Worcester - Tis the Season

Saturday's plan was to head to see Worcester Cathedral . . and of course Worcester Porcelain. Now when I'd looked up the hours of operation ahead of time on the Cathedral site they were kind enough to tell me that there was a Christmas Fayre (go figure) happening in the Cloisters on Saturday and I thought it would be a great opportunity to see their Fayre and also see the Cathedral, so we planned on it!!!

We took the opportunity to sleep in a bit since we weren't going far and then put together some picnic lunches of leftover turkey sandwiches, Cheetos, banana bread and beverages of choice.

Then off we headed to Worcester. Several miles outside of Worcester there were signs for the Fayre's park and ride scheme and we debated it but we had hoped to be able to find parking closer and not have to crowd onto the bus and we were lucky enough to be able to park in the Worcester Porcelain's parking lot and purchase enough time on the meter to see the Cathedral, have lunch in the car and see the shops. Yippee!! But I get ahead of myself.

The Cloisters were teaming with people out to see the Christmas Booths and we quickly decided that a separate trip for pure photography would be necessary at some later date. As we lightly browsed the booths, after all they were there, Mom tried on a hat which I thought looked like her but she didn't agree.


While we probably would have been interested in the shopping, we found all the press of people too much and so we didn't look too much beyond the hat booth. However the Cloisters were amazing. The windows were intact (or had been replaced) and featured stained glass at the top of each arch that depicted historical figures of England through the Centuries since the church was founded.


Yep, you read correctly . . it says "Christian Worship offered on this site since the 7th Century". Amazing!!!

Now, I must admit . . up until this point I had counted Wells Cathedral with its lovely white scissor arches as the most beautiful Cathedral in England. Worcester corrected that oversight. The sheer size alone was breathtaking. But as we wandered around we found things at every turn that just overwhelmed us. The organ alone seemed to dwarf the previous ones seen.


There was so much that I had to slow down and just take things in stride, meanwhile my husband was walking ahead and finding things hither and yon that he couldn't wait for me to see and/or photograph. After a short amount of time I know I saw one of his synapses blow a fuse and he admitted he was overwhelmed by the beauty of this place of worship.


The ceiling was also one of the most varied and beautifully painted that I've seen.


I must admit that it is not easy to pick favorites of this Cathedral and the pictures that I took that day . . so I'll leave that to you if you would like to undertake the viewing at the following slideshow.

Once we had been through the Cathedral at least once we decided it was time to head back and get a bite to eat. So in the bitter weather, we sat in the car and ate our picnic lunch with passers-by hoping that we were leaving our parking spot only to be sadly disappointed.

Chilled but our hunger satisfied, we headed into the Worcester mall like area for shopping. First stop was Worcester Porcelain! And then we took the time to wander through the other shops. Mom found some Christmas presents and David and I found some odds and ends.

Then back home we headed, feeling really good about what we'd seen and accomplished.