Friday 2nd May, Bank Holiday weekend in Chichester

We enjoyed a chat with our great hosts at Lilac Cottage this morning before leaving a bit late.  His first wife was an Annesley!  Bob suggested that we park on esplanade at Brighton, as there were parking meters, so off we went.  It was cold and blustery. But we snagged an excellent park, right in front of the Brighton Pier.

Our house-sitters warned us they paid 16 quid for parking, we did it for 5.

This is such a famous landmark, and is probably a bit tacky now, the kids would love all the "penny machines" trying to win coins, and other prizes, and at the end was a lovely old merry go round, perfect for the little people, and a whiz bang super duper for the older children.

All rugged up, I found my red jacket!

Penny arcade

For Cameron and little Josh, waiting to be won

We decided not to hire a deckchair, it was so cold with the wind

Felt sorry for these school children on an outing to the beach for lunch

We were cold I needed something to warm us, so then we saw the Legends Hotel, looked nice to us, in we go, didn't suspect anything unusual at first, but while we had coffee and waited for our toasted fish sandwich, the penny dropped, we were in a Gay Bar!  A bit of research and we found out that Brighton is the Gay capital of UK.  Learn something every day.

It was the Royal Pavilion, built starting 1787 as a seaside retreat for George the Prince of Wales, such opulence, so that he could meet his long term companion Maria Fitzherbert.  It played a huge part during World War 1, and recently hosted the first gay marriages in UK.

We tried to follow the coast road towards Arundall did so at times, but the traffic was unbelievable, must be the long weekend starting early.

The Arundall Castle is just huge, you come over the crest of a hill and this awesome sight is in front of you, no time to turn the camera on and to focus, so we drove around looking for some high ground.  What a beautiful little town, and surrounding the castle, a stream with ducks and white swans.

An old Catholic Church is up the hill from the castle, and a 14th century church.

We arrived at Musgrove House a bit early, after nearly crashing on the miniscule round about outside, didn't even realise it was one.  I needed a laundromat, but apparently there are only Service Washes here, goodness knows what it will cost.  In before 5 pick up at 2 the next day.

Our hosts gave us a cup of tea and a cake, and we set out to have a look at the town.  Now our Saturday plans are a bit in disarray with an 8.30 breakfast and a time on picking up our laundry.  Probably a bit of an easy day will be welcome.

The town here is another busy place, it is a walled city and inside the city square you won't find the fast food chains, they are all in an area of their own, didn't want them to spoil the town.  Rather upmarket shops in the streets.  The Chichester Cathedral is huge.  You will get sick of hearing me say this, but it is, it doesn't fit into any photo.   Inside it is quite spectacular, and would you believe I found that Richard Durnford was the Bishop in 1870, just have to see where he fits into the family.  

Sundial, but no sun this afternoon

A walk along the streets, with a strong wind in our faces and we found some other old and interesting places

The Priory 1910, at the entrance to the Oval

Very old church to recognise the viking connections

Tonight we had a great meal, the most succulent chicken for me and lamb for John in a top pub, almost like a 5 star dining experience!

It has been 4 weeks since we left home, one since we were in Westminster Cathedral, two since we were in Templin and three since we were in Istanbul.  It seems much longer than that.  After 4 weeks I have more than 1000 visits to my blog, I am a bit thrilled at that.