Fair is the place indeed, for it lies deep among green hills, and from the westward slope where the church stands, at their foot stretch great meres to lesser hills toward the sunset beyond.  Very pleasant are the trees and flowers of the rich meadows of the island valley, and the wind comes but gently here even at Yuletide, hardly ruffling the clear waters that have given the place its name, “Inys Vitryn,” and “Avalon” men called the place before we Saxons came, by reason of those still meres and the wondrous orchards which fear no frost among the hills that shelter them.  The summer seems to linger here after it has fled from the uplands.

There was a goodly company gathered in Ina’s hall for the twelfth night feasting.  Truly, the hall was not so great as that in the palace at Winchester, but it was all the brighter for that reason.  It was hard to get that great space well lighted and warmed at times, when the wind blew cold under eaves and through narrow windows; but here all was well lit and comfortable to look on and to feel also, as one sat and feasted with the sweet sedges of the mere banks deep under foot on the floor and the great fire in the hall centre near enough to every one.  I think that this hall in Glastonbury was as pleasant as any that I know in all Wessex.

There was a great door midway in the southern side of the hall, and as one entered, to right and left along that wall ran the tables for the house-carles and other men of the lower ranks, and for strangers who might come in to share the king’s hospitality and had no right to a higher place.  Then at either end of the hall were cross tables, where the thanes and their ladies had their places in due order, above the franklins whose cross tables were next to those of the house-carles.  And then, right over against the south wall and across the fire on the hearth, was the longest table of all, and in the midst of that was the high place for the king and queen and a few others.  That dais was the only place where the guests did not sit on both sides of the tables, for the king’s board stood open to the midst of the hall on its three low steps that he might see and be seen by all his guests, and be fitly served from in front.

On the hearth a great yule log burnt brightly, and all round the wall were set torches in their sconces, so that the hall was very bright.  On the walls were the costly hangings that we took everywhere with us, and above them shone the spare arms and helms and shields of the house-carles, mixed with heads of boar and stag and wolf from the Mendips and Quantocks where Ina hunted, each head with its story.  Up and down in the spaces between the tables hurried the servants who tended the guests, so that the hall was full of life and brightness from end to end.  There was peace in all Wessex at this time, and so here was a full gathering of guests to the little town.