So here we go again, another year, another June, another birthday, another walking holiday...
Normally we always go to Yorkshire for a walking holiday and we wanted to go back to Stainforth (see 2023, August entry) because we loved the area, especially the Stainforth Force where we went wild swimming when we were there. But Mr F looked at what we had left to walk in that area, which wasn't much and it was really quite expensive, so we looked at other areas to go instead. Mr F finally settled on West Sussex, which is where we went for a couple of days for our 12 year wedding anniversary in the previous September; a shepherds hut in the huge back garden of a lady who kept deer, which was really lovely. That was in Lodsworth and this time, we were staying within walking and viewing distance of the South Downs in Washington.
Mr F had researched where to stay for a while and finally settled on a place, but didn't tell Mrs F where we were going or show any photos of it so it would be a surprise. We left on the Saturday around 9:30am and arrived there just after 12pm and Mrs F was able to see for the first time their home for the week....a converted barn called Hector's House in the huuuuuuuuge back garden of a stunning cottage. It was without a doubt the best stocked holiday home we'd ever stayed in - we had a cupboard full of food & drink and ingredients of all sorts, a fridge with homemade elderflower cordial, milk, jams, beers, butter, a bathroom cabinet with all the toiletries you need, not to mention the welcome hamper of biscuits, bread and freshly laid eggs by the chickens the lady had....Mrs F was very excited indeed!
We met our host who lived literally next door, Suzy who was really lovely and we ended up chatting to her most days we were there for the week. We first met her cat, Oliver, who jumped in the car as we were unpacking our stuff! He was a really friendly, very vocal boy and Mrs F had lots of cuddles with him. We joked and said it will probably be the only time we see him for the whole week, and it was! Suzy had another cat who wasn't as friendly, 2 guinea pigs, 2 chickens and a dog called Daisy! She also had wild Guinea Fowl who used to belonged to someone but when they left, they were left to roam around the neighbourhood and regularly visited Suzy's place where they'd be sociable with the chickens. It really was a beautiful, peaceful place to be...
Now, the last couple of times we've been away we've had an issue with our Tesco delivery; this time is no exception!! One of the first things that Mrs F noticed was there was no oven, only a plugin camp based hob and we had a Tesco delivery coming for all oven type dinners! Mrs F had a look at the order to see what and how much we were handing back to the delivery driver who was (as she believed) going to be delivering the goods later that day at 5pm. However, when logging onto the order she discovered that the order was for the next day at 2pm!! The best thing was for us to just cancel the whole lot and go and get everything we needed, which wasn't ideal. We headed to a gigantic Tesco in West Durrington to get everything we needed for week and worked out what dinners we needed based on them all needing to be cooked on the hob. In the end we decided on chorizo and pasta for that night, chilli for two nights and bolognaise for two nights and we were out for Mr F's birthday one night. We actually saved £20 in the process which was a bonus!
We got back to the barn and unpacked and then headed out for a 4 mile walk; we could walk straight out from where we were staying which we always like doing and the Downs were a short distance away. Once we'd reached height, the wind really hit us, in fact it was really windy by the bar and thought we might have booked ourselves in a permanent windstream area, but it turned not to just be a particularly windy day...thank goodness! We also took a drive out after dinner to see what was around and anywhere we could watch the football...England has Serbia on 16th and Denmark on 20th. We drove through a little village town called Steyning which looked really nice. We wanted to and have a proper mooch about but didn't think it was worth going the next day what with it being Sunday, we didn't think anything would be open. We didn't see many places that was showing the games, weirdly; there was a pub just down the road and Mr F dived in to see if they were showing the footy but they didn't even have any TV screens up! Mr F did see a pub in which he kept in mind if we decided to head out to watch it...
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| Our Short Walk |
DAY 1: AMBERLEY - FATHER'S DAY 5 HOURS, 42 MINUTES
So today is Fathers Day and Muggles and Buggles were excited to give Mr F his presents...an England t-shirt since England were in the Euros and an extension for his pool cues 😊
Mrs F was very much looking forward to breakfast, which was initially going to be bacon and eggs (from the chickens) sandwich, but we decided to have good old fashion egg and solders and Mrs F makes the best soft boiled eggs and the eggs were beautiful and deep golden yellow yolks! 😋
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| Mr F With Daisy Dog |
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| Happy Father's Day Mr F! |
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| Breakfast Cooking on Our Hob |
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| Beautiful Golden Yolks |
Mr F always does a huge amount of research for our walks based on where we can go straight from where we're staying, the distance (he doesn't always get that right which Mrs F hates!) and if the places we walk to have any interesting historical elements about them. So today, we headed off to Amberley, which has a 12th century church and castle, however Mr F didn't tell Mrs F any of what was there for it to be a surprise 😊 The weather for the week initially looked really grim, raining everyday, but we were incredibly blessed with the week of beautiful weather, in fact the best we'd had for weeks before and after!
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| Predicted Weather That Was So Wrong! |
From the barn we always turned right and followed the road around until we reached a footpath that lead off through the cover of trees, like a tunnel and out the other side onto a field that lead to the Downs. As we walked along the field we heard church bells ringing as it was nearly 10:30, so we decided to go along for the church service. We'd seen the little village church from our short walk the day before and decided to head inside just as the service was starting. The average age of the congregation was circa 60+ and the church inside was small and very traditional; it hasn't changed since it was build centuries ago. We left our rucksacks at the back of the church and sat near the back on the very wooden pews. The service was also very traditional and hasn't changed it's very rigid order of service and as it was communion, we were handed laminated sheet with prayers, responses and a creed that everyone reads out together. Mrs F used to have to say all these things when she went to a Church of England when she was 5 years old and it hasn't changed since then and very evident with the laminated sheet! There was a organ player and traditional songs and an exceptionally short sermon hat was only about 7 minutes long and had no real depth or application helpful for anyone understanding or growth. Then when we had to read out the creed, there was a section that said we believe in one Holy Catholic Church, to which neither of us read out, but wondered if we had wondered into a Catholic church. We decided to leave shortly after then realised the church was called St Mary, which was a strong indicator that we had just joined a Catholic church! 😮
We were only there for half an hour, so got back on the road just after11am...it bothered us both that churches holding such week messages and performing a box ticking services that people are still going to are around and we prayed about it later...
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| Not Too Far From Our Barn, Heading Over The Downs |
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| Mr F Pointing To Where We're Heading |
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| A Beautiful House We Walked Past |
As we headed into the Downs and in an upward motion, the humid was more noticeable, but the views were certainly worth it. As we reached the top, we saw a lady with a Scottie dog (our favourite) who was from Scotland but moved to West Sussex and loves living there. She said she walks the dog u there most days and also enjoys the views. It was fairly quiet in terms of people, until we got onto the South Downs Way where we saw more people...but it was a Sunday after all!
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| Heading Up The Steep Bank |
Mr F runs 3 times a week at 5am before a full days work and sometimes runs half marathons...just for fun! So his fitness was - as usual - fitter than Mrs F, who wasn't unfit, just not as fit as Mr F!
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| All Smiles Before The Steep Bank... |
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| …but Then The Struggle Begins |
As we go higher the views just kept on coming, being able to see for miles. Mrs F was grateful for her new visor that Mr F bought her for Christmas; she always struggles with wearing suncream as it always ends up irritating her eyes, so wearing the visor keeps the sun off her face and cream out of her eyes...win win! Once we levelled off at the top (which was welcomed terrain!) we made our way along the flat tops for a while before we came across a split in the path where Mr F stopped to double check the route...for a while! He does like to be sure, to save the wrath of Mrs F if nothing else! 😅 Once he had confidently established the route, he lead us through what I can only describe as overgrown jungle, the trail less trodden...but to be honest we often end up having to hack through overgrown forgotten about footpaths when we walk at home, it didn't faze us...
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| Where We Saw The Scottish Lady |
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| Mr F Checking The Map |
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| Making Our Way through The jungle |
Once we were out of the overgrowth, we were on the open tops of the Downs. We had a fairly long walk of flatness ahead of us which was nice as we had a great 360 view and the weather was cracking. There were a fair amount of people around us too, including a group of 3 youngsters; a girl probably aged around 15 and a boy of the same age and what seemed like their guide who was only about 16/17 himself! They were walking at quite a good lick and on their way to Amberley and beyond, which was impressive, but they were young and able! Mrs F noticed that the girls had a dandelion on her rucksack that fell out, so she picked it up with the aim to give it back to her, but they were so quick we didn't get a chance to catch up with them - it was only until they broke off through a gate to the right that Mrs F asked if she wanted it and she said no, that's ok....the good intention was there at least. We saw them further up sitting down for a well deserved break. We carried on through lots of sheep and gliders above, watching the planes carry them up and let them go, which Mrs F had never seen before...
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| The Youngsters On The Hill |
The paths were very chalky, very much like the Chilterns where we used to walk a lot when we lived in London. We eventually joined up to a wide chalk path that lead in a slight downward direction and came a forked path which we needed to take the righthand one down towards Amberley village. We reached the end of the path and crossed a main road and was in Amberley. There was a car park here that was free, much to our surprise. A little further along was a village teashop and shop, where we bought more water for a reasonable price of £1.40 for a 2 litre. We then headed up towards the church and castle, passing stunning homes that have stood still in the time they were built and was beautiful. We really like walking to a place that has lots of history and interesting points about it and this definitely ticked that box 😊
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| The Cars Spoiled The View Somewhat |
The church also hadn't changed since it was built in the 12th century, which was nice and still had prints on the wall that had managed to preserve after all these years. However the castle was under reconstruction so had scaffolding and fences up around it, which Mr F was really disappointed about because he was looking forward to seeing what he'd seen in the pictures during his research of Amberley, but also to surprise Mrs F, which she still was pleased to see what we could. We had a little look around the church and then sat on a bench on a little green with a lovely view across a lake and even saw a herd of deer in the distance...
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| The Preserved Print on The Wall |
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| The Castle Under Reconstruction |
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| Lunch Spot With The Boys |
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| View From The Bench |
Once lunch had been consumed, we reversed the route and made our way back. Mrs F had started to have issues with pain in her heels from Plantar Fasciitis and long walk sadly cause pain now, so she was conscious not to overdo it and still be able to do lots of walk for the rest of the week...but there is no such thing as 'not overdoing it' when we're on a walking holiday!
This is a photo of the same pond at a slightly different angles but changes to the look of the pond entirely!
Once we were back at the barn, Suzy came for her daily chit-chat and found out what we got up to for the day. We had a bit of time to chill out and have dinner, which was chilli and rice before deciding if we were going to stay in for the football - England vs Serbia or go and find a pub. Mr F had already spotted the pub in Storringtons so we made a last minute decision to head down. There was nothing outside the pub to say they were showing the football, so once we parked up, Mrs F went inside first and they had it on, so we went in and took our places with our drinks. The atmosphere however was so dead!! There was only a few people in there and it wasn't lively at all, so after a very boring first half we decided to head back ad watch the second half in the barn. Before we left, Mr F went to query the cost of the drinks he bought and turned out they had overcharged him, so got his money back....second time that had happened to him in as many weeks! The signal on the tele when we tried to watch it back at the barn however wasn't great and kept cutting in and out, so ended up watching it on one of our phones, which wasn't the greatest experience for an England Euro game!
Mr F fashioning his new England t-shirt he got for Father's Day - Mrs F sent this to her Dad and he said he looks like a sports model!! 😅
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| Beautiful Sunset |
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| Beautiful Morning |
DAY 2: STEYNING & BRAMBER CASTLE 7 HOURS 15 MINUTES
Each morning, we sat outside on the bench and read our bibles retrospectively together with a cup of tea whilst taking in our surroundings, which was a beautiful way to start each day and something we both needed and wish we could do more often, but not always possible with Mr F's job 😞 We had another beautiful day ahead of us and a long one too. We planned to walk to Steyning and have a mooch about the shops and dependant on how Mrs F's feet were feeling, carry on to Bramber Castle not far from there.
Our route was once again straight from the barn, pretty much the same route out as the day before and lead us past a field of horses where we fed them carrots from what Mr F had bought from a Tesco garage the night before. We took a different direction to head towards Steyning and made our way across a filed of lots of sheep and lambs. As Mr & Mrs F are both volunteer lambers lambs are always a welcoming sight 🐑 As we walked a house just over a stile, there was a sign that read: '
Friendly pet sheep, please keep dogs on a lead.' So we headed over to see these friendly pet sheep...and friendly they were.
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| Our Morning Spot & The Boys With Theirs! |
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| Mr F With His Bible & Cuppa |
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| This Bear Was In A Front Garden Of A House |
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| The Village Church Not Far From Us |
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| Friendly Sheep No.1 |
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| Friendly Sheep No.2 |
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| Love This Photo Of The Sheep Peeping Through |
We had a little bit of walking through a wooded area which was nice coverage from the sun for a bit before being exposed over fields again. We could eventually see Steyning in the distance and then as we came off of the fields into the town, we walked through a very new gate with lots of wooden made insects on that was impressive and met with this board of information from Steyning Downland Scheme gateway which also had little wooden boxes with a quiz question on the outside and the answer with detail on the inside about insects and nature, which we played and it was good fun....and informative!
From there we headed right down a little back-ally with houses and parking bays and came out onto Steyning Highroad. It was such a lovely little highroad with one problem...most things were closed!! We thought that by not coming here the day before because it was a Sunday was a smart move as everything would be shut, but apparently they operate Wednesday through to Sunday, so effectively having Monday and Tuesdays as their weekend! It was still nice to have a mooch around in what was open and there was enough open. We ventured into a little gift shop that had some homemade chocolates, so we tried the dark chocolate and ginger ones and they packed a little punch of heat! here was a very impressive sweetshop with every kind of sweets in jars you could imagine and a convenient store where you'd have to take out a loan to buy anything in there! The antique shop that looked interesting was shut, but opposite that was a tiny alleyway with a sign to say there was a little shopping complex further back...and there really was! It was a lovely little complex of shepherds huts and small shops that sold a variety of things from a dog café, trinkets and massage. Mrs F was exceptionally tempted to have a foot massage as she was starting to struggle...it was a really little hidden golden find and gutted that majority of the shops were closed.
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| Saw this Very Impressive Painting In a Parking Bay |
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| Some History Of Steyning At The Bus Stop |
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| The Dog Café 🐶 |
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| The Little Hidden Shops |
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| The Gift Shop With The Chocolates |
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| Sweetshop! |
As we made our way along the street, we came Steyning Parish Church and had someone inside playing the organ, which was nice...even if it sound a bit like a scene from Dracula! After a little mooch about the church, we sat outside on a bench and had a little scooby snack before making out way to Bamber Castle, which was only just over a mile away. We had to navigate through residential areas to get to the opening towards the castle, which looks like a gateway to a driveway. It quickly turned into a wooded area which then opened up to the open grounds of where the castle would have been...not where it still was! We thought it was going to still resemble a castle of times gone by, but there was just a really tall wall - which we were amazed was still since 1073 - and ruins of other walls and remains of the kitchen. There were plaques dotted around the grounds that gave a lot of information to the history and marked out, including areas that were still underground from a scan they had done of the building. It was still good to read about the history and be stand in a place that had lots of history and where people had walked hundreds of years ago and since; in fact we had lunch on a little hill in the shade of a tree by the tall wall which was really lovely...
The Organ Playing in The Church...
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| Quaint Little Houses |
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| Our Picnic Spot 😋 |
Mr F went up into the middle of the grounds to see if there was anything up there worth seeing, but no! It's such a heartfelt shame that something so grand no longer exists, but the way the contours of the land were, it had issues with subsiding and all sorts, without being attacked!
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| View Through An Opening |
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| Kitchen Area |
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| This Was Cool To Walk Into |
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| Some of The Outer Wall |
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| More of The Outer Wall |
As we made our way out of the castle grounds, we came across a church that looked as old as the castle was. It was very small and traditional inside; towards the from the the right of the alter, the rope for ringing the church bell was just hanging there begging to be pulled....we both felt the urge to pull it but thought we'd get in trouble by locals if we did! Instead, we re-traced our steps towards the highroad. Along route, we passed the museum which would have been really good to go in with all the history of Steyning, however it wasn't open until Wednesday! There's always next time, we didn't want to do everything to save some stuff for next time...give us an excuse to come back, not that we need one! 😉
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| The Church By The Castle |
As we made our way back towards the Steyning Coombe which linked up to the Downs, we saw this sign with a quite which we thought was brilliant and very nicely accredited...we made a joke that it wasn't to be confused with Jesus of Arsenal! 😄
M
r F had seen in an information leaflet information about Chanctonbury Ring, which he wanted to go and see and worked out a route that could take us there whilst making our way home. To be honest, not sure what we were expecting because there were quite a few signs on roads pointing to it and even recommended to go and see it on the leaflet, but in all honesty it just looked like a group of trees with no significance at all! After Googling we found out that: It forms part of an ensemble of associated historical features created over a span of more than 2,000 years, including round barrows dating from the Bronze Age to the Saxon periods and dykes dating from the Iron Age and Roman periods.Consisting of a roughly circular low earthen rampart surrounded by a ditch, Chanctonbury Ring is thought to date to the late Bronze Age or early Iron Age. The purpose of the structure is unknown but it could have filled a variety of roles, including a defensive position, a cattle enclosure or even a religious shrine. After a few centuries of usage, it was abandoned for about five hundred years until it was reoccupied during the Roman period. Two Romano-British temples were built in the hill fort's interior, one of which may have been dedicated to a boar cult.
After its final abandonment around the late fourth century AD, the hill fort remained unoccupied save for grazing cattle until a mid-18th-century landowner planted a ring of beech trees around its perimeter to beautify the site. They became a famous local landmark until largely being destroyed in the Great Storm of 1987. Periodic replanting on a number of occasions to replace old or destroyed trees has afforded archaeologists the opportunity to carry out a series of excavations which have revealed much about the history of the site.
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| Walking Along The Steyning Coombe |
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| Mrs F With Chanctonbury Trees Behind Her |
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| Looking Rather Unimpressed! 😄 |
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| But The Views Up There Were Stunning |
As we made our way along the chalky path with the trees behind us, we stopped briefly on a bench further down and long the path for drinks and snacks. We saw someone coming towards us who was a solo walker but we headed off before he could reach us having our pitstop...not purposely! However he eventually caught up and turned out to be a young 20 years old doing the South Downs Way on his own! We asked if he has done much walking before and his answer was no, however went on to say he's done a few Wainwrights, the Coast To Coast and Yorkshire 3 Peaks and now this, so his answer really should have been. We actually ended up walking with him for quite a few miles just chatting and turns out he used to Live in Colchester and his parents still do, small world! 😀 He lived in Brighton and worked on the sound desk for various bands and was in a band himself playing guitar...we can't remember his name sadly and really want to say Steve but honestly can't remember. It was great walking and talking though and we're sure he was glad of the company. He didn't have any plan of accommodation and planned to use his sleeping bag and find a safe place to put his head down for the night! 😲 Eventually we had to dive off to the right and he was heading straight on towards Amberley, so we parted ways and didn't se him again....forever in our memories though.
Once we got back Mr F made Mrs F a bowl of cold water for her to put her very painful feet in, since we would always seek out a river or stream to put our tired feet in after a long day, like we did when we were in Yorkshire the previous year (See 2023, August, Day 4 towards the end of the day)
It was nice to know that dinner was already made and all we had to do was pop the rice in the microwave and after our daily update chat with Suzy, we had a lovely chilled out evening with more planning for what we were going to do for Mr F and Muggle's birthday the next day!! 🥳🎉🎁
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| Daisy Dog Excited To See Us 💗 |
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| Another Stunning Sunset, Although Photo Doesn't Do It Justice |
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| View From Our Window From The Bed |
DAY 3: PARHAM HOUSE & DEER PARK...ABD BIRTHDAYS! 5 HOURS
Mrs F was very excited, as always, to give Mr F his presents, she woke up in the early hours hoping it was a reasonable time to get up but it was only 4am! With a more reasonable time with the sun at least up, it was time to open presents for both Mr F and Muggles, who was 15!!
Muggles got a Bulldog garden ornament, RSPB badges and superhero candy stick sweets, which Mrs F used to love when she was a kid 😊 Mr F got lots! He got t-shirts from Mrs F's Dad, a chilli sauce making kit from Mrs F's Aunt & Uncle and from Mrs F he got new cues for his pool table, 2 short sleeve shirts, a framed photo showing all the Welsh 3,000's since we had completed them earlier in the year (See 2024, April entry) medals to commemorate the completion of the Wainwrights, Yorkshire 3 Peaks, Coast To Coast and Welsh 3,000's. A pair of jeans that were too long, a new wall showing the Borrowdale Arch with a Suffolk sheep which was made to order, new shoes, entry to the Lavenham 10k run which he did in February that year...he also got a water feature that Mr F had to give him early in case he didn't like it and wanted to return it, which he didn't and we did! Sure there was other things but can't remember them all....we do tend to spoilt each other on birthdays...
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| Guinea Fowl Out & About |
Since Mrs F's feet were becoming a problem, Mr F was mindful of this and so didn't plan anything overly long, plus we had a table booked at an Indian restaurant we eat in the last time we were in West Sussex and honestly one of the best Indian meals we've ever had...and we've been to India! When we were walking back along the tops on Sunday, we noticed a country estate looking home down below to the left of us and Mr F researched to find out it was Parham House and Deer Park, so we decided to go there today. Our route was the very familiar out, turn right, through the wooded area and past the house with the nice front garden and a stables we'd also walked past on our first day...although this time the lady was friendly and said hello this time! We did stop to say hello to the horses further along by the field and Mr F gave them tall grass to eat from our side of the fence which they loved. After than it was pretty flat and not very high to start with since the house was on ground level which was nice, but a lot of country road walking which isn't the best kind of terrain underfoot for Mrs F, although she had her feet taped up to the max!
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| Feet Well & Truly Taped Up! |
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| Gatekeepers House |
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| Walking Along The driveway |
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| Photo Of The House from A Distance |
After a very covert viewing of the house, we carried on through the permissive path through the deer park and Mrs F prayed that Mr F would see deer on his birthday and praise God he did, although they were too far away and quick to get a photo, but really glad he got to see some 😊🦌 As we made our way through the very impressive grounds we saw a young girl - late teens - riding her horse towards the house, so we assumed she was one of the silver spooned children that live there!
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| Mr F Scouting For Deer |
As we came to the entrance at the other end of the grounds, there were men fixing a small section of the wall that run along the edge and we both thought it was an odd thing to fix with all the other things that much need doing in such a vast estate. Then once we went through the gate and through some oldy worldy roads and houses, we came across something that looked like a small quarry...
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| The Random Little Quarry...Or something! |
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| Mrs F Sent This To Their Friend Whose Surname is Clay 😊 |
The plan from here was to find somewhere to have lunch, but there was literally nowhere to sit down, not even a fallen tree or log! We were making our way up onto the tops of the Downs we were so familiar with now and Mr F made a joke that it won't be long before we're on the top with no lunch still....however once we had made our way along the straight road that took us o the main road and through the gap in the hedge a little way down the road, we were on an incline towards the top, so we stopped a little further along on the slope and had lunch there, with a nice view...
The route back was just the same as it always was, as we were right by the Downs, it was the best and easiest access route to and from where we were staying, so unless we drove somewhere, our walk out and back would always be the same to a point. As we got to the little forest footpath that lead us to the road our barn was on, Mrs F was by this time just about able to walk with the pain in her feet! She had to hold onto Mr F's shoulder as the downward angle of the path was just about bearable and could hardly walk...Mr F made her another bowl of cold water and ice and she used her tense machine each night to just give her a sporting chance of being able to walk the next day!
Once we got back, Suzy surprised Mr F with a really kind birthday gift of a bottle of 19 Crimes, which we had mentioned was one of our favourites after our morning chat and finding out that her hubby is a fine wine salesman, so we just so happened to mention what we like and so she bought him a bottle for his birthday....we were really touched by it and so very kind. She's listed as a super-host on Air B&B and can absolutely see why! Mrs F decided to take a little stroll in the garden, which had cold grass so nice underfoot...
We got ourselves showered and changed ready to head out, but planned to stop off so that the boys could feed the horses, for Muggles birthday 🥰
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| Looking Back At The Barn & House |
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| Great Lines In The Grass...Mr F Loves a Good Line! 😄 |
Our meal was just as amazing as it was the first time we came, so really didn't disappoint, in fact I'd say we were even more impressed. We both had curries with rice, onion bhajis, potatoes and peas which was tasty but too hot for Mrs F and a butter naan which was all just so divine! They still served the customary small cup of spiced soup at the start too...it was such a lovely way to end the day with an amazing celebratory birthday meal...
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| Stunning Meal |
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| Birthday Boy 🥳 |
DAY 4: ARUNDEL 7 HOURS, 30 MINUTES
So initially, Mr F thought that we could walk to Arundel from the barn but that would be a monumental day and would absolutely break Mrs F's feet. So instead we rove to the free car park in Amberley. From there, we headed up the wide path we too when coming into Amberley, by the main road. On route, we could hear loads of sirens from all kinds of emergency services and were going for a long time somewhere near the main road further down the road. We couldn't see over the big hedge to see what was going on and when we got to the top of the hill we still couldn't see and there were other peoples trying to see what was going on. We dived off right and connected up to the main road further along, which was a way of avoiding walking along the main road where there was no pavement or safe passage. Houghton Bridge was really cool; it had gaps that looked like places where medieval archers would fire their arrows through the holes in each gap, but were good places to stand to allow cars to go by....
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| Houghton Bridge |
Once safely over the bridge we made our way along a field of young cows were came over to see us. Mrs F is normally quite nervous and scared of having to walk through a big herd of cows but not when they're young. We continued to follow the path across the field that lead us down a short bank and through what looked like someone's big back garden/field with a horse in and a stile at the other end. The stile had an arrow pointing over it made from what looked like flour and neither of us knew or understood why it was there and why someone would something that could get easily blown in the wind or scuffed by walkers. As we made our way along the path by the river Arun, there were more spots of flour dotted around and realised they were mainly directing where to go and anytime there was a lifted tree root...baffling!
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| Take 1 |
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| Take 2 |
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| The Arrow Made of Flour |
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| Path By Arun River |
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| Spots of Flour |
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| Tree With Lots of Exposed Roots |
As we made our way along the path, we reached a narrow path of the route where you could continue along the path or go through a gate that lead through Arundel Park...there was also a X made of flour to let whoever know not to go through the gate! Once we made our way through the narrow, slightly overgrown path from the gate, we were eventually in the open of Arundel Park and gaining height. It was such a beautiful day and the park was really lovely with great views all around. There was an elderly couple who we kept taking it turns to overtake and Mrs F made joke about it and after they nervously laughed, realised they weren't English...but then when they caught up with us after being in front, the man said 'Now it's our turn to overtake you!' In what sounded like some kind of Swedish ascent! 😄
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| Gaining Height Into The Park |
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| The Couple In Front! |
Height gained and then had to lose the lot! We had a really steep bank to make our way down into the valley below, where a school trip was. It was a chalky combination of footholds and tree roots so had enough grip to make our way down swiftly and burn of the Swedish couple! 😆 The valley went straight through the middle with a narrow path route to the right, which we took and lead us to Swanbourne Lake and Hodge just outside of Arundel...
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| More Tree roots |
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| Swanbourne lake |
From the lake, we headed out onto the main road where there were so many cars parked, as well as some very funky looking camper vans, it was clearly a popular place for campervans to visit and park up! We got our first view of Arundel Castle on the main road...and it was our only view! Mrs F quickly Googled how much it was to go inside and it was £31.50 each!!! Needless to say we didn't pay that and Mr F looked at the reviews for them and people said that it wasn't worth the money, sadly 😕
There was also a museum as we hit the town, which again was£5 each...why does everything have to cost anything at all, especially a museum! Failing that, we headed over the road from the Museum and into a little centre where they had a craft sale. Mrs F got sucked into buying a couple of really lovely coasters. We spent ages looking through them and decided on a Badger and a Hare. We never buy keepsakes from the places we visit and these were only £3 each, o happy with that 😊 We sat just outside on a bench and had lunch and then made our way into town. It was such a lovely little town with so many different types of shops and looked very much like somewhere in Edinburgh (from when Mrs F wen with her Mummy in 2015) We wanted to make sure we got the most out of walking through each street, as there were a few to choose from, so we methodically made our way around and stopped in a couple along the way. Mr F stopped to spray some aftershave that was fixed to a fragrance shop widow seal outside, which smelled really nice but made him sneezes several times in a very short space of time!! 😆🤧
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| Arundel Castle |
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| Entrance To The castle |
Mrs F spent a bit of time in the teashop, naturally. She was very tempted with the vast variety of different flavour loose teas that was on offer but settled on none of them! Not because she wasn't interested, but more of an unnecessary indulgence...
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| Can You Spot Mr F In The window?? 👀 |
We missed the walking tour by half an hour which was a shame as we were having lunch at the time it started and was no more for that day...but we can always come back as we're sure there is tonnes of history here. We made our way through the streets around the town and came across a lovely church called Arundel St Nicholas built in 1380 and had a choir book that was one of only three Medieval to survive to modern day and at the hour and half past, music from the book is played through the speakers of the church and we got there just before 2pm so heard the most beautiful piece of choir music, it was stunning....we both sat and just listened and took it in and enjoyed being in the moment...a very special moment 💗
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| Entrance To The Church |
Had we had joined the tour we would have missed listening to that piece of music, so it worked out well in the end 😊 From here, we headed out and turned right towards the immensely impressive Cathedral just along the same road. Inside and out was stunning; the architecture was something else. We did think it would cost something to go inside but amazingly it was free1 There was a huge touch screen when you first walked in which gave a lot of information and history of the Cathedral. It was called
The Cathedral Church of Our Lady and St Philip Howard and built in 1869, so in comparison quite a new and modern Cathedral. |
| Looking Towards The Alter |
Behind the congregation was a very impressive looking organ and pipes beautifully laid out and displayed. All around the church starting from the left leading towards the front and carrying on to the right heading towards the back was the story of Jesus going to Calvary in stone carvings on the wall which was also impressive...
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| The impressive organ Pipes |
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| Beautiful Ceiling |
Mrs F had a brief conversation with a lady on the gift shop about why Catholics have Jesus on the cross, which was had in full respect and understanding, as Christians we don't have Jesus on the cross (too much to go into on here!) and then we headed back out and on a road that connected up to the main square, which had a few little independent coffee shops. Once we were back in the square, we went into an artisan type shop and café where Mrs F spotted some baklava and other shredded baklava type treats that she wasn't going to buy, as again, wasn't necessary, but Mr F treated her...to both types!! We then went on the hunt for suncream as we didn't bring any with us because the weather wasn't supposed to be sunny at all this week and we has burnt arms. We used our buffs to cover our necks so at least they didn't cop it. We ended up having to pay £7 for a bottle of Nivea factor 30, which is about £2-£3 over the odds but we needed it. We went and sat on some wooden bench just over the road from the bride and river in a little green sitting area where we creamed up and indulged ourselves on the Baklava. Mrs F wasn't a fan of the shredded one, so Mr F had this and Mrs F had most of her one, but it was so sticky the and hot the honey run out and we had to use the water we bought to clean it up before we became the attraction of a swarm of bees or wasps! It was a good call to buy the cream because it was getting hotter as the afternoon went on and still had a looooong walk back. Mr F used his buff to cover his ears which was very resourceful!
We headed back towards Swanbourne Lake and instead of retracing our steps fully along the rive to the valley where we saw the school kids, we headed up to the tower not far from the lake, that we missed on our way there - actually the truth of it is Mr F didn't take us up onto the path that leadup to it as he didn't think Mrs F wasn't up for it with her aching feet, but she really was! On that basis, we took the path that was a sharp incline towards the tower. When we got there, there was no information about what it was or why it was there...but will good to see. Mrs F Googled it and found out that
Arundel is the 1797 tower built by Francis Hiorne as he bid for the contract to rebuild the castle. Today, it stands alone in the landscape, a wonderful, purposeless folly. Hiorne never won the contract he desired, and he died two years later, but his Tower did achieve greatness. It went on to star in Doctor Who. |
| Another View of Arundel Castle From Buying Suncream |
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| Mr F Using His Buff To Cover His Ear! 😄 |
We saw loads of ducks just chilling out on the grass verges of the road and some we'd never seen the likes of before!
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| No Idea What This Duck Is!? |
Just before we got the Swanbourne Lake, we noticed a beautiful pond with swans in with their signets and just above the pond was another little pond which flowed into the one below with 5 little chicks that looked like were having swimming lessons with Mamma with Dad keeping watch 💗😊🦆🦆
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| Saw This on The gate We Walked Through |
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| Steps Leading To The Tower |
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| Hat On... |
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| Hat Off! |
Mr F had roughly worked out a route that leads up higher than the valley and along what looked like an old horse track. I say roughly because Mr F always says he knows where he's going and sure of it ad 90% of the time this is true! By this time Mrs F's feet felt like they were going to drop off so for the sake of his life she really hoped this decision fell into the 90% correct stat! As we walked along the very lengthy top, a man who looked like Gerald from Clarkson's Farm ran past in thick jogging bottoms and t-shirt in the blazing sun without water and didn't stop or slow down at all! We were hoping to catch up with him to at least shake his hand but he impressively remained ahead of us. We had to stop briefly so Mrs F could change the plaster on her little toe that had come off from her feet being so sweaty in heat. Her little toe looked like it had another little toe underneath it which had no doubt been growing and getting worse as the long days went on; Suzy, bless her, gave Mrs F some Compeed blister plasters and we didn't realise that there was a full medical/first aid kit in one of the drawers, with Ibuprofen which we had already bought.
As we reached the end of the path, we could see the group of trees in the middle of Arundel park that we saw from the other side on our way to Arundel, so Mr knew we were on the right way back. We eventually wound around to the right past more logs from felled trees and even saw a tractor bringing in a load of trees...
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| Mrs F Loves A Picture With A Gate |
We made our way towards the entrance gate that lead us from the paths where the drops of flour was to Arundel Park. From there, we simply retraced our steps and made our way back to the car. On our way back along the paths next to the river, we stopped on a fallen tree so Mrs F could finish her Baklava and have a drink, there were quite a few runners coming the other way, which is when we discovered what all the flour spots and arrows were for, a running club! The fallen tree was somewhat of an obstacle for the runners and one lady who was awkwardly clambering over it mentioned she had already fallen and hurt her knee; Mrs F offered her painkiller but she said she already took some. We were then on the look our for more runner coming towards us so we could take a side step and let them through. As we headed out towards the bridge there were yet ore runners coming and varied in age from 20's - 60's!
We passed the old Toll House which still had the sign up to say how much passage was per crossing dependant on what you were crossing in which was interesting...
Once we got on the main road to Amberley, instead of heading up the hill and down the other side, we took a path that run along jacent to the road. Just past the old toll house we still had just over a mile to go and by this time and were nearing 15 miles, which was unintended but we didn't factor in all the walking around we would be doing once we got to Arundel. All I can say is I'm glad we decided to park at Amberley rather than walk from the barn! The car was such a welcomed sight and Mrs F took no time in taking her socks off to allow her feet to breathe a little. On our way back, we stopped off at a garage and Mr F picked up some drinks; Mrs F got 2 cans of 19 Crimes Rose and Mr F got a can of Jack Daniels and Coke Zero. Mrs F sat on her usual bench, feet in ice water with a drink in hand, congratulating her on another hard day...well done feet! 🦶🦶👣
Tonight's dinner was bolognaise and we decided to eat it outside just around the corner from the front of our barn where the entrance gate from the car is. It was such a lovely evening and we never sit outside to eat at home, so this was a lovely thing to do and especially after a long day 💗
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| Beautiful Evening |
DAY 5: BIGNOR HILL
5 HOURS
So today, Mr F had looked on the map and see there is a hill called Bignor Hill which is a high point with a good 360 view of the Downs
and had a memorial up there dedicated Toby Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, the secretary of the Cowdray Hounds, which is called Toby's Stone. We once again parked at Amberley and walked up past the church and castle and headed onto the fields from there. It was a really hot day and quite close and muggy with a lot of up-ness, but if you're heading for the highest point in the Downs then you have to go up to get there! Then we hit an obstacle that added an extra couple of miles on our journey as a result; on the map it indicated that there was a footpath/bridge heading over the river Arun and towards Houghton. However, once we arrived at the so-called bridge, it was all under water!! So we had no choice but walk along the river and cross at a different bridge much further along, which was frustrating when you hadn't factored that in and changed the course of our route so we didn't go into Houghton at all. We did however factor that in on the way back which again, added more miles on than planned but couldn't be helped...although the bridge looked like it wasn't in use for some time, but the maps wouldn't have that information. Oh well...
Once we were headed in the right direction, we passed a little field with a baby Shetland Pony and was the cutest thing, although Mrs F couldn't get a clear enough photo. It was here that a couple of cyclists stopped to ask Mr F for directions...he must look like a man in the know because when we're in places we're not familiar with, people often ask us where things are; when we were in Steyning having ice poles in the bus stop, we were asked about which bus to take! We carried on straight ahead of through fields on fields and there were a lot of poppy fields that looked so beautiful...
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| Amberley Castle |
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| The Baby Shetland pony |
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| Views En Route |
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| Despite Mr F's Face, He Was Having a Good Day! |
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| Poppy Fields Ahead of Us |
After Mrs F got creative with her camera in the poppy fields, we saw what looked like a deer laying in the middle of the path but wasn't moving as we got near. Then we were hit by the most awful smell, it made Mrs F gag and realised that it was a deer, but only the carcass!! It had been ripped open and had no innards and the number of flies swarming inside it was like a horror film and wondered what on earth had done that to it...some hounds of the South Downs! 👾 We saw a cycling heading towards us further up and warned him of it further down
We then headed on a wide chalky path that took us straight up towards the memorial point where we were also at the height point. We waited for the couple who were just finishing up their lunch to move on so we could claim the spot for our lunch...even the boys came out for a photo...or 2 😊
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| The Memorial Where We Sat For Lunch |
We didn't want to hang around as England vs Denmark was kicking off at 5pm, so we headed down via the same route and then headed off in a different direction to which we came up slightly to add a bit of variety....
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| An Old house On Our Way Back |
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| A Fairy Village In Someone's Garden! 🧚 |
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| Mr F Covered From The Sun |
We were eventually on the same road we were o the day before, the main road from near Houghton Bridge and along the main road to the car park in Amberley. Mr F enjoyed the day much more than Mrs F did, because she felt we'd already walked a lot of this route and there wasn't anything that was very different to our previous days and although Bignor Hill had beautiful clear views (quite rare to catch I imagine!) again, we'd had similar views all week...her grumpiness was later discovered purely down to being unknowingly hormonal! On our way back we once again stopped at the garage and the traffic heading back was really busy, we imagined it was because people were finishing early to watch the game.
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| Arundel Castle From a Different View |
When we got back, Suzy's hubby was in the garden and we had the chance to chat to him for a while too. He was heading into the barn next to ours to have a workout whilst watching the football...we discovered there was a slight time lapse with our TV and his because when England scored, it was about 5 seconds later we heard him cheer so we must have spoiled it for him by cheering! 🙈
After the score of 1-1, we spent the evening packing ready to go home the next day, sadly. Normally, our weeks away always seem to go in a flash, but this time it really did feel like we were there for much longer, even though we were there for one day less than normal. Mrs F wrote a message in the welcome book and left it for Suzy to see and in turn, she wrote a really lovely review on us on air B&B which was lovely of her. Suzy had mentioned that there were pigs just on the other side of the wall and if we came out of the barn and turned left, we will see them, so we decided that night to head over to see them. There was an area in the huge garden near the entrance to the huge house where there was a pigsty, but sadly no pigs...another oh well!
We were up and ready to leave by 9:00 and made sure we said goodbye to Suzy, Daisy and all the other animals, including the Guinea Pigs that lived outside and hit the road. We stopped off so Cuddles could feed the horses carrots and then didn't want to waste the day of being here, so headed towards what was described by a guide as a really beautiful village. However we struggled to see what was so special about it and didn't even stop to get out, we just drove through and headed for the main road home!
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| The Guinea Pigs (Mother & Daughter) |
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| Saying Goodbye To The Horses With Carrots |
VERDICT OF WEST SUSSEX JUNE 2024
Mr F:
Mrs F: When we came to West Sussex for the first time for our wedding anniversary last September, we both really loved the area. It's so lusciously green, so very different to both the Lake District and Yorkshire and I always say that when we are in certain areas, there is a certain look and feel that makes me feel and aware that I'm in those places. The barn, Hectors House - which we found out is the name of Suzy's step-son who it was built for for him to live in - was so lovely and in the most perfect location. The views from it were amazing with gorgeous sunsets and sunrises; we didn't close the blinds on a coupe of nights so we could catch the sun as it came up in the early hours through the windows 😊🌄 The garden was so lovely too and so peaceful, I really loved having that space to enjoy in the mornings with a blanket, the bench, a cup of tea and reading our bibles...I think that will be one of my fondest memories of this holiday and just wished we could do that back home, although the view would be somewhat different and Mr F starts work really early, which is what made it all the more special 😌 apart from having bad feet pain, I really loved this holiday for so many reasons. I loved the location, the beautiful weather we weren't predicted to have, the different areas of walking we'd not walked before and discovered, even our daily chats with Suzy was lovely. I really loved going to Arundel, which was my favourite day; the walk there through Arundel Park was really lovely and Arundel itself was such a lovely little village and really enjoyed walking around. The church with the music playing was a really special moment too. I really enjoyed our walk to Steyning and the remains of the castle; even though it was disappointing to see just a single - very impressive - tall standing wall, the kitchens were really good to still be able to walk around in and the thought of how many people had done the same over the centuries was a surreal thought. Our meal out for Mr F's birthday at the Meghdoots Mystique Masala was just as good if not better as it was when we came in September - it was well worth the short drive from Washington to Petworth and by far one of our best and memorable places that we've ever eaten. My least favourite day was Bignor Hill, but only because I really like walking to somewhere where there is a real place of interest, like Arundel...this felt like walking up to the Downs which we'd done a dew times in the week, got the highest point then turned around...but still I appreciated the views as promised from the guides. The Chanctonbury Ring was a bit of a disappointment too but still good to say we've seen it.
All in all, it was such a good week and will forever be in our memories as a fine week to celebrate another year that God has blessed to Mr F. When we're away together, no matter where we are or what the weather, just spending that quality time together doing what we love most always fills my heart with so much joy and thank our Lord that He blessed us with a shared love of the great outdoors. Looking forward to our next adventure....whatever that may be! 💗👫
The church also hadn't changed since it was built in the 12th century, which was nice and still had prints on the wall that had managed to preserve after all these years. However the castle was under reconstruction so had scaffolding and fences up around it, which Mr F was really disappointed about because he was looking forward to seeing what he'd seen in the pictures during his research of Amberley, but also to surprise Mrs F, which she still was pleased to see what we could. We had a little look around the church and then sat on a bench on a little green with a lovely view across a lake and even saw a herd of deer in the distance...
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