Castles and Pennies

We woke early for our first day in England to high humidity and hot sun. What!?!?! The sky was admittedly overcast for a while, but it was very warm. Our destination for the day was Arundel castle. It is hard to explain how magnificent it was. Seeing a picture of a castle isn’t at all the same as being there. David had been before as a child and I had seen a photo but I expected it to be about the size of a large cathedral and hadn’t anticipated what would be inside either.

Arundel is enormous – it took us hours just to get through the gardens and parish chapel. The gardens were amazing, with gold fixtures and sculptures , an incredible range of flowers that I had never seen before, a rose garden with blooms so sweet they smelled like Turkish delight, and vegetables and fruits growing. We were not alone in pinching a couple of the ripe, yummy strawberries and raspberries – it seemed to be an accepted practice!

We also had a cream tea (scones with jam and cream) in the castle tea rooms where they use produce from the garden in the food they sell. The castle itself took a couple of hours to see. There is part of it that you can’t visit because it is now a stately home – people actually live there! Arundel Castle is extremely old – parts of it are medieval and have been extended upon throughout the ages. There is a dungeon, handmaiden’s quarters, many many winding staircases and lavish rooms with huge fireplaces about the size of our car. We got to see the lion skin rugs that terrified David as a child, suits of armour, priceless silverware, an enormous church within the castle, incredibly creepy portraits, and graffiti that dates back to the civil war. It was really incredible.

Outside, David, Dom, Harriet and I tried to recreate a picture of Dad’s family, taken on a picnic at Arundel in about 1948. What do you think Dad? David is you, eating a sandwich. I am your mum in her horn-rimmed glasses. Dom is your Dad, lounging back. Harriet is your brother, though her bottom is not to the camera. Poor old baby Helen didn’t get a look in! Perhaps we should have borrowed a baby! Anyway, we did it from memory and I think we did quite well.

Walking back along the moat to the car we saw swans and fluffy cygnets (Can we please bring one home?), ducks and ducklings, and the newly endangered water vole in the castle moat. The local equivalent of the RSPCA was leaving out food for them to coax them into view and raise awareness. Apparently releasing mink into the wild after stopping them being farmed for fur has created an almost unstoppable predator for the water vole in some areas. Poor water vole! Nasty mink!
He is quite cute isn’t he, although a bit ratlike.

Then we went to a gorgeous pub – there are so many of those here! Truly, they are so pretty and well kept and are covered in hanging baskets with flowers blossoming all over at this time of year. The Black Rabbit is a popular Arundel pub in the summer, with a view of the castle and lots of tables outside. Harriet introduced me to yummy pear cider and I got to see sparrows and robins. Now if we can just see a squirrel I will be pleased!

In the afternoon we made a quick stop to get some English fish and chips. David was in heaven, and I loved the fish but I’m sorry to say the chips just didn’t grab me. They had no crunch! The fish was particularly good though and had lovely crispy batter.
Our next destination was Brighton. On a Wednesday night it isn’t quite kicking like at the weekends but it was still impressive. Dom took us to his favourite pub, the Evening Star, where all the drinks are homemade. David and Dom had a traditional beer (flat, strong, and not that cold – I have not been joining David in his beer appreciation in this country!) and Harriet and I had a cider that we quickly regretted and couldn’t finish even half a pint. It tasted rather vinegary and would knock your socks off! Harriet then took us to her preferred pub, the Caxton. Another drink down and we started to wander down to the pier. It was a great walk through the lanes. David said it reminded him of Newtown in Sydney, with all it’s funky little shops, cafes and restaurants. My feeling was that it looked far too clean to be like Newtown! Everything was painted white and pastel colours to fit with the seaside. Down at the sea people crunched along the shore. It was all pebbles of course! We went onto the pier and into the arcades to play some penny machines. Of course essentially it is a bit like the pokies but much more cute, very traditional, no flashing nonsense and you are only spending a penny each time you play.

We went in search of rides and fairy floss (a term that Harriet finds hilarious and thought I made up – it’s candy floss!) but sadly we were just there at the wrong time of the week. The view was really amazing though, and a great end to a fantastic day.