July 24 Hunting Woolf near Brighton

Towards Brighton.  Ditchling Beacon, Monks House (V Woolf etc),  Charleston House (more Bloomsbury), Brighton

I started off with a run to the West of the lifeboat station.  To my surprise I found lots of exposed sand a few hundred metres into the run.  It turned out to be quite good running, although the frequent groynes made it a bit challenging at times.  

After getting to the Coast Guard tower – effectively at the edge of the huge caravan Park – I turned back inland and found a nice old village: the folk who lived there must have hated the appearance of the caravan park.

I decided to go back with my binoculars to check for waders and my camera to photo algae 

( especially that growing on the groynes).  

There were few birds, possibly because the dog-walkers were  out in large numbers.  I asked one of them if the sand was usual and apparently it was: this just seems to have been the first time I have been there at this stage of the tide.  She commented that the area where we were was often lined with  Twitchers in the migration season, and certainly Selsey Bill is mentioned as a good sea watching spot in my 'Where-to' book.  In a subsequent conversation I was told about 'Mr Seal' who is often seen in the afternoon in this area.

After breakfast we took off to the East along the A27.  This seems to be one of the two trunk roads South of the Thames (the other being about 20miles North). so if you wish to drive East- West or vice versa this is effectively the only game in town.  It is fine while 2 lanes each way (although tail-back can arise rapidly at roundabouts) but when you get to places like Worthing - which ended up being nominated, and elected as the place on this trip most likely to get the tube when the earth is given an enema - where the road drops back to 1 lane it becomes stop start even in the middle of the day.  At one point there were signs about road works, but it appeaered that rather then carving an additional lane out of the 4m wide nature strip they were making a garden!   I was amused by the name of this area which appeared to be Sompting (faith and begob, to be sure!). 

We found the small road to Devils Dyke which was our first objective for the day.  I wondered why these geological features are always called Devil's?  'Perhaps it is because they are usually downwards orienting – I shall have to check for mountains etc where the name refers to god! In the 3 or 4 miles from the highway to the site we passed 2 golf courses – a little devoid of trees but with brilliant views over to the Channel .  The walk alongside the Dyke was very pleasant.  Apart from the Dyke itself

there were lots of flowers and insects, some photographs of which are in the thematic pages below.  Towards the end of the walk we found a few rabbits – the first since Brum -  and a bouncy fox.  The latter caused me to think that I have yet to see a dead badger, whereas on our previous trip, not that far West, the roads were lined with potential shaving brushes.  Has the infamous cull had an effect already?  (Roadkilled badgers did appear in Shropshire and I was told that the cull was now a test project being undertaken near Cirencester.)

This walk was part of the South Downs Way which is one of the Long Walks that have been developed in the UK.  Several of the other punters we crossed  with seemed to be carrying packs for serious walking. 

Our next objective, Ditchling Beacon, was also on this route.  At the car park was a NT notice 

explaining that this area had been given to the Trust in memory of a WW 2 pilot who had lost his life in the area, which made me realise that this was looking over the Weald where much of the Battle of Britain took place.  There were great views from the Beacon, 

which was the reason it was a beacon, so that the bonfires could be seen from a long way off (if, for example a bunch of supporters of the Real Madrid Bowls Club were spotted on the horizon). Again there were many flowers but no orchids (a photographer told us they had 'gone over' in this area). 

We then trotted off to Lewes from where we headed to Rodmell to check out the Monks House,  at  one time the abode of Virginia Woolf VW - such usage in this post refers to her, not our car!).  Parking was an issue (as everywhere) but we managed.  

A head of VW 

was in the garden of the Manor referring to the place where her ashes had been placed under an old elm tree (rather than the magnolia in situ).   Apparently the elm trees were long gone and the plaque had been shifted to a different position.  There were a lot of interesting things made by members of the Bloomsbury Set around the house   This portrait of VW

was done by her sister, Vanessa.  As usually seems to be the case with NT the volunteers were very helpful and interesting.  In one room there were a bunch of books but only a few, VW's set of Shakespeare  were original.  At some point Leonard Woolf's library of some 7,000 volumes had been sold to Washington State U so had been replaced by some “books by the metre” samples to fill the shelves!

The village of Rodmell was full of interesting looking houses as exemplified by the Rectory.

The small stall seems to be some locals raising money for their village projects.

Our final stop was Charleston Farmhouse which was also linked to the Bloomsbury's.  This is run by a Private Trust rather than NT.  When we got there found we had to do a tour – for which we would have to wait for an hour and a half, so we passed on that and just had a look round the garden.  It is surprising that they talked about the place being unusually busy while the car park wasn't full: I suspect more private sector jobsworthiness.    We were allowed to go and look at some posters one of which included a "family tree" of the Bloomsbury Set.  If you click on this image to see it larger you will understand why there are quotes around the word family!  

The drive home was OK,as far as anything involving Worthing can be "OK", with good views pf Arundel Castle and Cathedral from the highway.

On the way Frances commented on the number of Ford Transits we were seeing on the way.  So it was interesting when we got home to hear that the Transit factory was closing.  On the breakfast program the next day they commented that the production was shifting to Turkey and there would be no Ford production in the UK.

Frances and I trotted off to look for Mr Seal.  As we approached the designated area I noticed a large grey lump on the beach.

This was Mr Seal and a guy wearing a polo shirt announcing he was a Mammal watcher (or similar) explained that its name was Trevor

and it was somewhat controversial since he has been known to bite folk who behave stupidly around him.  He just lay around peacefully while we were there, and all the punters were well behaved – possibly because an official was present.

On the way back I noticed a Heritage sign about Gibbet Field.  An English form of 'Encourager les autres”.  I also remembered to photograph one of the yuccas growing in a garden near the cottage. 

Beers: Freeminer ”GoldMiner”  Normal pleasant bitter;  Shepherd Neame “Spitfire – fuller boided and very pleasant.  Labelled “The Bottle of Britain”with photos of a couple of RAF types.

Bird of the Day: Yellowhammers at Ditchling

Building of the day: Rodmell rectory

Garden of the Day: The Monks House

Bad taste of the Day: Waiting for tours at Charleston Farmhouse

View of the Day: Devils Dyke, narrowly over Ditchling Beacon

Back to the Index page