Welcome to my mini day/staycation series of 2021 highlighting my UK adventures. These posts will be a quick fire guide so I hope you’re inspired and most importantly, enjoy reading them!
I went on a day trip to Winchester with bae on a whim at the end of June. It is a cathedral city in Hampshire and interestingly was the former Capital city of England (I did not know this before visiting!). It’s located close to the South Downs National Park which would be ideal to attach to the trip for beautiful nature.
From London Waterloo, you can catch a fast train which takes an hour or drive (which was quite helpful only for the latter part of the day as before this, everywhere was on foot!)
First stop was to Winchester Cathedral, a beautiful Norman Gothic building and is probably the main attraction of the city. The grounds surrounding it were filled with people having picnics and relaxing which was great vibes. There is a fee to enter or it’s free if you go for worship.
Next we went for a walk along the River Itchen which can be done as a full on walking trail if you wanted to. Perfect for people watching and there were a couple of restaurants overlooking the River to check out.
We came across the statue of Alfred the Great who was a Saxon King who defended England from the Danes and I believe ruled in Winchester (the OG Capital)..the culture really finds me..!
We also walked around the markets in the city centre as it was a Saturday..I feel this is the place to get a feel for your location wherever you are.
For lunch we stopped at Green Bar and Kitchen which had a cute aesthetic and delicious food – highly recommend!
The final part of our day was a hike of St Catherine’s Hill. Having the car was handy here but there were buses we saw going to the same carpark if you’re using public transport.
There’s 2 ways to go up the Hill…I recommend going up the trail that starts at the free lay-by just off the roundabout. There’s a few free spaces to park if you’re lucky…behind here, you will walk up past the abandoned caravans on the right and through the tight path before opening up to more fields…turn right then go around the hill and up (you’ll already have some great views to your left at this point), through the small forest area at the top and on the other side, you will get a lovely view over the city and Hampshire.
The way down is steep (but better in this direction we felt) and it will lead you to a Banksy style street art leading to a cafe to end your hike.
So that’s it for this trip! There are more cafes, museums and other cultural spots to check out if you fancy but on a dry, almost sunny day in England, the above made the most sense. I hope you do check it out..let me know if that happens!
J Xo
Road2Culturedom 