The Long Man and white cliffs

We woke this morning to a wonderful blue sky and a forecast of 24 degrees. Perfect conditions for an adventure.

Merrilyn and James got an early mark and headed off to the farmer's market that sets up once a month here at Windsor. In fact its located on St Leondard's Rd which is just at our door step. They returned with a few local items and we packed a picnic and were off by 10am.

We headed East for the M25 via the M4. As we approached the M3 interchange on the M25 the traffic slowed to about 15mph. That's how we spent then next half hour. With that mess behind us the traffic flowed well and we took the M23 south towards Brighton.

We had heard that East Sussex is a lovely part of England with rolling chalk hills. So we wanted to avoid simply driving on the motorway. Just south of Crawley turned east and headed towards Uckfield passing through Haywards Heath (love those names!).

At about 12:30 we made a short detour to Sheffield Park. Its a National Trust property which we thought should provide us a good picnic location. Turns out that there was a charge of 6.50BGP per adult so we'll save that for another day! Fortunately there was a lovely picnic area opposite the entrance. So we joined a number of other families and found some shade under an oak with a view over a crop field. We enjoyed some sandwiches, fresh stawberries, and Cotswold cold pressed apple juice.

Back in the car we headed towards Wilmington. On the way we passed through many small villages and drove through some spectacular countryside. Wilmington is a tiny, although very beautiful, village. So small in fact, that we drove right past it. It is the home of The Long Man. Its age and intent is not clearly known but there are records of its existence in the Priory dating to the 18th century. Popular belief is that this artifact may even be prehistoric. Regardless, it is a fascinating sight.

We all made our way up the Wilmington Hill via a footpath passing through lush crops. To encourage James along the way we pretended to be trains. He'd set off ahead of us with his arms pumping back and forth and making little chugging sounds. There were a few gates that he'd run up to and open for us. And when he tired Merrilyn and I would pretend to be boom gates. He'd come running to press an imaginary button to raise the boom gate so he could pass through. There are stunning views to be had on the top of the Hill. Although it was a little smoggy.

Making our way back to the road we decided to walk back through the village to a pub at the main road turnoff. Along the way we passed a lovely little church - Saint Mary & Saint Peter. Turns out that the church has its origins in the 12th century and is located with an historic Priory. Although the Priory is in ruins now the church,and in particular the grounds, are absolutely stunning. There is a Yew tree in the grounds that may be in the order of 1000 years old. If you take a look at the photos you'll see that its branches are propped up. There's even a series of chains binding the main branches together. According to a local it may be that Yew trees were planted to either ward off evil or possibly to use the branches as bows.

The gardens in this church were a gem. There were so many wonderful little suprises. The graveyards were divided into garden rooms. Some graves had daisies growing about a metre tall. (As Merrilyn said - the occupants are truely pushing up daisies!) Others had nearby wood benches covered in moss. Still others were bordered by flint walls. We took our time exploring.

When done we walked back into the village. Along the way we passed some quaint terraces and houses. Again with spring gardens in flower. We arrived at the pub for a cold drink about 3:30pm and decided to keep going through to Eastbourne.

Eastborne is popular this time of year. Although having only a pebble beach there are throngs of people and the sea front is lined with hotels and terraces. Just to the west of Eastborne is Beachy Head. There is a drive that takes you along the tops of magnificent chalk cliffs. We parked and took a walk. Its a little odd to find that there is no barrier to protect you from walking right off the top! But I guess it does allow you to take some spectacular photos of the white cliffs contrasting with the green grass and blue sky. We certainly took plenty. Check out the album.

At about 5:45pm we turned for home. Back along the A23, M23, M25 and then M4 we were home at about 7pm. And the sun is still high in the sky. Whilst Merrilyn have James his bath I grabbed some takeaway at a Chinese restaurant at the end of our street.

I've uploaded about 50 photos from today. You can see them here.