Florence Nightingale

Today, I took a road trip to Hampshire to visit the grave of Florence Nightingale - one of my heroes in life. The visit has been on my 'Bucket list' for many years and finally, I managed it. It was a long drive but on arriving at the narrow country lane, which is literally the breadth of one car wide, I arrived at the church of St Margaret of Antioch, Wellow, Hampshire. 

I found a quaint graveyard, the grass was being cut whilst I visited, filled with bird song. I didn't need to search for the grave in question, as photos show, it stands out amongst the aged headstones. I knew what I'd find: four panels each detailing the immediate Nightingale family. Father, mother, sister and finally, the fourth panel which I found so humbling, inscribed with simple initials and dates

I remember leaning about Florence Nightingale in primary school, my interest has never waned. I've attended talks about her career, viewed the painting 'The Mission of Mercy: Florence Nightingale' in the National Gallery depicting her and even lived in Atherstone, Warwickshire, an area that she visited on several occasions to see her friends, Charles and Selina Bracebridge. The story goes that the towns' people were given the day off work to greet her at the train station, Nightingale was overwhelmed and taken aback by the crowd and brass band playing so, refused to leave the train carriage due to her shyness. Bless her. To honour her connections with the area, two streets were renamed Florence Close and Nightingale Way both near to bracebridge's original home in Holt Road.  

Walking around the impressive marble headstone, I did apologise to the aged grave that is situated beside theirs - it's obviously trampled upon as visitors gain their photographs. I also spotted my favourite flower, bluebells blooming early.