Thursday, October 28, 2010

Autumn at the seaside - 24 October 2010

A fabulous sunny day, after the second frost of the season, seemed the perfect time to visit a British seaside city, so we did a circular drive starting from the bottom of the M23 down to Worthing.

Our morning-tea stop was by the ruins of Bramber Castle. One of the many fascinating places with just a few bits of castle walls left behind.

Before reaching the coast, we detoured to have a look at the chapel at Lancing College. This private school, has a beautiful chapel which is open daily to the public. Building started in 1868 in 14th C Gothic style like the grand university chapels, but looking almost new, this chapel is truly beautiful, and worth the detour.

Worthing has a seafront typical of many British towns, the main features are the wide stony beach, a promenade, beach huts,Victorian rows of fine boarding houses and the pier, once used for shipping, but now a place to find food and amusements. It's a great place to spend time on a slightly chilly day.
We continued our tour through the wonderful town of Arundel, to Parham House. This magnificent Elizabethan house was bought and restored by the present owners family in 1922. The house is full of well preserved antique embroideries, collected by the original restorers.

The last stop of the day was Shipley to check out Hillare Belloc's windmill. I think living beside this would inspire anyone, although the rest of the tiny village of Shipley was extremely boring.

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