Bodiam addendum

Oops. Just realized that the Monty Python reference at the end of the Bodiam post made no sense. The castle was used in the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail!

11/7/17. Bodiam Castle

We were so tired of driving that we chose a place that was fairly close to Rye. It was a great choice, actually—Bodiam Castle. It is a classic Medieval castle, exactly as you’d expect. Has a moat and everything!

It’s just the shell now, hasn’t. been restored, but it looks great on the outside. It was built in the mid 1300’s by a knight who had made his fortune by flighting for the Crown, can’t remember which king, in France. It was meant to defend against invasions from France, but he and his wife also made it their home. They put all the mod cons into this late-Medieval castle. Fireplaces everywhere, walls lined with tapestries or other insulating materials, even tile for the floor of the small chapel. Even as a ruin, it’s lovely. But it was never used for defense, because the sea retreated from the area and the French would never have been able to get ships up there to launch an invasion.

 It was bought by a Lord Curzon in the early 1900’s. He and his wife had fallen in love with it, and they wanted to save it from being demolished bit by bit by locals using the stone for other things. They left it to the National Trust of England in their estate.

The portcullis, iron over oak.

This graffiti is hundreds of years old, carved into the front gate of the castle,

I love floors! This is a remnant of the original tile on the chapel floor. 


A view of the interior.

This is one of two fireplace in the kitchen. There were fires in these all year long. This kitchen really was well laid-out, looked pretty efficient.

The grounds are lovely, This is a holly TREE. Have never seen one this big.

And a modern addition—a World War I pillbox. No Germans ever got close to Bodiam, so this pillbox never saw action.

Now I need to re-watch The Holy Grail!

Random pix

Dogs are everywhere, including in every restaurant we’ve been in. This one was booorred. Loved the look on her face. 

Saw this interesting construction today, on the Seven Sisters path. Have no idea what it is,  but thought it was interesting. 

Too funny! In Canterbury.

Sunset on the road.

Green Man faces, on the wall of a shop. Would love to bring one home, but they weigh a ton.

Organ pipes, St Mary’s

Monday 6 November

Today’s forecast was sun all day, so we drove to Seven Sisters, white cliffs like Dover. 

But first we had to get there. Google Maps has been really good, for the most part, but sometimes the route is very strange. Today, instead of going by regular roadways, Google decided we needed to take the scenic route! We started off on Church Road, which led to Starvecrow Lane. (I don’t even want to think about what led to that name...)  These lanes were every bit as narrow as they sound, and you can’t go fast. But they were beautiful, with the sunlight filtering through the leaves. We went past some gorgeous estates along the way, hidden behind the trees.

Re white cliffs, we’d heard from others, that Seven Sisters was better than Dover. It really was spectacular. The Seven Sisters cliffs are on the southern coast, chalk cliffs that in some places retreat about 18” (.4 meters) per year. The cliffs look green on top, but all that greenery is growing on top of pretty unstable stone. There are signs warning visitors not to stand too close to the edges, and steps that formerly led down to the beach are being dismantled because they aren’t useable any more. 

But in the sunshine, the cliffs are spectacular. This view is from the visitor center side, looking west. You can see it bottom right. Eventually it will have to be moved, because the cliffs will have retreated to much to keep it safe. 

This view is looking east, The lower place is where the visitor center is.

This shows how thin the layer of vegetation is on top of the chalk soil. 

The wind is a tad strong coming off the sea!

The car park at the top of the path to the cliffs it’s next to a lovely grassy spot where friends of the site have put benches and tables in memory of loved ones. This was my favorite: “the finest of men, the most precious of brothers and a lifetime of love, laugher and sticky buns.”

Then back to Rye, where I am currently sitting with a cup of tea and an oatcake slathered with clotted cream and lemon curd. Hmmm. 

Sunday 5 November

Sunday we decided to visit Canterbury Cathedral. Just in case anyone else ever decides to do the same, triple the amount of time you think it’s going to take you to get there and park, and don’t be late if you want to attend a service. We were later than we expected to be so the service was closed—but you can hear the music anyway, because it echoes all though the stonework. So we got to hear the organ and the choir while we were wandering. 

It is HUGE. Started in the early 6th century, it has been added to and added to. The crypt was my favorite, as is usually true in those ancient churches—gets you closer to the original site. Love these huge columns. I didn’t take many pictures of the cathedral, because there was lots of scaffolding up. 

There is so much history in the place—Thomas Beckett was martyred there, one of the archbishops helped with the Magna Carta and divided the Bible into chapters. It is a remarkable place. But I think my favorite things were the memorials, some of which were just lovely, including this one.

We didn’t hang around in Canterbury, too crowded. We headed back to Rye and had dinner at our “local” across the street.

Saturday 4 November

Haven’t updated this in awhile, sorry! The storytelling course was great, but hard to blog about. So now I’m out and about in Sussex.

Nancy picked me up Friday, after her own trials and tribulations, including flat tire, tow truck, useless train journeys, and navigating ack-narrow roads at night with no sleep. We made it to our row-house in Rye Friday and immediately hit the pub—which is literally across the street.

On Saturday 4 November, we walked around Rye. It’s a Medieval village with lots of history, being that it’s on the southern coast of England. We are going to take a walking history tour on Wednesday, so I’ll know more then, But Saturday we just walked around, listening to the myriad  accents all around us. Obviously it’s a place that tourists from lots of countries visit.

We were on a quest for the Information office, designated by a lower-case “i” in a square. We found it eventually, using Google maps on a phone, because it certainly wasn’t well-marked in Rye. Just before we found it, we saw a sign with the i, pointing left. Just to the left of that sign was another one—an i, with an arrow pointing to the right! I had to take a picture. 

We picked up a map and some brochures and headed out. We hiked up the hill on a rough cobblestone street to the Mermaid, one of the oldest pubs i Britain. It was full—probably typical on a weekend—so we weren’t able to have a pint. We are meeting our tour guide there on Wednesday, so I’m hopeful we’ll be able to sit down. 

From there we went to St Mary’s Church and climbed the 83 steps to the top for “the best view in Rye”. Those 83 steps went through several different iterations: modern wooden stairs, stone stairs in a passage about 18” wide, and ladders. Which are best descended backwards! It was an adventure, but the view really was good, You can see clear to the coast, which has gotten farther away from the city since Medieval times, Lots of storms on this coast, I gather. Once we finally made it to the top of the tower, the view was wonderful, even though it was a pretty grey day. I loved this patterned rooftop. 

On our way back down, we took time to check out the bells. The bells are played by ringers pulling on the ropes, which are attached to the wheels that are attached to the bells. Each ringer has one rope, which moves one bell by rotating the wheel. I did this at Dublin Cathedral, and the timing is really tricky since the person pulls a rope which pulls a bell which moves a wheel. These bells are BIG, so I would think that maybe the ringer can get pulled up by the rope. And I can’t imagine how loud it would be in there, when the bells are going—though I’d love to hear it. I hope the ringers wear earplugs!

These beautiful Tudor half-timber buildings are just outside of St Mary’s.

We ended the day in the Queen’s Head Free House, drinking cider and beer. It was a good first day.