The Cathedral City of Salisbury and Old Sarum

The tour starts at Old Sarum, the Iron Age hill fort just outside Salisbury where the first Cathedral was built. We then make our way to the City & the impressive market place which dates back to 1227 & is dominated by the 18th-century Guildhall from which the City was governed and justice administered. Proceeding alongside the River Avon we will visit St Thomas's Church and the incomparable doom painting. A short walk via the cinema, home of John Halle's house, brings us to the fortified Gate, the entrance to the cloistered world of the elegant Cathedral Close. Having viewed from the Close, the sublime symmetry of the Early English Gothic Cathedral and spire we will go inside via the largest cloisters in the country. There, the impact of the stunning simplicity of this beautiful building can be fully appreciated. Apart from its many treasures, we will see how the weight of the spire has bent the stone pillars supporting it! Finally, we will visit the 14th-century Chapter House and home to the Magna Carta