Holiday time: East Sussex cont. 28-30 July

Wed 28 July

Nicky worked this morning so I was on ‘lad-sitting’ duties again. We did play a bit of cricket outside but all of us got very hot so had to come inside and recover!

In the afternoon we headed out to Bewl Water which is a large recreation area around a water reservoir. We took Frodo with us so he had fun with all the new sights and smells. The boys had some fun in an adventure playground and we all had a stroll along the shoreline. Then we found a zip-line activity which the boys wanted to try. It was actually quite cheap so they both had a go, being completely harnessed up, climbing a flimsy ladder to the starting podium then jumping off to whizz down the line. Nicky could hardly watch the boys climb the ladder, especially the younger one, James, asking me if he was up there yet???!!! They, of course, had a great time!


Thurs 29 July
Today we set off for Battle, in 1066 Country. Battle is the location of the actual Battle of Hastings in 1066, but Hastings itself is just down the road. Battle Abbey was built under order from William the Conqueror, with the high altar being situated where King Harold was killed. The Abbey itself was closed and subsequently destroyed in Henry VIII’s Reformation activities but much remains of the other buildings including a gate house and dormitories/common room/refectory.

We set off with our little audio tour guides and did the complete tour beginning with a short film explaining what happened on that fateful day of 14 October 1066. The film was very helpful to have in mind as we went around the site. As we came to different points around the grounds the audio tour then described the events and background. Certainly William’s invading army had quite a hill to climb, especially weighed down with chain mail and weaponry. Of course many thousands of men, (and horses) lost their lives that day so it was a sad place. It was also sad that the Abbey itself was no longer standing but good to see the other buildings and reconstruction models of the Abbey.

I learned a great deal including that William’s army was quite a mixed group of Europeans, and that William apparently had Papal blessing to invade. While a matter of great conjecture, it is interesting to consider how England, and indeed the world, might be different had King Harold and his men won the battle that day, and they nearly did.

Both Ed and James were heading off for a sleep-over at different houses in the evening. Once they were off, Nicky & Greg were child-free for the evening – an unusual occurrence. Nicky’s parents popped in for a short visit to say hello. I had stayed with them once at their place in the Cotswolds back in the 1990-1992 period. They moved down to East Sussex about 8 or so years ago and are now about 5 miles from N&G, with Nicky’s sister Tina just around the corner.

N&G are fortunate to have several nice pubs locally so we walked up to one in the middle of the village and sat outside in the lovely garden, and had a wonderful meal. None of us could manage a ‘pudding’ but even so, we virtually rolled home as the meal was rather substantial.

We then relaxed in front of the TV for a little while, Nicky and I complete with tea and chocolate, then fell into bed.

It’s lovely having a decent amount of time with N&G so that we can casually catch up on things.

We also realised, that this week had been full of ‘B’ visiting – Brighton, Bewl and Battle. Of course Hartfield on Monday could be thought of as the Bridge of Pooh (!) to complete the list.

Fri 30 July

Still child free, Nicky went off to work and as I didn’t have any baby-sitting duties I could have a lie-in. Nicky had made an appointment for me with her osteopath at 11am as I was quite desperate. I’d had about 10 days of not being able to turn my head to the left and although that was much improved, one of my knees was particularly bad and keeping me awake at night so it was worth trying. Laura the osteopath was very sweet but decided she couldn’t do much for my knee. However she stretched and released various other things so that was helpful.
Then I went across the road to the village church, quite a large 17th C church, and found Nicky in her office. I had a wander around while she finished off her work (the last day before she herself goes on 4 weeks leave) and ended up running into Father Nigel, the Vicar. Nicky had told him about me, and introduced as earlier, so we had a nice little chat. Then we came home, let Frodo out for a few minutes, then went to the closest pub, all of about 100m up the road, for lunch!

Tonight Nicky and I looked at her photos from Australia back in 1989/1990 and reminisced (and cringed at my hairstyle!)

Tomorrow, it’s time to head back to Mike & Lesley for the last few days before returning home.