Photos and the City

Tag: winter

  • Fairford

    Even so, I was thinking about hiding in one of the many rooms (or cupboards) at Highclere Castle, I continued my little road trip in direction of Bampton. Suddenly it stopped snowing and the sun came out. The perfect Winter Wonderland: snow, blue sky and sunshine!

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    And so I decided to stop at Fairford, a small town in Gloucestershire, next to the river Coln and near the RAF airport Fairford.

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    St. Mary´s Church, on the one end of the High Street, is known for its complete set of medieval stained glass windows from around 1500.

    [They] are of national historical and architectural importance as they are the most complete surviving set of pre-Reformation mediaeval stained glass windows in the country, comprising 28 windows displaying biblical scenes, erected by the wealthy wool merchant John Tame (c.1430–1500) and now attributed to the Flemish glazier Barnard Flower (d.1517), glazier to King Henry VII (1485–1509), and believed to have been made at Westminster. (Fairford stained glass)

    The windows survived the Reformation at a time when many images were destroyed and also the Civil War in 1642 when they were quickly dismantled and the glass concealed.

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    Fairford, first mentioned in written records in AD 850, gained its name from the Saxon “Fagrinfordia”, which means “fair” (easy to cross) ford. The ford was an ancient crossing place for the river Coln, before the town bridge was built in the 13th century. In 1787 the river was excavated, making it much deeper and narrower. (Fairford)

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  • Castle Combe

    Last Sunday I landed in Winter Wonderland – London greeted me with a little snowstorm and it kind of stayed like that for the whole day. But I still made it to two of the villages in the Cotswolds I had planned. After spending some time on the motorway I arrived in the picturesque village Castle Combe.

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    The Cotswolds is a rural area in the south of England and was named an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Rolling hills and ancient villages where time seemed to have stood still.

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    An area to enjoy the unspoiled nature and the most beautiful towns and villages – often used as a location for film and TV.  Castle Combe in County Wiltshire is said to be one of the prettiest villages in England.

    The 14th-century market cross, erected when the privilege to hold a weekly market in Castle Combe was granted, stands where the three principal streets of the lower village converge. Next to the cross is one of Castle Combe’s two village pumps. Small stone steps near the cross were for horse riders to mount and dismount, and close by are the remains of the buttercross, built in the late 19th century from old masonry. (Castle Combe)

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    Tiny cake shop on a doorstep – the carrot cake was amazing!

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    Castle Combe got its name from a castle which was situated above today´s village. First a fort built by the Romans and then rebuilt into a castle by the Normans. In the Middle Ages Castle Combe became a centre for the wool industry with the river By Brook providing the power to run the mills.

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    The village houses are all of typical Cotswold type, constructed in stone with thick walls and roofs made from split natural stone tiles. The properties are many hundreds of years old and are listed as ancient monuments. Strict rules apply to preserve the beauty and character of Castle Combe for later generations to admire. (Castle Combe)

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  • Morning in Cannaregio

    Cannaregio is probably one of my favourite areas of Venice, even so, I´m gonna say this about any other area of Venice. It´s the biggest one of the six sestieri (quarters) and the one with the biggest population. There aren´t actually that many people still living in Venice, except in Cannaregio and Arsenale, which are the most residential areas.

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    Got my first caffé in the morning right around the corner of my Airbnb place and was ready to go!

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    Before the railway, the Cannaregio Canal was the main route into the city, the area grew mainly with working-class housing and manufacturing. Beginning in 1516 Jews must live the Jewish ghetto, the oldest one in the world. It was Napoleon Bonaparte in 1797 who allowed Jews to live wherever they want and set an end to their daily restrictions after he had conquered the Venetian Republic.

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