On a wet Monday 13th November, at 8.30am, two coach loads of Pembury U3A members set off for the beautiful Somerset hamlet of Cricket St Thomas. We stopped for lunch in Andover and walked around the old part of the town where quite a large group of us landed up in a Wetherspoons. Say no more. We did manage to avoid the showers. We arrived at the Warners Hotel of Cricket St Thomas at around 4pm which gave us time to settle in and change before dinner and perhaps have a wander around and get our bearings as it is quite an extensive site. After dinner we went down to the theatre for the entertainment which was on each night.
Tuesday 14th November. We left the hotel at 9.30am and drove to the town of Wells for a visit to Wells Cathedral. WOW! What an amazing cathedral with history dating back to 1175, its fabulous clock, the Jesse window, the fabulous tapestries and Scissor Arches. One could easily spend all day there. The town got its name from the Well which is in the Bishop's Palace, which is next door to the Cathedral. After lunch we visited the Bishop's Palace and toured round the many rooms with lots of very interesting historical facts and also portraits and clothes worn through the ages.
Wednesday 15th November. Again a 9.30am start and off this time to the town of Cheddar and stopping at the famous cheese shop before driving up the Cheddar Gorge. It was stunning and the sun came out to make it even more spectacular. We even saw the goats on the side of the gorge. Then on to Street, the home of Clark's shoes for a spot of retail therapy before returning to our hotel.
Thursday 16th November. Our last full day and we had meant to be having one coach going to Lyme Regis and the other coach to Yeovilton Fleet Air Arm
Museum. However due to the very heavy rainfall in Lyme Regis a house had
started to collapse and scaffolding had to be erected to prevent a complete collapse. This being on the road that coaches went into Lyme Regis on, so it had been closed. A revised itinerary for Coach One took us to Exeter for the day, a brilliant city with again a wonderful Cathedral. Coach Two had an incredible day at the museum and as the coach was very early at the museum, they had very few other visitors at the time. We were all back at the hotel by 3pm in time for a 4pm candlelight tour of the beautiful gardens and time to change before a magical string quartet performed Christmas music. After this a picture was taken of the majority of the group at the fabulous staircase it was time for our Festive dinner.
Friday 17th November. We left the hotel around 10am with a lunch time stop at Winchester. The home of, obviously Winchester Cathedral, but also of King Arthur's round table and the first day of the Christmas Markets. It also transpired to be Graduation Day so the Cathedral was closed. The city had a wonderful buzz to it with lots of people ambling around the markets and drinking mulled wine. We left Winchester at 2.00 pm and had a good run home and were back in Pembury by 4.30pm. Everyone agreed they had a very enjoyable time away.
Angela Cartwright