Category: England

Amberley / Arundel Castles

12 April 2024 / admin

Tulips Arundel Castle

Sussex Castles 9 & 10 April 2024

The prime reason for this expedition was to see the tulips at Arundel Castle where for some years they have been holding a tulip festival to show off the grounds where they have planted huge numbers of the said flowers and have been producing a riot of colour.

A secondary reason is that following write-ups some years ago staying at Amberley Castle has long been something we have wanted to do. And the two castles are within about 5 miles of each other – so it is possible to cover two targets with a single return journey over some very potholed roads. One of the latter was so large in Petworth that if the car had gone into it the TT would have vanished. It is round a corner so is not visible – but it is very deep. I also found out about some others not so deep – but still capable of shaking the car badly.

it is not quite warm enough to have the top down but it is a pleasant drive down to West Sussex and the TT’s satnav takes us along a narrow village road before delivering us to the first castle at Amberley. Originally the Palace of the Bishop of Chichester there has been an excellent conversion to a hotel and our room was well appointed but oddly (as far as I could find) lacking a ‘fridge. However we can for once sit down and catch up on some reading and the wifi certainly seems to be working.

Drinks before dinner are slightly marred by the waiter slipping in some way and covering his lovely bright blue suit with sherry and probably some beer. Not a great start to the evening. The menu looked interesting but for reasons best known to others there was a distinct lack of taste. On departing for our room Jackie was asked for feedback and the following morning the Restaurant Manager came to see us at reception, acknowledged her concerns and indicated that steps were underway to change the menu and the offering with improvement being the aim. The surroundings are superb and at the time we both felt that the food did not match, so hopefully it soon will. Breakfast is excellent.

Fitzalan Chapel Arundel Castle

Our destination is soon reached and we park across the road from the entrance to Arundel Castle. The secret for people of our age is to take the golf buggy to the gardens which are at the highest point (apart from the historic Castle Keep) and to go around the gardens and then slowly descend visiting the other parts of the castle as you walk back down the hill. Of course we only find out about this service as the buggies descend the hill whilst we walk up it!

Tulip display Arundel

The beds and displays are simply magnificent. The festival dates are always slightly variable and we had booked on guesswork that by now they would be in bloom – the commencement date this year was 1 April and it runs for around three weeks – so it would have been disappointing if it was not happening now.

Private Chapel Arundel Castle

Once we have walked around the gardens we start back down the path and into the main house. To my memory despite it not being that far from home I do not think that I have ever visited the Castle and we do the complete tour – including the Keep and the bedrooms. The Dukes of Norfolk have for a very long time been important in the Royal Court and the current Duke was deeply involved in planning the King’s Coronation.

I had not perhaps realised how magnificent Arundel Castle is – it is on a par with Castle Howard in many respects and that comes as a little of a surprise to me as I had assumed Howard stood alone – but seemingly not.

East Kent 20-22 March 2024

23 March 2024 / admin

Dover Castle

20-22 March 2024

Back in 2020 we had a holiday based in New Romney and during that trip had an excellent tea at the Hythe Imperial hotel (in the garden due to covid) and promised ourselves a return visit as the place looked interesting plus there are a couple of restaurants in the area which deserve sampling.

A midweek special offer finally lands and gets booked for two nights including dinner on one night, which we have tonight (20 March) following our drive along the M3, M25 and M26.

The dinner is excellent and we are a little bit surprised as it is better than we expected. Additionally the food is served hot which means that even when reaching the end of each course it has not gone cold. Equally welcome the hot elements of breakfast are warmer in the repositories than normal. If they can do it why not everywhere else?

With the railway running season not yet having started our choices today are limited and we did the zoo last time so this time we are going to Dover Castle (21 March).

There are numerous elements but we restrict ourselves to the WWII tunnels which largely tell the story of Dunkirk and the vast troop numbers which the small ships managed to bring across the Channel. I just wonder how the influx of demoralised troops were able to reach their own regiments again. I suppose each regiment had a nominal base and ways were found.

Henry II Tower Dover Castle

I also visit the Henry II tower. Henry ruled much of Western France following his marriage to Eleanor of Aquitaine. In his own right he held England, Normandy, Anjou, Maine and Touraine and on marriage added Aquitaine. He maintained control by regularly visiting those lands – so they were regular visitors to the Castle on journeys to and from the continent. Consequently having a suitably royal stopping place here was essential.

Hide and Fox Menu

Dinner this evening (21 March) is at the Hide and Fox which is holding a wine evening. The restaurant is a taxi ride out of Hythe to Saltwood – a small place up on the hill above Hythe. The food is excellent. Our chosen date was also a special wine evening and it is pleasing to see an obviously good restaurant full with all tables taken and appreciation for the team.

Moving on to Friday 22 March our return home commenced by a gentle journey to Bridge and the Bridge Arms for lunch. Another excellent meal – the team are also responsible for the Fordwich Arms at Fordwich which we visited back in 2020 and the place steadily fills up whilst we are eating.

The journey home is marred by serious traffic delays. The exit from the M2 to the A249 is closed with little warning. It is therefore not a surprise when the junction for the A229 is causing huge traffic delays. So we then head to the M25 and do well for a while – but once the M26 and M25 merge we are then in solid traffic with overhead displays requiring lower than normal speeds and yet there is nothing to justify the reduction. Inevitably the A3 junction roadworks cause even more delays, so a nice simply journey takes nearly an hour longer than planned. Typical of simply trying to get out and about these days.

Salcombe – the Jetty – and Home

1 June 2017 / admin

Thursday 25 May 2017

The sun is out again as we again drive down to Salcombe for lunch at the Jetty which is part of the Alex Aitken chain which has appeared out of almost nowhere in the last couple of years. We went to the Jetty in Guildford (it is also in a Harbour Hotel; as far as I know there are no actual jetties or harbours in Guildford) about a year ago and if anything this meal is better.

The sun is beating down and we choose to sit indoors in the air conditioning but the outside tables are fairly well occupied and allow us people watching time – and some possible cases of sunburn (no hat or cream hence our choosing indoor seats). Parking at the Harbour Hotel can be tight – but I think we got away with it!

This is my starter which is a Taste of Salcombe Crab and very tasty it was too. A good start to the meal.

Jackie had this stunning looking crayfish and prawn combination to start. I am told it was tasty.

This is my main course – a nice piece of sea bream on spring vegetables and risotto.

And here is Jackie’s main course of fish and chips which does look rather good.

Food photographs once again come from Jackie’s resourceful iPhone – much better than the two of us both trying to out photograph each other!

Now it is time for the drive home. I follow the road signs rather than have the sat nav telling me what to – so do not take the most direct route (which would probably have been faster). Instead we wind back to Buckfastleigh and rejoin the main road. This twisty bit follows the South Devon Railway which we visited at the start of the holiday and although I hear a steam engine we have no sighting of it! We swap driving duties at Exeter and then again near Salisbury Plain.

However there is another reason for coming home a night early – apart from getting a better night’s sleep. One of our guest dogs is coming to stay this evening and we are at home to greet him rather than our daughter doing the honours.

Distance from home to Salcombe is about 190 miles and we did some driving around narrow back roads (and some main roads) so total mileage was probably around 500 miles for this particular holiday.

Next up is a tour through large chunks of Europe which is largely by train!

Dartmouth

31 May 2017 / admin

Wednesday 24 May 2017

Much brighter and a lot warmer today – so we can have the top down on the TT as we head over to Dartmouth which is on the eastern side of this particular piece of sticking out part of South Devon. We know we have visited Dartmouth several times before, once staying in an apartment which was over an early Easter weekend in March (when I did not have to work, in April it was always year end work) and we used the Dartmouth Steam Railway for a return trip to Paignton. We also had a second visit staying in a nearby hotel when we went to John Burton-Race’s Angel restaurant, now closed. Both trips were with Stephanie.

When we arrive in Dartmouth the main car park is full but we manage to find a parking space on the road – but we are only allowed two hours; we rather hope that the wardens will not be around today. We walk to Mitch Tonks’s restaurant – “The Seahorse” – as our lunchtime destination.

We have asparagus (sparrow grass) to start. Fresh as it is the asparagus time of year with a very nice sauce as shown on the left.

To the right is Jackie’s main course of hake.

I have a whole John Dory which was a nice piece of fish. As usual Jackie asked that I do something about the eye which is watching her eat as it always unnerves her and the lemon was placed over it! The entire fish comes very cleanly off the bone.

Courgette fritti (pictured) and some new potatoes accompany the fish. Knowing we will eat some cheese later we decide not to have a dessert. An excellent meal, well presented in great surroundings.

On the way back to the car I go to the newsagents and try to tell Jackie where I am going but she does not hear me. She then “loses” me as I am in the newsagent (I can see her but cannot shout). As the counter staff are making slow progress serving anyone (I recall a line of pensioners who do not seem to realise that they need money to pay for their purchases!). I dump the paper back on the rack and I am just about back to her as my phone rings asking where I am!

We steadily head back to Challaborough – Jackie is unhappy at the uncomfortable bed in the caravan and we reach a conclusion that we should head home early tomorrow after lunch.

Salcombe

30 May 2017 / admin

Tuesday 23 May 2017

We do not sleep overly well. This is not unusual for the first night in a strange bed – but the bed does not feel comfortable. There is of course the usual restricted space in a caravan around the bed (it is almost impossible to get to the “wrong” side, which is my side) and the thin pillows mean my head is not high enough so my neck hurts. There is however a nice view out of the caravan across the park to the adjacent hillside and to the right we can see the sea as we are quite elevated over the main site. You win some and you lose some!

We are off out this morning for breakfast at the Winking Prawn on the water front in Salcombe. It is found without too much difficulty and we arrive just before the self service breakfast is available – so we have a few minutes wait. A nice substantial breakfast and my third cooked breakfast in less than a week, so it will not help the supposed diet!

Not as bright today as expected so we drive into Salcombe itself, park and find a newsagent to buy a couple of items. Then meander up and down the High Street – and get away before our one hour parking expires. Whilst I have been here before a long time ago I do not really remember the town at all.

There are some photos here.

Our next destination is the Sharpham Estate shop as we plan to buy some cheese. Being lunchtime we have a glass of wine as well as you do. Beautiful scenery along the Dart estuary towards Totnes as we drop down into the estate – which took some finding along some back roads.

Our return route takes us through some more of the outstanding scenery as we initially head towards Totnes and then swing west before reaching the town and tracking back towards Challabrough for a quiet afternoon resting.

We do some reading before we head out in the evening to the Millbrook Inn at South Pool which once again is a little bit of a drive along some narrow roads to reach our destination. The route requires that we have to go through Kingsbridge, then cross Bowcombe Creek, pass the end of the Frogmore Creek (as it is not bridged) and the pub is at the end of the South Pool Creek – all these creeks are part of the Kingsbridge estuary.

The pub dining room has a fire – not too near us – but the room goes from hot (doors closed) to cold (doors open) very quickly. Anyway to the very good food – with Jackie’s photos as usual (I cannot quite bring myself to take photos in a restaurant):

My warm duck gizzard, pigs feet and other nice things!

And we get home in the day light despite the tiny back roads we are using!

Devon and the South Devon Railway

29 May 2017 / admin

Monday 22 May 2017

With the football season over we can take a holiday without missing a match – so this is an inexpensive Monday to Friday break.

We are taking another cheap(ish) and this time short holiday. It is Monday to Friday courtesy of the Daily Mail special offer which including a few extras has cost about £80 for a caravan at Challaborough which is on the coast on the western side of the South Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, west of Kingsbridge and south of Ivybridge.

Unfortunately we are badly held up on the M3 due to an accident near Basingstoke. Heading west means the dear old A303 and it is a bright sunny morning which is a great start to any holiday but as we were held up we have to move along at the speed limit. As it is on the way to our eventual destination I have planned a trip on what is now known as the South Devon Railway but when I first visited the line in the late sixties it was known as the Dart Valley Railway. When we do arrive Jackie is unimpressed by the catering offering as she gets some sandwiches for us to eat during our rail journey.

The railway looks nothing like that early visit or even a subsequent trip in the early nineties. On that first trip it was possible to walk around the out of use stock and nothing was undercover. Like other preserved railways, it can no longer pretend to be a quiet bucolic branch line as patronage is now, even on a sunny but non-holiday Monday, vastly greater than the passenger numbers pre-closure.

The trains now run to Totnes Riverside and here the changes are even more dramatic; flower beds on the platform and sign posts to attractions as well as clear routes to the mainline railway; I don’t think we even went that far on the first visit. Working of the branch line into Totnes itself proved too costly and the railway retrenched to their own station. My photos of the railway are here.

With the return train trip completed we motor on from Buckfastleigh, more south than west to our destination at Challaborough Bay Holiday Park. This is at the end of some narrow roads so we get quite close to the hedges and with traffic coming the other way keep needing to find reverse gear. And of course sometimes it is walls and not hedges so even more care is needed, especially with a couple of blind corners!

In the evening we dine at the Oyster Shack. Finding it requires travelling along some very narrow roads, one of which is called Tidal Road alongside the edge of River Avon – and there is water across the road at various points.

I started with some breaded whitebait and here is my main course of crab linguine with spring vegetables which was very nice.

Jackie wanted hake but there was none available. In its place she had yummy cod:

And to ensure we knew we were at the seaside here is the ice bucket:

Photos come once again from Jackie’s camera.

We find a slightly different route back with a few less back roads!