April 19

Awake at 6:00 and up at 7. Cooked a lovely breakfast and left for the college to meet Sarah Wain from West Dean Gardens who has offered to take me on a walk encompassing the arboretum and Trundle Hill. I wore shorts and a T shirt and a sweater. It looked really nice out the bedroom window. When I got outside I realized there was a brisk NE wind blowing and the temperature was no more than 10. Not to worry, we're tough in Canada. We exited the gardens and entered a pasture with sheep and relatively young lambs. (see the picture). We walked through the extensive arboretum and Sarah showed me the damage that had been done in the hurricane of 1987 and how it has actually turned into an opportunity to develop this area into glades and open spaces. The hurricane is estimated to have taken away 25 years of production in the woodland. One place we looked at was a cowslip glade that is being naturalized with a blanket of cowslips. They are just staring to flower now and I expect it to be spectacular within 2 weeks. In other areas, laurel and bramble had nearly taken over and this has required vigorous cutback to allow plants underneath to flourish. We exited the arboretum and passed through the gate at the gatehouse which was once used to monitor traffic onto the estate and is now rented out. It is a lovely property. We then proceeded down a wood road through part of the managed forest and started our walk up to Trundle Hill. This is an Iron Age fort (approx. 3,000 years old) but all that is left today is a walled surround covered with vegetation. At this point the wind decided to escalate to near gale force and I am sure the wind chill factor was now down to 0. I had to keep my hands in my pockets and ensure my Tilley hat was tied on; another true testament to its functionality. See the accompanying picture.

We walked all around the hill which is the highest point on the estate. We were right above Goodwood which is the home of the Earl of March (yes the same one that the pub is named for.) It is also famous for its turf horse race track which was easy to see. (I’ve included a picture of this.) I could see Lavant to the west, my former community, the spire on Chichester Cathedral to the south, the village of Singleton to the east and lovely fields to the north where that vicious wind blew from. Sarah apologized for the wind but it certainly wasn’t her fault, and she was reasonably well dressed for the occasion. I think she knew what we were in for. We continued our walk by passing between two fields that were recently sown in grain and were just starting to show growth. The major crop however was flint stone, which was everywhere. There is too much to remove and more is produced annually by its migration from below to the surface. We saw a couple of meadowlarks that have a lovely call. We continued to walk downhill’ past the old dairy and back along a bridal path where I had started. From the hill we could see many houses and cottages and it was then that I realised as advised by Sarah that the Estate owns approx. 160 homes and nearly all are rented.
This morning I came to the college, updated some pictures and my blog from yesterday. We ate lunch outside in the garden and while it wasn’t too warm, the wind was broken by the hedges surrounding it and it was quite comfortable. About 3:30 we drove to Chichester where I did some banking and Cathy bought some items for her garden. On the way back we stopped at Goodwood Auto Race Track where they have seveal races throughout the year. Here is another photo. We also drove by Goodwood House, where the Earl lives and along with that picture I am enclosing one of a cricket match that was in progress. Nigel tried to explain this to me but I am still in a fog. Back home to watch a football (soccer) match between the highly favoured Eveston and Man United. It was decided on penalty kicks in favour of Eveston who will now meet Nigel’s team, Chelsea in the final on May 30. Cathy cooked a lovely roast pork dinner, the nicest meal I have had here.

Talk to you tomorrow