Blogs from West Sussex, England, United Kingdom, Europe

The facilities at The Chilworth Manor were amazing. "The Club" had steam room, sauna, spa and indoor pool. Jeff and I made good use of it all to soothe our tiring muscles. We were cycling out of Chilworth by 8:30am, the route to Chichester today took us very close in to Southampton. We were in suburbia for all but a handful of kilometers. The roads were mostly very busy, thankfully we had cycle paths/lanes for a good deal of the day. We travelled 63kms and have effectively just moved the requisite distance towards Dover. Today was more about the destination than the journey. The ride was made that bit easier by the westerly we had at our backs for most of the day. We stopped for a rare photo opportunity at Portsmouth where the cycle path ... read more

We took the train to Amberley and were told there would be a cab waiting for us. Well, there wasn’t. We called the castle and email but to no avail. Finally, we just called a cab and a bit later a women drove up to pick us up for the 5-minute drive to the castle. We could have walked but, it was dark with no street lights and no apparent sidewalk. It was only on the way back to the station that we saw the sidewalk behind hedges. We got to the castle and checked in. Once we arrived everyone was attentive so we were not sure where the miscommunication lay. Our room was not the high end but wonderful nevertheless. It had old exterior walls with the old window styles. Wind blew into areas but ... read more

We were going to visit Wakehurst Place at the end of March, but postponed owing to the national lockdown. Mark took days off on 15th and 16th September; we decided to visit there on 16 September. He checked the bus timetable between Haywards Health and Wakehurst Place and booked a slot for us to enter there at 12.30. Following one-way system, we entered from the temporary entrance upon our arrival and found the picnic table to have lunch. After that, we headed for the water gardens via Black Pond and Iris Dell, and walked down to Westwood Lake via Himalyan Glade. Colourful aquatic flowers were blossoming and showed picturesque scenes with winding rivers and stone bridges. Many trees and shrubs retained green leaves. Upon the arrival of Westwood Lake, we followed the footpath and the broadwalks ... read more

Welcome to 2020, happy New Year and back out into the wild for us! This time it’s a journey out in the Bongo into the South Downs and to Wakehurst, the sister gardens of Kew Gardens in London which we went to last year and really enjoyed, well recommended if you’ve not been. What and where is Wakehurst Place..? It’s in West Sussex and is a nice drive from Shoreham by Sea, about 30 minutes through lots of small villages such as Ditchling which has a great pub/restaurant called the Bull, well worth a visit with great food and an open fire. Just past the Bluebell railway, we arrive at Wakehurst Place and get parked up and into our walking boots, apparently, it’s dirt tracks and woodland marshes… On getting our tickets, we are told that ... read more

Another lazy start and a great basic breakfast supplied by the hotel. Today is a bank holiday here in UK, so everywhere is still very busy. Shops today are Tesco and Sainsbury. Between the two of them we manage to clear all the remaining items from our list. Today, we had lunch at the Toby Carvery in Crawley. As it was a Bank Holiday we got there early so that we would not have to wait for a table. The food as always was really great. Again, we did not need another meal tonight so finished of the picnic items from yesterday we have in the room.... read more