Castle, chapels, a church and a cathedral

Brighton Marina - looking a little stormy

Last week I escaped London and headed to Brighton. The Marina to be exact. A friend of mine has a holiday apartment there and we go usually once a year, just the two of us.

The weather wasn't too promising, but I managed to skip all the heavy showers to meet up with my friend and then we drove, stopping at Godstone for a toilet break. The local cafe was heaving with people so we crossed the road from the pond and headed into The White Hart pub where we ordered hot chocolate. The interior is all beams and has a lovely atmosphere. Had the weather been better (it began raining while we were inside) we might have ventured for a walk around the green. We set off and drove through some torrential rain, but as we neared the downs the weather cleared and the sun was shining when we reached Brighton. We stopped to pick up some supplies and headed for the apartment and a nice cup of tea. Later we went out for a stroll by the harbour, but in front of us was a dark cloud and flash of lightning. We headed back!

Tuesday was to be the best day weather-wise so we set off for Arundel and the castle. This evoked memories of going there with my mum and dad when I was a child, and to taking my own children, yet strangely there was little I remembered. The ticket pricing was rather confusing and I ended up with a different kind of ticket to my friend and had to pay an extra £2 at the grand staircase so I could visit the extra bedrooms my friend had paid for. But the castle is lovely and is still in use. There is a private part where the family live, yet they also use some of the rooms in the main castle, and it does feel and look homely. I fell in love with one particular bedroom with a ceiling painted in leaf patterns (reminding me of William Morris) and the library (which I did remember...I wonder why!). We went to the Keep and the Fitzalan Chapel. This is unique in that the church is split in two. The side inside the castle grounds is Catholic, but on the other side of the screen lays the Church of England church of St Nicholas (you can access this via the road outside). The chapel side is more a mausoleum and was once used to stable horses during the Civil War.

The gardens are beautiful and you get a good view of the outside of the Cathedral. It was already getting late by the time we left but we did manage to visit St Nicholas Church. They were about to close so it was a quick visit. We then stepped across the road to the Cathedral for a look in there. The town was quite empty by the time we walked back to the car park.

Arundel Castle

Chapel inside the castle

Dinner anyone?

Now that's what I call a bathroom!

My favourite bedroom

Library

View from the Keep

Coming down from the Keep

Part of the Civil War Rooms

Fitzalan Chapel

Gardens

Looking through the screen from St Nicholas back into the now closed Fitzalan Chapel

St Nicholas Church - altar (behind is the screen)

With Wednesday came the rain again. We'd prepared for it and had a slow start. We drove out to Lancing late morning and visited Lancing College Chapel. I have admired this from the windows of trains for years, so I was keen to see inside. Entrance is free. Wow! It's like a mini cathedral. We were able to go down into the crypt, a lovely performing space, and afterwards we admired the school buildings. Here girls and boys aged between 13 and 18 are educated. They have an indoor swimming pool, cricket ground and a pavilion clubs would die for, football pitch and tennis courts.

As we headed back to Brighton the rain set in, but we'd done what we set out to do. Thursday we headed home after a brief walk along the sea wall towards Rottingdean.
The sun was shining again but our break was over.