A Grand Day out in Salisbury

As you'll have seen from Monday's post, I went to Salisbury on Sunday.  My main purpose in visiting was to go to the Terry Pratchett exhibition but since I was there, I also visited the rest of the museum, and the Cathedral. (I've been before, but I like cathedrals!)

The museum is not large, but it has some rather nice bits and pieces, including a Royal Charter from 1461, with lovely illumination, and the seal of Edward IV, a Roman mosaic, and various artefacts from Stonehenge and the surrounding area.

Then I went into the cathedral, which happens to be hosting an exhibition at present, called Threads Through Revelation, which is an exhibition of embroidery and other textile art, by an artist named Jacqui Parkinson, based on the Book of Revelation.

I enjoyed the art. 

This is part of a panel featuring the four horsemen of the apocalypse. (which made a nice contrast to the Paul Kidby Horsemen, in the Terry Pratchett exhibition)

And a lovely seven headed dragon (part of the same larger panel). I assume that it is a Hellbeast of some kind, but I found it rather appealing...

The cathedral has a beautiful modern font, which acts like a reflecting pool for the nave.

There are also some gorgeous carvings - below is a section of the ceiling of the chantry chapel, which seems to have escaped the worst excesses of the puritans!

There is also a lot of fairly modern stained glass, including this, the 'prisoners of conscience' window (although the photos doesn't really do justice to the colours)

I didn't, on this occasion, visit their copy of Magna Carta, but if you are planning to visit Salisbury, you might wish to know that they have one, which lives in the Chapter House.

After all this culture I took myself to a nice pub for a belated lunch. It was the Haunch of Venison,  which bills itself as the oldest hostelry in Salisbury - the building is mentioned as having been used to house men working on the building of the cathedral spire, in 1320, although I think there have been a few alterations since then! It does have a mummified hand in the snug and some rare Victorian beer pumps, and it served some very nice food!

I enjoyed my day out.

Terry Pratchett - His World

On Sunday, I took a day trip to Salisbury, to visit the Terry Pratchett exhibition at Salisbury Museum.

It's not huge, but there are a lot of interesting things.

There is a recreation of PTerry's study, with many  of his possessions on display - his desk (complete with cat-bed), the Luggage, lots of art..

 and a very interesting library book (spot the banananana book mark!) 

There are some of Terry's original sketches, showing his ideas of what Rincewind and Granny Weatherwax look like.

The exhibition also has lots of Terry's personal items - including the sword which he made, himself, from metal mined on his own land, and including some thunderbolt iron (meteor rock) 

Other items include Terry's Blue Peter badge, his Carnegie Medal, and of course, one of his iconic black hats.

There were also some of the rarer writings - a short story written for his school magazine, and a hand-coloured copy of 'The Carpet People', for instance.

And of course, lots of artwork. Some very familiar, such as original cover art for some of the books, and others that are less familiar.

I enjoyed the Four Horseman of the Apocalypse. And 'Discworld Gothic', (with Miss Flitwick and Good Old Bill Door), which I do not recall having seen before!

The notes (or footnotes)  for each exhibit are fascinating - some are quotes from the man himself, others from people (such as Rob Wilkins, Paul Kidby and Neil Gaiman, who knew him well.

And one or two other little touches, like the label on the Mona Lisa sketch...

Towards the end of the exhibition is a section including  a long quote from Terry about the embuggerance, and some incredibly poignant examples of the tests he was taking to measure the progression of his disease.

Generously, however, the curators didn't leave us there - there is a also a small section with things which have happened since Terry's death - details of the Order of the Honey Bee, a copy of the script for 'Good Omens' (tantalisingly showing only the cover page!), cover art for 'The Shepherd's Crown', and what looks suspiciously like a hard draft which has has a run in with a steam-roller.

Upstairs, there is a small, separate exhibit of Paul Kidby's work.

And as you leave that, there is a wall for memories of Terry, on which a number from people who knew him well, as well as those of fans and visitors to the exhibit, are posted. And you're encouraged to post your own, so the Ankh-Morpork Post Office has kindly provided sheets of paper, and a pillar-box, into which  memories can be placed..

I also took the opportunity to look around the rest of the museum, and I noticed that the Nac Mac Feegles seem to have found their way in...

The exhibition is open until 13th January 2018. There are a fewmore pictures on Flickr

GNU, PTerry.

Barons and Charters and Literary Fun

I don't live far from Wincanton, but for some reason I have never visited, or been to the Discworld Emporium , which lives there.

I almost didn't get there today. I decided to go. Which turned out to be more of a challenge than I had anticipated. 

The road,you see, was closed. The diversion signs were .. unhelpful. For which read 'one sign sending you down a  tiny lane with grass growing up the middle, and then No More Signs.

And each time I tried to find Wincanton, I got back to another road block. I would have given up, but I am stubborn, and I had a full tank of petrol and nothing else I needed to do (unless you count housework, of course) so I decided that I would get to Wincanton, even if I had to go round it and sneak up on it from the wrong side.and having made that choice, I did then manage to get there.

The Discworld Emporium is easy enough to find once you get into the town, and it is, as might be expected, full of lovely things and interesting people.  (and yes, of course I bought things. How not?)

After leaving Wincanton, I headed to Salisbury, which, as part of the celebration of the 800th Anniversary of Magna Carta, (Salisbury  Cathedral holds one of the 4 remaining original charters) currently has a 'Barons' Charter' trail, with 25 Barons, each decorated by a different artist.

Discworld Knight

With a link to my first port of call, one of the Barons is the Discworld Knight, decorated by Paul Kidby, and featureing a sword covered in Feegles, and a back covered in a wide range of Discworld characters, from Granny Weatherwax, to Susan Sto Helit, the Librarian (Oook), Lord Vetinari and Tiffany Aching. And more Feegles, of course. 

Discworld Knight (Back)

I didn't seek out all 25 Barons, but I did find a fair few - one celebrating the 800th anniversary, and standing just outside the cathedral (the Charter itself is kept in the Chapter House)

Another I liked was the 'Astro Baron' in full NASA gear, and 

'Looking forward Looking Back', which has a trompe l'oeil painting of the interior of the cathedral on it. 

 As well as the Barons, I visited the cathedral, which I have not been to for years. It has a lovely, modern font, in which one can see the reflections of the roof and stained glass windows.                                                                                                                           There is a beautiful, perfectly proportioned chapter house, (in which Salisbury's copy of Magna Carta is displayed in a glass case in a modern and not very beautiful tent, presumably to protect it from excessive light) 

In the cloisters, I had a brief and unexpected encounter with a small bat. It had, it appeared, fallen, and was in danger of getting squished. Several people had tried to pick it up using leaflets, which were of course rather shiny and hard to grip, so it occurred to me that if I emptied out my cotton, Neil Gaiman quoting tote bag, I could use that to give it something to grip, so it could be moved somewhere safer.

Which was what happened.   The bat was moved gently to the hedge bordering the cloisters, where it clambered from the bag onto the hedge, and a little later a verger appeared to keep an eye on it and to ensure that it was not disturbed or injured. I suspect that it was a young one and had perhaps mis-judged a landing, and then had trouble getting off the ground to take off again. And there was no sign of it when I went back through the cloisters half an hour later, after visiting Magna Carta, which I think is a good sign!

After leaving the cathedral, I noticed that one of the houses in the Close was owned by the National Trust, so I decided to visit. It is Mompesson House, and is fairly small for a National Trust property.   It is an 18thC house (just, having been completed in 1701)                                                                                                                                  It is a nice house, and also has a claim to fame as having been used as a location for the 1995 film version of 'Sense and Sensibility' (Emma Thompson et. al.) in which it  appeared as Mrs Jennings' townhouse.  The house has, as well as it's  collection of glassware, and some nice plasterwork, has a number of props and costumes from the file (in the picture, the headless gentleman is in fact Alan Rickman / Colonel Brandon's suit) 

There were some bonnets, too (although they were not, I think, Alan Rickman's).

All in all, it was an interesting day out, and it did not start to rain until I was nearly home.