England 2017, Sunday, 5/28/2017

This is our day to depart the Star & Garter in Andover.  Tim and DebD again head out to a coffee shop on High Street for a Latte and roll.  Mark and DebC repair to the hotel breakfast bar for a full English, but with scrambled eggs as the kitchen staff was short handed this morning, so there was a buffet instead of service.  Still fine.

We headed out around 10:00 this morning after loading up the chariot.  Driving generally eastward towards Petworth. This small village has grown around the grounds of Petworth House, the home of the Duke and Duchess of Somerset.  This home originating in the 1300's, is situated on over 700 acres and was completely landscaped by Lancelot "Capability" Brown in the 1700's.  It is now in the care of the National Trust and houses the largest art collection of the Trust, including 19 J.M.W. Turner paintings, works by van Dyck, Gainsborough, Joshua Reynolds, wood carvings by Grinnling Gibbons, loads of neoclassical statues, and many other items.  Statuary, huge and sumptuous rooms, and all well documented and attended by guides in every room open to public view.  The Earl of Egremont still lives in the south wing of the home so a good share of the rooms are not available.

So much art that it was overwhelming.  We walked out saying that there was no way to absorb very much due to the sheer magnitude of the collection.  We did attend the servants area and the kitchens.  Like Lanhydrock, the kitchens were huge and designed to serve a multitude.  At its heyday, this estate housed 135 servants alone, not to mention family and a constant string of visitors. As today is part of a three-day national holiday, the kitchens were staffed by presenters in period costume, and were preparing lemon custard tarts and lemonade according to old recipes and procedures. The tarts were just out of the oven and not yet set so we couldn't taste them, but we did get a swig of the lemonade - warm and very sweet, but tasty.

Just as we were taking our leave after almost three hours of wandering, it started to rain lightly and as we were leaving the car park it started as a steady rain, changing to downpours off and on as we made our way south and east towards the southern coast and the city of Brighton.

Brighton, on the south coast, has long been a favored site for vacationing Brits. However, it now appears tired, worn out and somewhat tacky, perhaps like a British Atlantic City, but without Donald Trump's failed casino. They do however, feature the new British Airways i360 observation tower.  This is a 450' tall spire with an attached observation tower that is cabled up and down for views of the area.

Traffic on this Sunday was fierce and crowded, slowing to a crawl at times.  As we motored eastward along the coast, we did come across some very interesting scenery and some towns that were much more vibrant such as Hastings.  It is strange to contemplate that this vibrant seaside resort was the scene some 945 years ago of the battle and invasion that marked the start of the English empire, eventually leading to the establishment of our own homeland.

Driving onward, we passed some amazing chalk cliffs.  These are slowly caving into the sea and so are fenced off well back from the edge.  It is apparent from the walking paths along the fence that many walkers are treading the area.  Later we came upon the Seven Sisters Park.  This was crowded with people preparing to walk or returning to their cars after a walk.  The Seven Sisters is a series of steep hills bordering the coast line that people walk up and down.  The park is large, the walk is tough, and there were a lot of people this date.  We didn't stop, but DebC and I put it on our list of future things to do.  Of course it will have to be sooner rather than later, as our walking is getting slower and slower as we gain on Father Time.

We arrived at our destination of The Little Silver Country Hotel in the village of Tenterton near Ashford.  A clean and serviceable former coaching inn situated along the the A272.  We unloaded the car and then enjoyed a well cooked dinner including pork tenderloin, salmon and chicken fettuccine.  We enjoyed a nice visit with the owner and retired around 9:30.  Another travel day under our belt.