We were picked up at our London hotel and headed southwest to Winchester, about 60 miles from London. Winchester proper has a population of about 46,000, but the City of Winchester district has closer to 120,000. People have inhabited this site since the iron age. It was the site of a Roman town. The city had a lot of charm and was easily walkable to see the main historic sites.

The city has a number of historic sites with the most notable being the Winchester Cathedral. The official name is Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity, Saint Peter, Saint Paul and Saint Swithun.It was built from 1079 to 1532.At 558 ft, it is the longest medieval cathedral in the world.

En route to Winchester we stopped at the Bombay Sapphire Gin Distillery. There we learned how gin is made and differentiated by the number and concentration of botanicals in the final product. The distillery produces about 2.4M cases a year. During our visit we treated to a cocktail master class where we learned to make three different cocktails using infused Bombay Sapphires gin. Very interesting. Following the class, we enjoyed a charcuterie lunch. Upon arrival in Winchester we took a guided walking tour of the older part of the city.

On Tuesday the 26th, we traveled a short distance to Chocolate Craft where we received instruction on how to make chocolate bon bons from a variety ingredients. Definitely an acquired skill. Next, we continued on to Raimes, a sparkling producer of note. The estate has been managed by five generation of family producing wine, beef, wheat and barley. Lunch was excellent. Upon returning to Winchester, we took dinner at Chesil Rectory housed in a medieval building dating to 1425, which was previously owned by King Henry VIII.

On Wednesday the 27th, we traveled to Petworth House. The estate is owned by the National Trust and is home to one of the finest art collections owned by the trusted. It was truly a treasure trove of fine art. In the afternoon, we returned to Winchester, where we toured the magnificent cathedral. In the evening we tasted six different English wines. While quite tasty, they did not match up quality wise to the sprarkling wines we tasted during the tour.