Day Two - A Journey of Discovery in East Sussex
After coming downstairs to get some coffee, I heard some tapping on the house front door. Peering through the glass panels, I could make out a large seagull standing on the doorstep.
“Christine!” I shouted up, “you’ve got a visitor at the front door”.
“Oh, that’s Horace, he’s a regular here at food times. I’m coming down.”
He tapped again, so I opened the door and said, “Hello, nice to meet you Horace. Christine’s coming to give you breakfast.”
Christine rustled up some food in the kitchen for him which was a bowl of dried cat food with fishy flavours, and placed it outside on a mat for him. He duly ate it up, and then waddled off. She said he comes at regular meal times but if Alba, a neighbouring cat, is lurking around, he’ll stay away. “We have foxes and badgers who come for food at night times, so there’s always something here to eat and water to drink to satisfy them.”
Not only does Christine offer sanctuary for neighbourly birds and wild animals, she’s also got green fingers! Her small front and back garden is a delight and a welcome retreat with wisteria and clematis covered arbour. It is a lovely place to sit under the shade from the hot sunshine with a cool drink or mug of tea. See some photos of her lovely garden at the end of the blog. So today we decided to venture out to Pevensey Castle and explore all things Norman and medieval.
Please Click on the photo images to enlarge, and hover over to read captions. All photos are credited to Marysia Zipser unless otherwise captioned.
We parked our car in the shade and walked to the entrance gateway to the open grounds of Pevensey Castle. A mighty stronghold I thought as I looked up and studied its impressive stone walls. An English Heritage site which illustrates a great history lesson to all ages.
To quote from EH website Welcome to Pevensey Castle
“Evolving from Roman fort to Norman Castle, and even put back into action during the Second World War, Pevensey Castle is most famous as the landing place for William the Conqueror’s army in 1066. Today, it is a great family day out in East Sussex. Enjoy the open grounds and space to roam and explore. Admire the remains of the great square keep and towering gatehouse, or climb the walls and gaze over glorious Sussex countryside.”
“A conservation project is currently underway at Pevensey Castle. Discover how we're preserving the castle for future generations to enjoy, and see our progress for yourselves.”
It was such a fascinating walking trail and we snapped a few pics here and there through the beautiful sweeping grounds. Then we passed through one main gateway into Westham village.
What a delightful and well kept parish community of ancient houses, buildings, village green and open spaces. Apparently Westham is recorded in the Domesday Book, its name deriving from being a hamlet to the west of Pevensey Castle. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westham
John said that St Mary’s Church Welcome to St Mary's, Westham was well worth a walk around so we did. We didn’t venture inside this ancient place, on this occasion. It is reputedly the first Norman church built, its earliest parts dating from the late 11th century. I loved the churchyard’s peacefulness and could have stayed much longer there under the shade of the trees and maybe sketched a few outlines. See photos below. We ambled back along the road pathways around the outer castle walls and to our car which thankfully had kept quite cool in the shade.
On arriving back at our Bexhill house, we sat down in the coolness of the garden’s arbour, drank our tea and reminisced about our day’s adventure. And to bring more smiles to our faces, we heard more taps on the front door. It was Horace in time for his teatime snack obviously noticing our house return.
Kimlee, a Beeston friend, commented on my Facebook post of the day, “Horace seems like a very polite and patient seagull. A seagull from Whitby would have bashed the door down and mugged you by now!" We just giggled! I hope you enjoyed our Day Two and if so please click the blue ‘Like’ button and write any comments below if you wish. See you tomorrow for our next day’s adventure in East Sussex!
Marysia Zipser Website ART - CULTURE - TOURISM - Home Facebook Art Culture Tourism - International - Home Facebook /marysia.zipser.7/ Twitter Art-Culture-Tourism (@MarysiaZipser) LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/marysia-zipser- Email marysia@artculturetourism.co.uk Below are some photos of Christine and John’s beautiful garden back and front.