Posts Tagged ‘sightseeing’

HIGH HALDEN — This morning I drove down to Battle to visit Battle Abbey and the site of the Battle of Hastings. I did the audio tour and took the long option which led you right around the battlefield. The site is not quite as it was in 1066 as the top of the hill was subsequently levelled to build the abbey and the field was terraced for the abbey’s use. There are probably a few more trees now as well—so you had to use your imagination a little.
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HIGH HALDEN — I began this morning by driving to Maidstone to locate the Centre for Kentish Studies and to make an appointment for the following week. Amazingly I found a park right outside the building and will be revisiting on Tuesday and Wednesday.
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HIGH HALDEN — There’s not a lot of point leaving too early (unless you’ve got along way to go before your first stop) as most castles, abbeys, etc. open at 10:00 am. at the earliest.  I left the Old Store Guest House at 9:30 am. and twenty minutes down the road I stopped at Arundel Castle, home to the Duke and Duchess of Norfolk.
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HALNAKER — As luck would have it there is another Roman villa not far from Chichester at Bignor, and that is where I went for my morning’s sightseeing. Again, there is not much left of the villa itself except for its unearthed mosaics. There are some interesting comparisons between Fishbourne and Bignor.
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HALNAKER — Today I went to see something that’s been on my list of places to see for a long time: Fishbourne Palace. It is thought that this Roman palace began life as a supply depot for Claudius’ invasion of Britain before being enlarged to become probably the largest Roman palace in Britain. The museum showed how the palace was discovered, and how the it would have looked through the various stages of its development. There is not much of the palace visible—much has been reburied to preserve it—but the crown jewels of the site are the many mosaics that were unearthed and are now on display under cover.
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HALNAKER — Today I visited the Weald and Downland Open Air Museum just north of Chichester. Normally I try and visit two places of interest a day—one in the morning and one in the afternoon—but because the distance between Winchester and Chichester is so short, there weren’t a lot of places that appealed. This open air museum was one that did.
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ITCHEN ABBAS — I spent today on walk-about in Winchester. I entered the first car park I saw and thought “this looks full”—turned out there was a car boot sale in progress—but I managed to find a space. After having a brief look at what was on offer I started the quarter-mile walk into the town centre. I passed by the public library (sorry, Winchester Discovery Centre) just as it was opening at 10:00 am. and popped inside to see if I could use the free internet on offer to send a few belated e-mails. I found I could connect but my e-mail client didn’t want to work. The e-mails would have to wait.
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ITCHEN ABBAS — I left the Royal Yeoman in Grimstone mid-morning in glorious sunshine and headed north for Yeovil and Sherborne. I intended to visit Sherborne’s two castles and so, because it seemed logical, I chose to go Sherborne Old Castle first. Another picturesque ruin, it was originally built by one of the Bishops of Salisbury, and at one stage was owned by Sir Walter Raleigh. After taking a look around the castle grounds I drove over to the neighbouring new Sherborne Castle—which is a bit of a misnomer as it was orginally a hunting lodge—only to find that it was closed for a special event. As it was Saturday there could very well have been a wedding booked.
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GRIMSTONE — It was a slower start to the day today as breakfast was served from 8:30 am. The first destination for the day was the village of Cerne Abbas and the giant figure of a man carved into the hillside above the village. The look-out provided gives a good view of the Giant, and a nearby walk through woodland leads into the village. Other walks take you closer to the Giant but they looked like they would involve a lot of climbing far too early in the morning—so I had a quick look at the village instead.
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GRIMSTONE — Another glorious day, though a bit chilly first thing. I left Exeter the only way I knew how—via the M5. I exited at the next junction though and headed towards Sidmouth. Due to a warning that the route I intended to take was closed I decided to visit Bicton Park, a botanical garden, in order to give the accident or breakdown or whatever time to be cleared.
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