Walsingham is a little village in the county of Norfolk (on the eastern coast of England) and has been an important pilgrimage site since medieval times. A Saxon woman named Richeldis de Faverches was visited by a Marian vision in 1061 in which the Virgin Mary asked her to build a Walsingham replica of the Holy House of the Annunciation in Nazareth. Richeldis obeyed and the original wooden structure stood until the English Reformation, during which the building was looted and largely destroyed. The pilgrimage site has since been restored and 20th century saw a renewal in pilgrimages to Walsingham by both Catholic and Anglican pilgrims.
Yesterday I was lucky enough to join the annual English Dominican pilgrimage to the shrine. It was a gorgeous spring day yesterday and the four-hour drive from Oxford went by very quickly. We drove by fields brimming with beautiful golden flowers called rapeseed (weird name, I know). The golden fields would alternate about every half mile or so with green meadows. It looked like we were driving past a huge emerald and golden quilt! Once we arrived, we discovered a beautifully preserved medieval village full of very warm and genuine people. Everyone from locals to pilgrims seemed to be in a friendly mood.

I suppose what surprised me the most about Walsingham was the level of devotion by the people. In my past eight months here in England, I've noticed that religious devotion is not very commonly displayed in public. This is not a criticism against the English, as much as it is an observation. This is the same trend I've observed in my own corner of the world, California. That is why I was so pleasantly surprised to see people traveling from all over England in order to pray together and honor Our Lady of Walsingham.