Priory

We enjoyed afternoon green tea and lemon drizzle cake at Carisbrooke Priory today. So what, you might well ask.

Well, when I wuz a nipper I lived about half a mile from the Priory and often walked the dog passed it (as a change from walking round Carisbrooke Castle - see extra). In those days (1950s and 60s) it was St. Dominic's Priory and home to a very closed order of nuns. It was almost impossible to see the Priory at all except for glimpses through the trees - the gates were covered in iron so you couldn't even look through them.

Now it is a "House of Prayer and Christian Healing", run as a charity, with a good tearoom. Not a nun in sight. It was for me an amazing experience to go inside not just the front garden, but the building itself, and then through into the huge walled-garden behind the Priory. A very peaceful experience.

Oh, but the second hand bookshop is called Carisbooks.

Extra: the ditches (two huge ones in parallel) protecting the Castle. The dog and I used to run up and down them like mad. Actually the dog did it more than me.