Tag Archives: medieval

Back In Britain

We’re back in Britain for a few days and having a lovely time in Norfolk. Mark’s parents live here and we use them as our ‘home base’ whilst travelling across Europe. And my, what a lot of mail had accumulated while we were in France!

Yesterday afternoon we went into Diss which is just a handful of miles from the family home — and we had a nice lunch and then picked up the passport renewal forms that Mark needed and he managed to get an acceptably attractive passport photo taken.

Here I am in front of the post office and that lovely tower behind me is the medieval St. Mary the Virgin church.

Deborah on the High Street in Diss, Norfolk, England with St. Mary the Virgin church in background.

In the next few days, I’ll try to get some more photos posted of the interior and exterior of St. Mary’s because it is a lovely church with quite harmonious energy.

Photo Of The Day: Living In The Past

There were no smiles as they passed us and all four of them concentrated deeply on the task at hand. They took themselves quite seriously, these local Frenchmen of a 20-something age.

Garbed in pseudo-medieval clothing, faces dabbed with fake blood, and carrying handmade arrows, they positioned themselves outside of the somber gray walls of the fortified castle in Fougeres in Brittany. Again and again they shot those arrows into the sky and then shouted unintelligible phrases whilst one of their companions filmed it all on a tiny hand-held movie camera.

If you look carefully you can see that the man on the left has just shot a blue-fringed arrow into the air above his head.

Archers outside the walls of the fortified medieval chateau at Fougeres in Britanny, northern France

They could have been actors or they could have been what they call in the USA re-enactors — well organised groups of enthusiasts of a particular time period who spend large amounts of free time re-enacting past events. Then again, they could have simply been four local lads who longed to live in a time long gone which is easily summoned up by the atmosphere of this fortress-chateau.

Lovely Lengthy Lunchtime in Lisle Sur Tarne

They do it well in France — the lovely, lengthy lunchtime. Almost all businesses are closed from noon until 2 PM so that the employees can have a proper sit-down lunch and then digest their food properly. It is an oh-so-civilised break in the day.

Plat du Jour — plate of the day — is the lunchtime special and it includes your choice of a main course, bread on the side, a carafe of wine, dessert, and sometimes your after-dinner coffee. And the average cost of this all-inclusive meal is usually well under €10 per person. How brilliant is that!

The central square in Lisle Sur Tarn in the Midi-Pyrenees of southern France

We stopped for our lunchtime break on this particular day in Lisle Sur Tarn — a beautiful medieval town in the Midi-Pyrenees in southern France. The hot sun was broadcasting both heat and an intensity of light that made removing your sunglasses painful on the eyes. The only place that was, thankfully, cool and comfortable was beneath the brick-arched overhanging arcade that stretched around the square. And right there was where we chose to have our own plat du jour alongside some of the local folks.

Lunchtime in Lisle Sur Tarn in the Midi-Pyrenees of southern France

We had a brief ramble through the town for about an hour after lunch and were charmed by the combination of architectural styles and the tipsy buildings leaning into the narrow streets in many places. And we found as many of those cool and quiet arcades to walk beneath as possible in that heat.

A narrow street in Lisle Sur Tarn in the Midi-Pyrenees of southern France

The cool brick arcade in Lisle Sur Tarn in the Midi-Pyrenees of southern France

Lisle Sur Tarn — a definite stopping point for your own driving tour through the Midi-Pyrenees!

Street corner in Lisle Sur Tarn in the Midi-Pyrenees of southern France

Posted on 19 June 2011

Serene and Sacred in Bury St. Edmunds – Part 2

The warmth of the cathedral’s interior was a welcome respite from the icy cold outside. We had come to Bury St. Edmunds in Suffolk for the afternoon and we had just entered the serenely beautiful St. Edmundsbury Cathedral. Our eyes were immediately drawn upward as we absorbed the vast height of the interior.

This massive structure was typical of a European cathedral since it was built in stages over rather a long period of time. Construction of the surrounding abbey had begun in 1065 and building on the church began in 1503. But ongoing work has continued over the centuries that followed and the Gothic style tower was only completed in 2005.

St. Edmundsbury Cathedral-centre aisle

Those blue items that you see in the photos above and below are kneeling cushions — and what an array of them there are. Lovingly handstitched in tapestry, they bear the coat of arms of various villages, parishes, and organizations.

Kneeling cushions in St. Edmundsbury Cathedral

Light floods in from the lantern tower overhead and from all sides through the vast windows making the interior bright and airy.

St. Edmundsbury Cathedral altar

In spite of its turbulent beginnings and oft-times violent history, the remnants of the abbey and the current beautiful cathedral are tranquil places to visit when in Suffolk.

We spent about an hour walking slowly through the cloisters, the cathedral, and the side chapels. There is a very welcoming sensation inside and there is none of the cold or austere atmosphere that you sometimes encounter in buildings such as this.

It must be a massive and expensive undertaking to maintain such an important building, so it is certainly worth taking the time to consider a donation to the cathedral if you have enjoyed your visit. Their amusing but accurate donation box makes that easy to do.

Donation box at St. Edmundsbury Cathedral

Serene and Sacred in Bury St. Edmunds – Part 1

Grateful for a rain-free day, we set off across the Suffolk countryside toward the historic town of Bury St. Edmund. Our destination was the medieval abbey ruins and St. Edmundsbury Cathedral. Both of these lie side by side right within the town itself instead of being in a separate location out in the nearby countryside.

As we entered through the arch beneath the Abbey Gate seen in the photo above, we emerged into the Abbey Gardens.

Even with the winter-muted palate and bare-branched trees, the gardens are a peaceful place to walk or sit quietly on a bench.

Other than the entry gates and the beautiful old wall that formerly surrounded the compound, there is very little left of the old abbey since it was destroyed during the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1539 during the reign of Henry VIII.

We meandered through the side garden, following the sign for the cathedral’s restaurant, The Refectory. Although we weren’t looking for food or drink, entering on that side of the building allowed us to walk the full length of the enclosed cloister and enjoy the austere beauty of the stone walls and floors, the vaulted stone ceilings, and the plain timber benches.

Cloister of St. Edmundsbury Cathedral

In tomorrow’s Part 2, I will have photos of the stunning interior of this cathedral. Make sure to check back!

A Wanderful Life

The Neverending Journey