May 19th - 28th - Worthing…….ish!

 Mainly ‘domestic’ type duties this week although we did manage to get a few local trips in. 

At the beginning of the week we hired a car and took ourselves off to a couple of National Trust house and garden sites. 

The first, Nymans, is/was a beautiful old Manor House from the 1800’s. Unfortunately mostly destroyed by fire in the 1940’s, however, still reminiscent of something out of a Jane Austen novel.  The grounds though are home to wild meadows and woodlands with some lovely views over the Sussex countryside. 

The next, Wakehurst, is home to a late 16th-century mansion and a mainly 20th-century beautifully manicured garden.  The plants were spectacular, and with the board walk, the walled garden, and the water garden, the whole place was fantastic.  We did miss out on visiting the mansion house though as it’s presently being renovated and is covered by an enormous plastic sheet to keep out the weather. 

As part of our ‘trying our best to keep reasonably fit’ program we took off for a walk along the coast to Littlehampton.  About 25kms (15 miles) return, a large part of this walk is actually along private estate property which, along with an occasional stop for ‘refreshments’, makes for a very nice trip. 

As per our ‘normal’ when we’re staying in Worthing there’s always a day trip to Brighton to be had.  Not something that we usually do though is to pay a trip to the pier.  However, a trip to see the tacky rides, feast on the toffee apples or candy floss, lose a few ‘bob’ on the ‘scammy’ coin machines in the amusement arcade, and catch the views back along the coast, is always a nice way to spend an hour or so.