April 13

Up at 7:40 and caught the 9:13 bus to Midhurst. I walked around the Cowdray Castle, a ruined structure but still impressive. It didn’t open until 10:30 but I think I got the best shots from outside anyway and one of the pictures today shows Cowdray. I walked back through the town centre but it was too early for most shops to be open and it was fairly small at any rate. I took the bus back to Singleton where I visited the Weald and Downland Open Air Museum that I had been given a pass to by West Dean Gardens. This is a collection of buildings, either originals or reconstructions from the county of Sussex over a 500 year period. One very interesting building is a modern construction from 2001-2002 called a Downland Gridshell, built of oak lathes and beams in an intricate flowing design. One of the pictures today shows it. I saw how charcoal was made in the 1500’s and while the technology has changed it is still done using the same technique today. A coppiced forest was very interesting and showed how woodland can be managed. Basically, the young hardwood; beech or ash is trimmed close to the ground. This forces a series of branches to rise from the stump. The forest is systematically pruned so that one area is done in the same year. They continue this process for seven years, which allows for harvesting for each section to be done on a rotation basis. The resulting braches are used for making fences, gathered as fagots for starting fires or as firewood. One of today’s pictures shows a coppiced tree.

I took lots of pictures of other structures as well as one of a fellow using a pole lathe, a tool that would have been around a few hundred years ago. He was excellent with his chisels and turned out some very nice spindles as well as a spurtle. ‘m sure you know what that is) Lunch was a sandwich and some cheese, an apple and a pint of Stella, I mean milk. Took a leisurely walk through the rest of the grounds and caught the bus outside of West Dean. Home by 3:15 and watched a movie with the house sitters, The Changeling – very good. It’s now 6:00 and I think I’ll head to the Earl of March for supper.

I had a wonderful meal; lamb cutlets, salad, kidney on a spit, Portobello mushroom and potatoes that were julienned as fine as angel hair. Oh yes and a pint of milk. Not sure if my pictures will upload today as they would not on the Easter Posting. Cheers.....Brian