Brighton Off The Beaten Path

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St Bartholomew's dates from 1874 and claims to be the tallest parish church in Britain, if not Europe at 135ft. The church was originallt built to serve the fast growing population in this area of working class Brighton (mainly railway workers in this area). It is built in the Italian Gothic Style out of red brick and is now a grade 1 listed building. It can be seen from the railway line as you approach Brighton station and can easily be mistaken as some vast Victorian warehouse structure rather than a church. Up close it is impressive not just in it's scale but also in it's unique design.

I Believe the church describes itself as Anglo-Catholic, and so whilst officially being part of the Church of England there is a lot of things that you would normally expect to see in a catholic church here.

The Sanctuary and High altar are naturally the focal point of the interior. Light from the huge round window above the entrance is channeled down to the point just above the Byzantine-style canopy over the high altar creating a dramatic effect. The colours of the ornamentation of and around the high altar are very pleasing to the eye.

There are a few information panels in teh church about it's history and the history of the surrounding area of Brighton. Many of the streets which once surrounded the church were demolished in the 1950s as part of Brighton's slum clearance programme. Some of this area near the railway line has only recently been rebuilt as the now trendy and expensive New England Quarter.

The church welcomes visitors and opening times are on their website. There is no admission fee, but a donation to help with teh upkeed of this unique church building wouldn't go amiss.

After departing from Brighton, our next stop was to be Arundel Castle.
I'm afraid, this didn't happen, as even though it was only 20km's from Brighton, the heavy traffic put an end to it as it took forever to do the 20kms, and on arrival, we were too close to closing time to go inside.
So, and outside view it was, and this is one impressive looking English Castle!
I wasn't that disappointed, as it was another Castle where
NO PHOTO'S ARE ALLOWED INSIDE

OPEN....Open Tuesday to Sundays inclusive, and August Mondays and Bank Holiday Mondays.

Chapel, Gardens & Grounds 10:00am to 5:00pm
Restaurant 10:30am to 4:30pm
Gift Shop 10:30am to 5:00pm
Castle Keep 11:00am to 4:30pm
Castle Rooms 12:00noon to 5:00pm
Last admission 4:00pm

ADMISSION IN 2011...............Adults....16gbp

The website is very good, and if you wish to go, will give you all the information you need.

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If the weather is nice and you have transport, it is well worth attempting to burn off some of a large British Sunday roast with a walk in the woods.

This autumn just gone, found myself, 'Aunty & Uncle Wife', 'The Little Rock Chick & my 2nd daughter', 'Princess Fairy' and 'Rocky dog', doing just that after a huge lunch at the aformentioned Cock Pub.

The nearby town of Lewis is a county town, on a hill next to the River Ouse, with a 1000 years of history in its streets and buildings , there is a network of pathways through the woods. I think it is called 'Monks walk', ask a local and they are bound to know. This is a nice easy, gentle walk and suitable for people who have eaten too many roast potatoes, very small people and teenage 'grumpies' ; ) You can go round in a circle, so there is not a great distance to get back to the car, (easy to park here too). - ideal for little legs and tired older legs too!

There are much longer walks and organised trips, click the website link below for further details. Lewes has a castle and various hisotrical buildngs and little quaint shops to explore too; not forgetting they have a branch of the fantastic Bills Produce store and cafe in the town center. You can also easily catch a train or bus there from Brighton.

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Devils Dyke is is the deepest dry valleys in the world and covers some 200 acres of downland, situated in a deep, dry valley. Created in the Iron Age, folklore says that Devil's Dyke was so named when the Devil got seriously annoyed at the conversion of Sussex from Paganism.

The views from the top are pretty awesome, you can see to the Isle of Wight in one direction and Guildford in the other (both 46 miles as the crow flies).

I took a ride out on a hot July day with the Motorcyclist on his fantasic Harley Davidson past fields of scarlet poppies and through tunnels of trees. You can also take the seasonal open top bus no. 77 there, which runs every Saturday & Sunday during the Summer and daily during the school holidays.

There are picnic areas, fantastic walks, a pub that serves food and plenty of space for all. Many people take kites up there and there is also a golf club. It's also worth taking a jacket even on a hot day, as the weather can change 'just like that' (said in a Tommy Cooper voice) ; )

Worth the trip.

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Just a 20 minute railway journey from Brighton (there are trains roughly every fifteen minutes), no more than 30 minutes by car and almost the same by bus, Lewes is the county town of East Sussex and a bit of an historical gem.

The town is a delight. A curious mix of conservative tweedy respectibility (for Lewes was the county town of East Sussex before administrative governmental meddling started juggling with our delightfully ancient traditions) and green eco-warriordom (WWOOF, Willing Workers On Organic Farms is based here together with the worlds' supply of dried lentils...well, more than the odd bagful anyway.) Such is the Jekyll and Hyde nature of the place that you get wonderfully earnest ventures selling organic nuclear-free hemp* sitting decorously alongside shops that purvey elegantly coiled lengths of rope for you to display upon your mantlepiece next to your Philippe Stark lemon squeezer.

Add a real life mediaeval castle, Anne of Cleves' Tudor hideaway, twee cottages, art galleries and a splendid smattering of characterful shops and you can't go wrong. Brighton may be bright and breezy but you'll love Lewes. And I haven't even mentioned the UK's most extraordinary Bonfire Night celebrations...

Usually from visiting the city Brighton we just carry on driving along the road that carries on around the coast. We go through some lovely little places, Rottingdean, Sandean, Lewes, Seaford, Newhaven and other little places before we head off towards London, or maybe Eastbourne, and then on home. On a Summer's evening It is fabulous just watching the sky changing colours in the late evening, from sky blue and pink, to purple and dark coral, and then finally to dark blue and finally on to the night.

The South Downs go on for miles and miles, they are a really beautiful sight to see. You used to be able to see so much more of these when I was younger. Any coach trips would always meander through all of the little back roads and country lanes. But I guess that they are trying to preserve the beauty as much as they can now for future generations? let's hope they appreciate it too.

This is the view looking out of the front window from out of the car.

Yep, this is the old Brighton Bandstand. It is very pretty, but I don't think that it is used anymore?

I can just imagine it in the old Victorian times: All of the ladies and gentlemen in their fine Victorian clothes passing by, or maybe stopping by to sit awhile and have an afternoon listening to the musicians playing to them, maybe even having an afternoon cup of Tea and Cucumber sandwiches.

Actually, just recently, this bandstand has been all in tatters. At first we thought it was being painted or renovated, but each time we go by it, it seems in an even worse state than what it was last time we saw it? which is nearly every other week.

We decided to go for a night out this night (12/7/03) to Brighton, but where it had been a scorching weekend so far, Brighton was absolutely full!

So, instead of looking for an elusive parking space along the sea front, we just continued driving eastwards along the Promenade. The new moon hanging over the sea looked beautiful and bright amongst the pale blue and pink evening sky. We then stopped in a place called 'Roedean Road' and I took a couple of photos of the scenery, and then I noticed this great big sandstone building to my left. It had a few lights spread around on it, but it looked like something from out of an old Bronte or Charles Dickens novel, it made me think straightaway of Bleak House. It looked foreboding and unhappy, just looking at it made me shiver. It could have been a Hotel, yes, it definitely looks like it could have been the haunted hotel in the film 'The shining.' But it was actually 'Roedean School.' The private school for girls, where Sarah Ferguson, ex-wife of prince Andrew, went.... Scary!

On the 28th March 2003, it was a very sad day for people like me that were hoping to see West Pier rise out of the ashes like the Pheonix.

At 10.45 am that morning, a blaze destroyed whatever remnants that were left for the building of West Pier, hundreds of people stood by on the Beach and watched the old Pier burn as 60ft waves engulfed the Pier. Firemen couldn't tackel the blaze because the grade 1 listed building is structurally unsafe.

Arson is suspected as a speedboat was seen near the vicinity and something was seen being thrown onto the Pier minutes before it went up in flames.

The ok to rebuild it was only given a few weeks before this happened too......... This definitely sounds like an insurance job or something very shifty to me.