Bellarine Traveller: West Sussex

The time I spent in West Sussex was mainly to do some family history (refer to my previous blog “Family Footsteps...”).

This part of the UK seems to be a bit off the tourist trail for a lot of people. Yet, it is a delightful part of the UK and there is a lot to see and do. I stayed in a gorgeous village near Bognor Regis called Felpham. The B&B I stayed in here was just delightful – right in the centre of Felpham village, close to a great pub called ‘The Fox Inn’, plus plenty of other eateries are close-by and it is a very short walk to the beach. There are many other delightful villages nearby such as: Aldwick, Barnham, Pagham etc. Nearby is the larger town of Chichester.

Not far away is the village of Arundel where the fabulous Arundel Castle is located. I believe this is the ‘big’ castle that my Dad spoke to me about. It is not big, it is huge!

A visit to Arundel Castle is almost a must. This castle has been home to the Duke & Duchess of Norfolk for a very long time. There is a separate wing where they now reside. However each week the Duke & Duchess entertain guests in the original dining room and drawing rooms. This castle is often used for film & TV productions. Some of the more recent productions are - The Young Victoria, Antiques Roadshow & Bargain Hunt. During my time in the UK I have been to several castles & stately homes, but I must say this was one of the most interesting.

The library here is hard to describe other than stunning, as is the great hall. And yes, I did manage to climb ‘all’ those steps up into the ancient Keep. The climb was well worth it as the views were amazing. And of course (again) the gardens were also stunning (running out of adjectives..). I especially liked the vegetable and herb gardens here. The entry to this garden was a long curved pergola that had ‘old’ espaliered apple trees covering the whole length. There were more formal areas of the garden including an Italian garden. There is also a large ancient chapel in the grounds. One thing I have learnt to do is when visiting these places is to always look at the ceilings – some are incredible.

I also spend some time at Borde Hill Gardens. These were lovely and more unusual to some I have seen. These gardens have a lot of azaleas & rhododendrons that were all originally planted by seed. Most were in flower and they were very colourful. I also enjoyed seeing many very old mature trees here including Tulip Trees and a collection of rarer Spruce Trees from China & Japan. In UK gardens you do see a lot of Japanese Maples and they do grow extremely well here.

The rest of my time in the West Sussex area was spent meandering around and the many smaller villages plus a trip to Chichester for a look at the great Cathedral there and pay a visit to the Family Records Office to try and get some more information about my Dad’s family (more research still needed).