Chichester Mini Break

There's something about the Roman era that I find fascinating, not their warring and cruelty but their buildings, aqueducts, houses and their art.  For years I've been wanting to visit the Fishbourne Roman Palace in West Sussex and finally earlier this week I made it!  Hubby and I were staying in Chichester for a few days dodging the heavy showers that the UK has been experiencing for the past two weeks (we still have a hose pipe ban!). Tuesday looked like the best bet for a trip out and indeed it was.  We walked the approximate two miles to the Roman Palace and I was impressed by the amount of mosaic floors there, the outline of walls and pillars outside and the restored garden.  The museum was fascinating too and there was some Roman food to try, very tasty salad dressings, apricots stewed in wine,vinegar mint and lovely bread made with Spelt flour.   I thought it would all be meat based but of course only the rich could indulge in that often.  I brought away some recipe sheets to try out some of these things at home. (By the way French Dressing is actually Roman, not French, ha!)

Fishbourne Roman Palace, Mosaics under cover!
Outlines in the grass are old walls.

I would have been very happy to live in a palace like that! There aren't many bygone eras I would like to have lived in but if I was well off a Roman Palace would do just nicely, thank you. The Romans did quite a lot for us Brits with their building and when they eventually left a lot of it was left to disintegrate.  We could have learnt a thing or to from them, especially the heating!

There is also some mosaic flooring underneath Chichester Cathedral which can be seen through a glass window. We visited the Cathedral on Wednesday because weather-wise it was good to be indoors!  You could hear the rain and wind howling around the building. The cathedral was interesting and contained some lovely artistic pieces. The stained glass windows are superb. I came across St Clement Chapel which has a memorial to all who served and gave their lives from the Royal Air Force stations in Sussex. My uncle Billy flew with the RAF out of Thorney Island, a few miles away and was lost at sea during World War II.  His own memorial is at Runnymede in Surrey but it was nice to find this so close to where he was based and I lit a candle in remembrance.

Moody skies over Chichester Cathedral

The BBC were setting up in the Cathedral for a broadcast they were doing later so there was an area we could not access from the choir stalls up to the main altar and I had great difficulty trying to photograph the organ because my camera wanted to expose for the lighter area so I had to fool the camera and set it to night shot!  I still haven't mastered all the controls on my camera and would prefer a SLR digital like the one hubby has but they are SO expensive.

We had to make a dash in the rain to the shop and Cloisters Cafe and before we ate we visited the RSBP  in their tent in a very water logged cafe garden!  They had a live feed to the Chichester Peregrines nesting in the south east turret.  There are four eggs, two of which had hatched.  To watch it until 18th July click the link.

Outside the Cathedral there are the Bishop's Palace Gardens, very pretty and a lovely place to sit and relax. When we went out in the evenings the bells were ringing merrily.  We were told by a local that the bells are rung from the Bell Tower not the Cathedral!  They sound lovely.

Chichester also has some nice galleries - Pallant House has main collections but also some special exhibitions and I particularly enjoyed The Art of Chichester Festival Theatre exhibition which had models of theatre sets with the little characters, other props all set on false grass with flowers.  I loved it.  Also enjoyed David Dawson: Working with Lucian Freud.  Dawson was one of Freud's models and on display were Dawson's studio photos and rarely seen painting by Freud. Keith Vaughan: Romanticism to Abstraction was more of a challenge.  I liked some of his work but other things left me unmoved.  A very nice gallery with interesting exhibitions.  The other place, The Chichester Arts Centre, was much smaller and had work by local artists.  The main gallery held paintings, collage, ceramics, quilting, jewellery, all sorts of art works and some for sale.  Nice to see local artists' work, there was some excellent pieces that I'd have happily bought if I could afford it!

Our accommodation was Jubilee House a small B&B overlooking gardens and the City wall.  We got lost in the pouring rain and the husband of the lady who runs the B&B came to rescue us!  (We were very close and had walked passed it!).  Our soggy coats were dried out for us and we were offered cake.  There was a guest fridge in the dining room. Our room (Litten) was lovely and personal service was just great.  There was home baked wholemeal bread offered at breakfast (so tasty) and another evening there was sponge cake to help ourselves to.  There were books and games to borrow if we needed them.  Nothing was too much trouble. I highly recommend a stay there.

The evening of the day we arrived was World Book Night.  I had forgotten about this but we visited the library to find out about where the Museum had moved to (over the road from the library but not open until about July).  We were invited to stay for free nibbles, a free book and the chance to win some prizes in a short quiz competition about authors.  That was so much fun to do!  My free book was The Road by Cormac McCarthy which I will start reading soon now I have finished my Book Club read.

Our room (note Snooker on TV!)

Despite the weather we had a really nice break and somehow managed to miss most of the showers, a miracle but we did get our full quota the day we arrived!