the lovely thatched-roof cottage behind me.
Tower and details from a gorgeous 14th-century mural of the Crucifixion. That's Mary in the middle and St. John on the right. Note how John looks very feminine, just like in Leonardo's Last Supper.
Full view of the mural
Details of the unique and wonderful "Jesse Window" which depicts the family tree of Jesus in stone sculptures around the stained glass window.
Monks handing out Communion in another stained glass window
Details from the East Window, which also has stone sculptures and medieval glass.
Tiny carved details of dogs and other creatures in the "sedilia," which are three stone priests' seats next to the altar.
Ewelme
From Dorchester we headed east towards Henley-on-Thames, which David had been wanting to visit for some time. Along the way, we stopped at a village called Ewelme that one of my books described as "England at its most huggable."
We started at the church, of course. It didn't blow our hair back, but was nice and did have some notable features.
Crenelated wall (like a castle) and timber porch
Comical drain men and other stone characters
Tomb of Thomas Chaucer, son of Geoffrey (author of The Canterbury Tales), who lived in Ewelme.
"Memento Mori" tomb of a lady, with disturbing shriveled breasts
Chapel covered in IHSs
Wooden angels on the ceiling
Some bits of medieval stained glass
What did blow our hair back were the cozy almshouses huddled up against the church on the downhill side. They were very medieval-feeling, very atmospheric and, indeed, huggable.
The almshouses were made all the better by their present inhabitants, which seemed to exclusively be older people with a lot of character. As we wandered the cloister, a woman came home and had a lengthy and animated conversation with her little dog while she worked to unlock the door. On our way out, we caught a glimpse of a man in his kitchen who had opera music playing, and occasionally joined in for a few hearty notes. It was fantastic.
The singing man was in the window just right of the corner.
Below the almshouses was the main village, where we saw, among other things, the cute little Mini and brick primary school above.
On our way out of the village we stopped at a wonderful viewpoint over the sleepy little village.
Ewelme gets two thumbs up from us!
Henley-on-Thames
Next we continued east to Henley-on-Thames, which is located on the river as the name suggests, and is known for its annual boat races. It is a largish town not too far from London and generally quite affluent. David said his coworkers have boundless enthusiasm for Henley.
Mercedes and Audis are the norm in Henley
The downside to this admittedly fine town is that it is nearly impossible to find any parking. Many months ago we tried to visit it but after circling the city three times we had to give up and go home. This time the same nearly happened, but we finally found a spot in a somewhat remote lot.
We started by heading down the main street, which was quite lovely with its sidewalk cafes and view of the church. The evening light was gorgeous but the rapidly falling temperature sure made it feel like winter.
Just beyond the church is the riverfront, where we watched birds and boats and got soft-serve ice creams that were astonishingly delicious.
As the sun began to fall behind the trees we briefly toured the church, which was mostly too new to be of much interest to us (though it does have a medieval core).
It is mainly a medieval building, but all the furnishings and art are Victorian (1800s).
A non-exciting Victorian mural, but it is handy that the saints are labeled!
We ended our evening with dinner at Pizza Express, our old standby, at the top of the main street. We had a nice window seat and some seriously delicious pasta dishes (spinach and ricotta cannelloni for me, lasagne for David).
These short drives and relaxed visits to wonderful English villages have been one of the major highlights of living in Great Milton, and we will miss them very much.
Autumn leaves along a peaceful road somewhere near Henley.
