Blogs from Totland, Isle of Wight, England, United Kingdom, Europe

Winchester Cathedral is a Church of England cathedral in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It is one of the largest cathedrals in Europe, with the longest nave and greatest overall length of any Gothic cathedral in Europe. Exbury Gardens is a famous 200 acre garden in Hampshire, England, which belongs to a branch of the Rothschild family. The Rothschild's house at Exbury is a neoclassical mansion which was built around an earlier structure in the 1920s. We had to have hit the gardens at its peak, as everything was gorgeous. It worked out great, as we arrived just in time to catch a ferry to Isle of Wight with minimal waiting. We got situated at the Totland YHA, got a recommendation for our Pub dinner, and get a long hike in along coastline cliffs before dark. Tennyson Down ... read more

Church in Freeport on the Isle of Wight was wonderful—it was great to be in an actual ward instead of a branch. I didn’t feel like quite as much of an invader here since they have enough members to outnumber us a few times. Sacrament meeting is interesting: the first talk is a report on one of the ward member’s visit to Salt Lake to meet President Hinckley because her husband was in the Hyde Park ward during President Hinckley’s mission. It was interesting to hear an outsider’s perspective on my home town—kind of a reverse of what I’ve been feeling traveling among the British. The meeting continues with an emphasis on the importance of prophets, appropriate since in two weeks there’s going to be a regional conference for all England where he and Elder Eyring ... read more