9/50: Salisbury, Wiltshire

Take a peaceful village in Wiltshire. Move it two miles south after realising the original location is far too windy. Then place a Cathedral south of the high street, and allow a large amount of half-timbered houses to spring up. The result? Salisbury, a cathedral city that manages to remain busy and peaceful at the same time, which is in itself a significant achievement.

It does have to be said that the Cathedral dominates the landscape: hardly surprising, as it has the tallest spire in Great Britain, and thus can be seen for miles around. You therefore have to be quite distracted to miss your stop when travelling to Salisbury by train, as the spire looms into view a minute or so before the station; Salisbury station is reasonably large, with the four main directions of service being to Bristol, Exeter, Southampton and London Waterloo.

Judging from the experience of my tour guides Emma Preuss and Rachael Wheeler, who arrived by car, Salisbury's rail network is much more navigable than its road network, which threatens to boggle the mind. In particular, we failed to understand the logic of putting numerous box junctions on a roundabout, though we managed in the end. Buses did occasionally make themselves known as well, but as Emma and Rachael were to explain, they are a relatively rare species in Wiltshire.

As well signposted as Bristol and Exeter were, Salisbury is relatively easy to get around, and is a major shopping centre: car parks and rows of shops are dotted around the city, with the odd amusing sight in between. Among these we found a dragon, a goat and a lion, so clearly Salisbury has a thing for animals, be they mythical or mundane.

We spent a great deal of time looking around the Cathedral, so I shall mainly describe that, though the rest of the city is worth a look round too. However, if you want to relax by the airy and spacious cloisters, see some fantastic stain-glassed windows, or have a peek at the Magna Carta, and all for a mere donation, then you'll probably spend most of your time in the Cathedral. The range of stain-glassed windows is very interesting, the Vault is almost as impressive as Exeter's, and the Cloisters are fantastic for just lounging about in, but be warned: the Magna Carta is in its original Latin, so whilst it is certainly historic, you probably won't understand a word of it! Also worth a look are the numerous tombs, one of which has some rather warped pillars.

In terms of shops, there is plenty to buy here: aside from the usual suspects, there is a rather large music store on Catherine Street (east of the High Street) that really does seem to have everything a budding musician would want, including not one but two electric ukeleles. So if you like wandering around historic buildings and picking up interesting purchases, Salisbury seems to be the place to do it: and with a fair few parks dotted around, it's a lot nicer than the other big settlement in Wiltshire, the notoriously run-down Swindon.

More on Hampshire and the Isle of Wight when I get the photos up!
Chris