The Bear at Marlborough

“…Goethe said that the tone of mind produced by architecture approaches the effect of music – that to look upon a thing is to hear it. Music is liquid architecture, he wrote, and architecture is frozen music.”
Colum McCann, Apeirogon
While I was over this way I thought I’d make the most of it and spread my return journey over the day, although the forecast wasn’t that great. There was also a huge tailback on the M4 when I travelled over on Friday so I planned on going cross country instead.
First stop (in the wrong direction of course) to Watts Cemetery Chapel, a Modern Style version of Celtic Revival. According to online information it should have been open, but wasn’t, so I contented myself wandering round outside which was beautifully terracotta clad, entertained by the wild rabbits foraging over the graves. Next stop, also in the wrong direction, was Polesden Lacey, a National Trust Edwardian house and estate, ideal for a wander around the grounds to get me in the right mood for the return journey, and a good place for coffee and cake.
I decided on a stop at Chisbury Chapel, between Newbury and Marlborough, to break the journey and have a look at the (originally) 13th century chapel which has been used as a barn for the last three hundred years or so. Then on to Marlborough, a place I haven’t visited for many years which is always worth a look. A busy Sunday of course, with lots of people enjoying the pavement cafés. After a good wander around and a meditation in St Mary’s Church I found a gem of a place, The Parade – a cinema with an outside (covered/enclosed) eating area and a good selection of food, so it looked like a meeting place as well as a cinema. Enjoyed my beef chilli before heading off to The Sanctuary just before Avebury and on the side of the A4 so easily accessible. I’d planned on calling here after my visit to Avebury a few years ago, so another box ticked. My last stop of the day was to photograph the white horse at Cherhill, another place I’d stopped at nearly twenty years ago while I was doing a photography commission in the area. Only another hour or so and I was back in sight of the gathering clouds over the Welsh hills and home. A day chock-full of architecture, archaeology and landscapes, this world and the Otherworld.