Cartmel

It must have been over twenty years since I was last in Cartmel and as you'd expect from this sleepy corner of Cumbria, the place hadn't changed one bit. Oh I tell a lie, a large tree has grown by the bridge over the river which now obliterates the very photogenic view of the church but that is about all. The roads are just as narrow and aren't really suitable for the coaches which bring in the many visitors. I had a fight with one on the lane leading to the race course which is the main at park. All I could do was tuck in, fold in my wing mirror and pray! God knows what its like on race weekends.

I was with Sal and we had intended to visit Grange over Sands as well but we spent longer than expected in Cartmel. Our first port of call was The Sticky Toffee Pudding Café with the sole intention of just having a coffee but once we saw that they had warm Morecambe Bay Potted Shrimps on the menu... well it would have been rude not to. They were served with brown toast and a green salad and were absolutely delicious.

The main attraction in the village is the Priory church which has a long and turbulent history. It dates back to 1190 and was founded by William Marshall the 1st Earl of Pembroke and was dedicated to Saint Mary the Virgin and Saint Michael. Then came the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1536 by Henry VIII. The Dissolution commissioners had instructions to "pull down to the ground all the walls of the churches, stepulls, cloysters, fraterys, dorters, chapter howsys" and all the rest. The materials were then to be sold for the profit of the Crown. These habitual procedures would have meant Cartmel Priory's church being demolished along with the rest of its buildings.

However, in this case the founder William Marshal had given an altar within the church to the village, and provided a priest along with it. The villagers petitioned to be allowed to keep the church as it was their only place of worship, and this was granted. In 1643 some Roundhead troops stayed in the village, stabling their horses in the church and bullet holes from this time are still visible in the southwest door of the nave. Over the years the place has also been used as a prison and a grammar school.

Then, after our visit to the priory and both armed with our cameras, we had a very enjoyable wander around the village. I think the highlight of Sal's afternoon was seeing a sign outside the Village Hall for a Mother's Union exhibition. The spelling of exhibition was spelt wrong on both sides and the apostrophe grammar was all over the place. Sal is not known as a spelling and grammar nerd for nothing! The sign in question is the final photo of the blog.

The weather gods were on our side that day because the rain which had been promised all day, only arrived on our drive back. Unfortunately this resulted in us not calling for our daily pint.