Highlight Arundel and driving through the Surrey Hills.

We were able to breakfast in the Lodge because muesli, muffins and spreads were provided as well as milk, tea and coffee. This made for a relaxed start to the day and John could even do some computer catch-ups

We decided to head for the shore for a bit but ended up lost as there are a lot of private estates in the area. We finally put in another spot to head to, but ended up side-tracking to Goring-by-the-Sea. We are not sure if it is before high season but parking was even free. We stopped and found a few caches on line and looked for them as we walked. One took us to an historic pillbox which although now closed up, was interesting. Sadly, we did not find the cache based on this but did find another couple. There is a whole series all along the shoreline from Shoreham-by-sea through to the 2 we had found the previous evening. Once again, lots of dogs were being walked of all sizes from tiny to huge, We even saw one of the largest dog we have ever seen,

Next stop was Arundel, the target when we had left London. Jane had said it was a lovely town and Jennifer told us that a Bampfylde has captured it some time in the past.

We ended up parking on the road out of town and walking back towards the town. The upside was the free parking but the extra walking took some time.

We passed first the cricket ground and headed to see what we could find to be met by a sign that said the ground was only open on cricket days. However we met Georgina who lived on the ground and introduced us to the chief groundsman who was marking the wicket for tomorrow’s game. During a short chat he told us the best spots to visit. He mentioned the oak trees planted by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert and a spot with a good view of the river.

We made our way in a very roundabout way to the Castle. It is in extensive grounds so there were different ticket options. We opted for the most expensive as that allowed us to see the grounds, the castle and the bedrooms.

One good part of our wander through the castle was the information from the various attendants, volunteers we assumed. We were told at one spot that the castle, although occupied by the Duke of Norfolk and his family, is owned by a Trust, and they pay rent. The beds in the various bedrooms/suites looked bigger to us than those we have often seen in stately homes and we learnt that the rooms are occupied on special occasions. On the side that we could not see there is often a step up to the bed, as they are high.

The dining area was set up for dessert. Again we were told that the room was still used as a formal dining area for special occasions.

We took a photo of a table that may be the one that Jennifer remembered as she said it was one she coveted. 

We ate in the café which was part of the servant’s area, and the women’s bathrooms had the remains of an old bread oven from the same time. The men’s had a slot so you could fire your bow and arrow while sitting on the privy!!

Under normal circumstances we would have visited the Keep, however, the sign warned us it was a half hour detour with high and steep steps so it was a quick decision to decide not to go up.

We spotted some chairs and had a discussion with the attendant as to whether they folded. She was amused as she told us after doing the job for 7 years she had only been asked the question twice and the previous time had been a week ago. We all peered at the chairs and decided they did not fold.

We also saw a lovely sleigh that the family use for holding their Christmas presents.

Mention was made by a couple of people of the role of the Duke of Norfolk.

The Duke of Norfolk is the premier duke in the peerage of England, and also, as Earl of Arundel, the premier earl. The seat of the Duke of Norfolk is here at Arundel Castle in Sussex, although the title refers to the county of Norfolk. He also holds the position of Earl Marshal, which has the duty of organizing state occasions such as the state opening of Parliament. Additionally, the Duke of Norfolk participates in the ceremony of the State Opening of Parliament. He is among the four individuals who precede the monarch, and one of the two who would traditionally walk facing the sovereign (thus backwards), but this has not been practiced in recent years. There were a few family photos on display and one showed the opening of Parliament with the Duke to one side.

Discussion was made about the upcoming royal wedding. The woman who spoke to us about it said that was not the job of the Duke to organise but he would have been in discussions about funerals. The arrangements for Prince Philip’s and the Queen’s funeral have probably already been made, which is a little premature but necessary given the size of such occasions.

When we went through the castle we saw the spades that Queen Victoria and Prince Albert had used to plant the oaks near the cricket grounds. The groundsman had it slightly wrong we discovered as the original trees no longer stand.

One room referred to the visit to Arundel Castle of the couple. They found the rooms rather small but were happy with the hospitality. As the then Duke and Duchess had spent 2 years preparing for the visit it is fortunate that the royal couple were satisfied. The Duke devised a brand new apartment block for the new Queen and Prince Albert to stay in, commissioning a portrait of the Queen and decorating the block with the finest of Victorian furniture and art. The Duke spared no expense to make the Queen's visit enjoyable, and he succeeded.

Almost every part of the castle that the Queen would visit was re-furbished and exquisitely decorated to meet Royal standards. At the end of her visit, she wrote to the Duke and commented on how enjoyable her visit was, commenting on the "beautiful" castle and the friendliness of her reception. The suite of rooms in which Victoria stayed are now part of the family's private apartments but the suite of bedroom furniture we saw on display.

In the library we were told the ceiling is modelled on that of St Georges Chapel at Windsor. Another couple visiting who worked at Windsor Castle said we should be fine to go to there this weekend, but don’t quote them. So I just did. We hope to go there with Katherine, maybe Saturday, depending on her plans and the weather.

Later when we were in the Fitzalan Chapel, the chapel in the grounds, we saw a tomb that showed the person in life and beneath as a skeleton. We heard that the ‘tomb’ would have been in the chapel when the occupant was still alive and would be a reminder that life is limited. This church building is one of the very few church buildings that is currently divided into two worship areas, one Catholic and one Anglican, with the western side of the church building occupied by the Anglican church of St Nicholas. The garden outside the chapel had some beautiful white flowers in bloom.

We did not go to the kitchen garden area but headed back to the gates at this stage. We had enjoyed what we saw of the gardens as we walked through, especially noting the mown walkways in the middle of the otherwise high grass.

We stopped to look at information about the Priory and the War memorial on the way back to the car. Then we had a cuppa in a tearoom. There was a notice saying that notes would be checked and our 20 pound note was. The woman who ran the tearooms said they are commonly faked as they are still paper while other notes are plastic. We found an ordinary cache on the way to the car to be sure we did have one from Arundel, then considered our trip back to London.

We did not want to arrive early and hit the busy traffic so John spotted a random town, Wotton, in the Surrey Hills. This gave us a nice drive on some busy roads, but most were one way in each direction and went through countryside. As we approached Wotton the road seemed to be dug into the ground in places. There were also a lot of public footpaths marked in the forest for country rambles.

We got water than went for a short walk on one of the public walkways to find a cache. We then had a nice meal with a helpful waitress who suggested a local gin for John to try. We found a cache at the churchyard opposite as we left, as the listing looked interesting. Not only was it cache number 5 in the Church micro series in the UK that now goes up to over 12,312 caches, but the church itself sounded interesting. We drove safely down the very narrow lane but didn’t have time to go in.

We used the tomtom to get us back to Jane and Ian’s. At the start of our evening meal Google Maps was suggesting going on the A3 but by the time we were leaving, the M3 was the recommended route. The tomtom agreed and then self-corrected a couple of times to avoid disruptions on the road ahead. It has been very useful to have the proper maps in both places. We were home earlier than we expected so had time to write our Airbnb review for East Preston and do some other paperwork before it was bedtime.