A day out

Yesterday I went out for the day with a group of retired teachers from Staffordshire - they travel to different places of interest several times during the year. My neighbour, also a retired teacher, and I share the transport, so this time I did the driving.  We needed to arrive at our first destination sometime roundabout 10 o'clock for coffee in a village called Alton, very close to Alton Towers, a very popular theme park - if you like roller coasters etc.  When we were all gathered we started our walk around the village.

We had a guided tour of St Peter's Church, a simple church with very little ornament.  The internal arches were rounded, while the outside arches were pointed.  I don't know whether this points to different building peiods.

We left this church just as the rain started and walked further in the village till we came to Alton castle.  This is all that remains of the castle after it was destroyed during the Civil War, about 500 years ago.

This Victorian building, also known as Alton castle, was built next to the original castle and is almost two hundred years old.  It was designed by A.W.N. Pugin, an early Victorian architect, who was prominent in the Gothic Revival style of architecture.  The green and yellow tiles on the roof can be seen from miles away.

Time for lunch and the group travelled five miles onto Cheadle, a small country town where we enjoyed a pub lunch, before our second guided tour of the day at the Catholic Church of St Giles, designed by Pugin and considered to be his finest work.

The church is elaborately decorated (and of course I took quite a lot of photos), but they do not do justice to the building.  The west doors are guarded by these rampant lions.

A Talbot fighting dog is on guard at each side of this window.

This is the east facing window behind the high altar, again designed by Pugin.

Looking through the rood screen into the ceiling of the church, every surface intricately painted in bright colours and gold.

This side chapel  gives some idea of the amount of decoration, repeated throughout the building.

By the time we had been around this church we needed to go back to the Discovery Centre to be feasted with tea and cakes, then make our way back home.  It made a memorable day out, and worth a second visit.