Although there is scarcely a building in Salisbury which is not beautiful in on e way or another, it is the Salisbury gardens that come first to my memory. In the early days of June, after so much rain, the roses, the paeonies, delphiniums, irises, rhododendrons, poppies, astilbes, syringa and aquilegia, were beyond words.
We lived in a most comfortable house on the Close, Sarum College: out of the door we stepped into the massive presence of the Cathedral. The food was very good: perhaps my favourite was a splendidly squishy sharply lemony meringue pie but others spoke highly of a chocolate cream. Most of our (en suite) rooms had a magnificent view of the Cathedral, but mine looked over gardens – elderberry trees smothered in flowers – old red gables and Georgian back windows.
We visited Monpesson House in the Close, admired the magnificent Turnbull collection of wineglasses and took tea in another wonderful garden. We went to Stourhead – another memorable meal; Some enjoyed fish pie and others preferred the lamb. Again, although the house displays “all that wealth ere gave” to the Howe family (the bankers – who also built that largeish house behind the War Memorial by Jack Straw’s – where you need to decide whether to go to the Spaniards, Kenwood and Highgate, or to the Bull & Bush, Golders Green on the North Circular) it was the grounds of their splendid estate, with its temples, bridges, grottoes and glimpses of water in the gorge, where we wandered happily losing each other among the trees, which is the first most pleasant memory.
There was no formal retreat programme. We met for Evensong in the Cathedral. On the first evening the child choristers were all girls, their sweet, true, delicate voices beautifully supported by the adult choristers. On the second evening boys appeared: some piercingly fine strong notes again well blending with the adult voices; and a notable word of deprecatory comment on the OT view of God shown in the reading from Joshua 7 about the horrific punishment of Achan and all his family. I copied out part of the memorial to Henry Liddon: “His writings will in part reveal to those who come after his subtle genius, his ready wit, his grace and his learning but only those who mourn him and miss his help know the brightness of his living presence.”
My thanks on behalf of all of us to Doris and to Mary Shakeshaft for arranging the Study Centre lectures and this delightful happy few days in conclusion, and to welcome the summer Stella Greenall
Salisbury, 4th – 6th June 2007
Stella Greenall