DAYTRIPPER LET’S VISIT... WINCHE STER

college, passing by the old cinema where Dad dodged protesting religious types to see The Exorcist, and past Austen’s house. The school is in the nicest part of town – narrow streets and tiny old houses. I recommend popping into cute bookshop P&G Wells; the school itself is worth a tour even if you have no personal connection, as there are some impressive chapels and glass windows to peruse.

Lunch is at The Wykeham Arms, opposite the school (“we’d get caught here, so we went to The Royal Oak”). It picked up Town Pub of the Year 2018

in The Good Pub Guide, and it’s easy to see why: cosy, well decorated (the tables are old school desks), stocked with local ales and recommended by the likes of Michelin and Harden’s and bearing rosettes, it’s the ideal spot to grab a bite in a town full of high-end chains (your Brasserie Blancs and Ivys, Rick Steins and Loch Fynes).

Winchester’s Christmas market is reckoned to be one of the best in the country and has even been awarded “gold” status, whatever that means. Rows of little Teutonic wooden huts offer bratwurst and mead (of course), and an ice rink for the kids. It’s an ideal

WESSEX AND THE CITYAlfred the Great, above; Anne-Marie Drummond at P&G Wells, below

GENERATION GAMEOur man Tomé and his dad Charlie Swan