Archive for September, 2013

OCKLEY — Good news, I got up this morning and found I could still walk! Today I went to the market town of Horsham and did some shopping, and a lot of walking. Spent a very enjoyable lunchtime listening to a band playing in the band rotunda before finding shelter from the rain in a mall. On the way back to the inn, I was surprised to see coming round one corner a steam traction engine towing a World War II jeep and followed by fifty plus cars! Who’d a thought it, but tomorrow I make my way to Grafty Green in Kent.

OCKLEY — First stop today was at Rudgwick to try and find some more Jays. I had the small problem of not being able to find the parish church. I drove up and down Church Street loosing for it figuring the street was so named for a reason. I finally stopped at the local convenience store and asked. I was correct in assuming it was on Church Street but it was hidden behind the pub.
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OCKLEY — After some rain overnight the day started out overcast but it looked like it was going to stay fine so off to some villages I went. First was Cranleigh, which my host told me was supposedly the biggest little village in England. I’m not sure what it takes to make a village a town (perhaps a market?—apparently the difference between a hamlet and a village is that a village has stocks!). Certainly Cranleigh is bigger than every other village I’ve seen so far.
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OCKLEY— After a lazy start to the day I left Portsmouth and headed for Chawton, a small village near Alton in Hampshire. It is best known as the village from which Jane Austen published her novels and the house in which she lived for the last eight years of her life is now a museum dedicated to her life.
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PORTSMOUTH — Today I got out of Portsmouth and visited some English Heritage sites. My first stop was at Titchfield Abbey. This ruin started life as a monastery before it was converted into a house (called Place House) by a courtier of Henry VIII. Quite the picturesque ruin, it features an extensive collection of medieval floor tiles in situ and open to the elements with calf-high barriers to prevent visitors walking on them.
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PORTSMOUTH — I arrived at the Historic Dockyard at quarter to ten for a ten o’clock entry into the Mary Rose exhibit and I was let in early as they were not overwhelmed with visitors at the time. One enters the museum on the second level (the middle decks) and after an introduction you enter a long gallery with viewing windows onto the Mary Rose herself. She is currently being actively dried out after having spent the last 30-plus years being drenched with a solution designed to replace the water in the cells of the wooden timbers with a waxy substance.
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PORTSMOUTH — As befitting a Sunday, today was a day of rest. I had a really great night’s sleep (it is guaranteed by the hotel) and woke up at seven. After a very nice “all you can eat” breakfast, I headed into the centre of Portsmouth to have a quiet look around—and didn’t really do much else. On the way back to the hotel, I checked out the parking situation for tomorrow’s visit to the Historic Dockyard. I need to be up and about early for that so I can’t sleep to well tonight. Am looking forward to Downton Abbey starting soon so this post is necessarily short!

PORTSMOUTH — I had a much better night’s sleep last night as there was almost no noise from the bar at all—not sure why, I would have thought Friday night would have been one of their busiest. The theme for this trip, on the evidence so far, seems to be country houses. Today, for a change, I drove to Bovington—the home of the tank, and the Tank Museum.
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YEOVIL— I spent most of today at Stourhead, a Georgian country house in the Palladian style set amidst a beautiful and iconic landscaped garden. I arrived a little before the house opened so instead opted to take a short walk around the garden. About two hours later I had completed the circuit around the lake.
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YEOVIL — After breakfast I got the car packed and headed for Barrington Court. On the way I stopped off at the market town of Ilminster to find an ATM and withdraw some pocket money. Arrived at Barrington Court just after it opened. Barrington Court is an Elizabethan country house that when acquired in 1907 by the National Trust was in disrepair and dire need of renovation.
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