Before I talk about our trip to Arundel, I wanted to show you a couple of beautiful things that are in our house. The first is one of our orchids. It's in full bloom now and has brightened up the house.
The other beautiful thing is Leanne, she brightens up all my days.
On to Arundel
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arundel
From London it would be a hour and a half ride thru the countryside to the town. As we got near we had a fantastic view of the castle. It looked like something out of a movie.
We rented a place through Air B & B that would be a 15 min walk from the train station. With a view like this it was a very enjoyable walk.
After getting our Air B & B place we went on to explore the town. The town itself is very small, about the size of my home town of Manchester, Michigan.
With all the walking it was time for some food and a snack---and of course dessert. Warm cherry pie with a warm custard sauce. It was better than it looks.
The river Arun runs thru the town,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_Arun
and as with the Thames it rises and lowers with the tide.
Back to food, we did seem to have a lot this weekend. This was my dinner of pasta with chicken and chorizo sausage. Leanne had scallops wrapped in bacon and cooked in a garlic lemon sauce. Being i'm allergic to them I couldn't take a picture.
Saturday would be a busy day, with lots of walking. With such a small town we constantly had views of the castle and the cathedral.
And there were other churches as well, this was the entrance to St. Nicholas a 14 century church.
http://www.stnicholas-arundel.co.uk/history.html
As with most churches the cemetery was right next to the church.
Just down the street from St. Nicholas was the Arundel Cathedral
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arundel_Cathedral
This was built in 1868 by the Duke of Norfolk, Earl of Arundel.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duke_of_Norfolk
This is a small church compared to other large churches like Westminster Abby, Canterbury Cathedral and York Cathedral. It was more of a scaled down size.
But as you can see the inside was beautiful.
During the Corpus Christi they make a flower mosaic down the center of the church, it would look like this.
It was time to check out the county side.
The Duke of Norfolk, Earl of Arundel own vast tracts of land, and this is where we would be walking. The first field we came we saw this, it is Hiorne Tower
It was built by Francis Hiorne in 1789 to prove his abilities to the 11th Duke of Norfolk.
We talked to some locals and they said that the Duke wanted to upgrade the castle. Francis Hiorne came along and said he could do it, but to prove it he had to build something. The Duke said he could build it on this piece of land using his own money. As the story goes he finished it and the Duke said it looks good but i changed my mind and don't want to do anything.
So now its just an empty building with a great view.
Heading back into town we walked past the castle.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arundel_Castle
Saturday night we would be going into the castle grounds to watch a play.
This is the entrance we would be taking. We were told that the Duke put the wall up in the 1800 because he got tired of the towns people walking by his house----Good to be the Duke.
This is just a portion of the grounds. We were able to bring a bottle of Prosecco and with the food they had on hand, we had a picnic before the play.
The play for the night was Shakespeare's Romeo And Juliet and it would be shown in "The Collector Earls Garden"
http://www.arundelcastle.org/the-gardens/the-collector-earls-garden.html
This area had another wall around it, so we could not see it from where we had our picnic.
When we walked thru the gate it was a sight to behold.
Lots of plants and flowers.
We were told to come back in the spring when there are more flowers
And this the seating area for the play, having the Cathedral for a back drop.
And as night fell the view only got better.
They only have two shows a year, one on Friday and one on Saturday. Luckily we called ahead for tickets. It was a great show.
Sunday we decided to do an even longer walk. We would start off with the same walk as the day before. In the process we would pass the tower again and also a marathon. It was a 10 k race and the runner would run past the tower.
We caught up with the front runners as we were going down a hill and they were going up. Going down was definitely better.
This view has both the castle (on the left) and the tower (on the right).
This is a view of the South Down way, a long distance walking path.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Downs_Way
And being there is a lot of sheep in this area, Coach had to be on the leash. The Arun river is seen in the background.
The walk would take us back down to the river and we would follow it back to town.
A one lane road, with tree cover made it feel like a tunnel.
An old guy and his dog out for a walk.
At the end of the one lane road was a pub but it did not open till noon. We had over an hour till noon so we headed back to town. We would follow the river back with views of the castle all the way.
This has the castle and the cathedral in the picture. It looked like something out of a movie or Disney world.
There had been a festival going on for the past week. When we got to town the Dragon boat races were happening in the river.
I want the job the guy in the back has. All you have to do is steer and yell at the rest of the guys to go faster. Beer in one hand and steer with the other.
Speaking of beer, its time for a much deserved break and a pint.
This great town even has a day care for husbands.
We then went on to the 18 hole putting course. Leanne wanted to know how many strokes i was going to give her. ( Just a suggestion. if Leanne ever asks for strokes. Don't give her any)
She batted her eyes and had a sorry look on her face so i gave her 4 strokes.
I figured she would be down three strokes by the first 2 holes. At the turn i was only up by two strokes and at the end of the game i had lost by three strokes. Losers buys so I had to buy her a drink. She said a winning drink tastes much better. I had to agree.
This was or caddie, he stayed with us most of the course.
Sunday night we went to dinner at a small restaurant down the street.
Leanne had a crab salad wrapped in avocados.
I had Grouse with pureed potatoes. It was my first and last time for grouse. The taste was a little to game'y for me.
Monday would be another walk, with great views and lots of fresh air.
Another view of the tower from a different angle. It is funny to look and see a castle or a tower while your walking.
More festival events going on in town, men on stilts singing to the kids.
The last thing we did in town was have breakfast. After three days of walking and hiking Coach had had enough. He just laid there while we ate. He looked about the same for the hour and a half train ride home.
We both had a great time in Arundel---
I think Leanne had more fun because she beat me on the putting course.
No strokes next time.
