Cloister Entrance

Lacock is a tiny village in southwestern England.
Guidebooks call it “astonishingly beautiful,” and they’re right.
Lovingly preserved buildings date back to medieval days.
Staying in Lacock is like stepping back in time—way back.
Sitting nonchalantly at the edge of the village is Lacock Abbey.
Eight hundred years ago it was founded as a nunnery.
In 1539 Henry VIII closed it down, drove the nuns away,
      and sold the property to a wealthy landowner,
            who turned it into his personal residence,
                  adding a brewery as an afterthought.
Only one part of the original abbey remains: the cloister.
It takes up the entire ground level.
This is the entrance to it.
Even though the upstairs is someone’s home,
      it remains a sacred space on this lower level, which anyone can visit.
It’s quiet, peaceful, meditative, prayerful.
Even Henry VIII in his ruthless campaign to rid England of all monasteries
      could not stop a holy place from being a holy place.
Centuries later the spiritual beckons, right through that door.
Of course, the beckoning is on this side of the door too,
      which Henry never quite understood.