Ireland day 1489. Sunday 26 October 2025- Salisbury Lunch

Today’s summary	Enjoyed our extra hour in bed then after a hotel breakfast went on a quick stroll round nearby Cathedral Close. Then had an early lunch with family friends in the Chapter House restaurant. Later in the afternoon went for a look round Arundells, the home of the former Prime Minister Edward Heath. Dropped into the cathedral to listen in to part of a service before returning to the hotel for a light dinner.
Today’s weather	Dry bright and sunny in the morning, light rain from lunchtime onwards. Light westerly wind. Appx 10c.

Today’s overview location (The blue mark shows the location of our route)		Close-up location (The blue line shows where we walked) (Click button below to download GPX of today’s walk as recorded, or see interactive map at bottom with elevations corrected): Salisbury Stroll

Commentary

The clocks went back last night. This was a good thing as we definitely needed the extra hour in bed to sleep off the side effects of a couple of glasses of wine (perhaps a little more) at last night’s dinner, which itself didn’t finish until around 1am. Nevertheless, we were still the last down for breakfast, by which time the buffet was looking a bit spartan. But there was still coffee, yogurt and a croissant, which was all we really needed.

Once we’d eaten, we ventured out into the bright and breezy morning to take a stroll round the nearby Cathedral Close. It’s one of England’s most architecturally significant centres. And it truly was looking stunning this morning.

When our circular tour was finished, we headed more or less directly into a nearby restaurant – the Chapter House – to meet some family friends for lunch. Being a Sunday, they had a roast lunch carvery on offer, and it was excellent.

Eventually we had stocked up on enough protein to last us until Christmas, so we said our goodbyes and went our separate ways. By this time it had started raining more earnestly, so Val and I made our way back to the hotel to pick up waterproofs before setting out on our next session of exploration.

When we had looked round the Close in the morning, we had spotted Arundells, home of former British Prime Minister, Edward Heath. Now that we had a bit more time to spare, we decided to go back this afternoon and to go in for a proper look round.

Heath was PM from 1970 to 1974 but only bought Arundells in 1985 (amazingly, he was a first time buyer at the age of 69). He lived there until his death in 2005. It’s a lovely house. In fact if you ever had a dream house in the country, this would probably be it. Parts of the house date back to the 13th century but most of the Queen Anne style frontage was built in the 18th century.

Certainly the house was interesting and packed with the relics of Heath’s life. The in-room guides were helpful and knowledgeable. The whole experience was clearly designed to paint a hagiographic picture of Heath, which it did successfully. Though my teenage memories of his premiership are perhaps a bit less favourable. Nevertheless it was definitely worth a visit and I learned a lot.

On the way back to the hotel, we dropped into the cathedral. By this time, given the extra hour, it was already late evening so witnessing the evensong with the darkness all around outside was really quite memorable. We stayed for about half an hour then strolled back to the hotel.

The evening was spent enjoying the simple luxuries of the bar. A couple of beers and a light supper rounded off our day nicely. In a nutshell, today really personified Britain at its best.

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


In the Cathedral cloisters	Outside Arundells

Eyeing up a future home, perhaps?	In the entrance hallway – decorated with priceless artworks from all over the world – including China and Japan

Not a bad view from your back garden	Feels like Narnia

Iconic view. Architectural perfection!