Globe Trotting

 I'm not sure that I would ever step foot onto a boat if I was likely to encounter any of these beasts on the high seas!

These are all from the extraordinary Molyneux Globe. It's the first terrestrial globe made in this country and is the handiwork of Emery Molyneux [d1598]. It perfectly captures the Elizabethan understanding of the world at this time. Nowadays it lives in Petworth House which is under the care of the National Trust.

Arilx

"I don't believe it!"

 When I uttered the words " I doubt that I'll take any photos today as we're only going to be going through bluebell woods" I truly meant them. David raised his eyebrows with an expression which could only be interpreted as 'I don't believe it' and even though he may not have actually uttered those words it turns out he was right. We were doing a Fancy Free walk in the nearby village of Billingshurst....it was too hard to resist💕

This stunner is a Speckled Wood and was just warming its wings in the sunshine. It was very obliging and just stayed put to allow me to get close enough. Normally any butterfly which sees me is off like a shot!

I lived in this village for a few years as a child, but it's changed enormously and many things are new or unfamiliar to me. The gatepost with its beautiful original and elegant glass finials, the Victorian pub [which I initially thought might be 1930s with its Art Deco lines] and the house with those bays on the side [any idea what they might have been for? I've drawn a blank] all caught my eye on the way down.

My favourite colour of those I see belonging to the Horse Chestnut. It's not actually a native tree, but introduced and it originated in the Balkan Peninsula. When the leaves fall in the autumn they leave a horse shoe shaped scar on the twig [source the Woodland Trust].

It wasn't long before we made it into the woods and as you can see below I did stop to take a single photo of the bluebells. I discovered recently that they are also known as Wild Hyacinths which isn't really a great stretch of the imagination when you examine them closely. They bear more than a passing resemblance to the cultivated variety. The first part of the footpath on this route runs between two fences and look what I found behind one of them. Someone's very own Dingly Dell.... animals and fairies galore. I like those homemade houses and castles. It worked without tipping over into twee.

The woods were everything an English wood in the Spring should be. The wild flowers are really coming out now and it was with absolute joy that I spotted my first Early Purple Orchid of the season.

As we meandered back through the modern housing estate, built upon the fields of my youth, we came across these two sculptures. I went in search of them last year and wrote about my visit here https://gnatbottomedtowers.blogspot.com/2024/03/all-work-and-no-plays-makes-for-very.html I managed to miss both of these though. No matter they were there for me to find this time round instead.

Arilx

The Three Bs part three

 The third B is for Bolney. I had the briefest of looks around inside the church many years ago when I was on an organised walk so it was rather splendid to be able to mooch around in a more leisurely fashion. I'm taking it easy today and just sharing a couple of photos. The spring themed window is by Cox and Barnard [1982].

We went out to perform with Mythago for St George's day yesterday at a local pub. I was so nervous, but it was so good to be back and a couple of the audience messaged us immediately afterwards asking if they could come along so that was a bonus. Hope everyone has a good weekend.

Arilx

The Three Bs part two

 Second B is for Bedelands Nature Reserve. Free parking and entry and this gorgeous wooden greenman guardian gatekeeper [the work of Sussex artist Janine Creaye].

The reserve was established in 1994 and is one of a series around Burgess Hill. It covers 33 hectares and supports many rare species including dormice, the grass rivulet moth and the cumberland green and yellow crab spiders. It also offers seven unploughed ancient wildflower meadows. With my passion for wildflowers ever undimmed we are currently photographing every one we see no matter how common it is and creating our own personal record. So Watford Meadow, Wet Meadow, Big Field, House Field, Mill Pond Field, Old Furze Common and Valebridge Common Field prepare yourself because in the words of Arnie 'I'll be back' later in the season to see what you've got on offer. Meanwhile the woodland is currently a glorious carpet of bluebells and wood anemones with that fabulous lime green haze you get when the oaks start to unfurl their new leaves. Some of them are festooned with ivy with those rope thick stems climbing ever higher.

In 1607 Edmund Attrie, Lord of Theobald's Manor, got permission to permanently flood six acres of common to power a water mill which is no longer standing, but the pond remains and is a favourite haunt of bats hunting for their nightly insect feast. At some point two waterfalls have been constructed to bring the flow down to the lower pond and although there has been insufficient rain to have both of them running, this one was doing a pretty good job. Unfortunately we don't get natural waterfalls in this part of the world so we just have to make the best of what we do have.

David's map indicated that there might be a well somewhere around, but our brief foray proved fruitless. Perhaps it's on private land nearby. Anyhow we stumbled across this face staring back at us from an old and rather neglected door instead. Am happy with that!

A couple of miles walked in the sunshine set us up nicely before beginning our homeward drive. Was there another pitstop planned? Of course, need you ask! Next post....

Arilx

The Three Bs part one

 The great escape happened on Wednesday....yes we made it out of Horsham. That fact alone called for a celebratory decaff latte in Spoons....living the high life again, but hey it's budget friendly and David can't have caffeine at the moment so it felt like a win. Usually he doesn't get the luxury of choice when it comes to decaff beverages. Enough...I digress.

First B is for Burgess Hill.

I strongly suspect that if I said to people who know the area that I had chosen to spend the day here I'd have garnered a similar reaction i.e a raised eyebrow aa when I went to Crawley last year. It's not known for being one of the pretty Sussex towns. A lot of it is Victorian and grew as it became a commuter town for being on the London to Brighton line. That train connection remains important and they're still using the original station from 1877. The part this type of public transport plays in the history of the place is commemorated by this rather natty bench.

The town is actually 17th century and is thought to be named after a local farming family called the Burgeys who appear on the tax rolls in the 13th century. It had a flourishing tile and brick industry which is showcased well by the parish church of St John The Evangelist [consecrated in 1863]. It has many lovely details in its construction. Over my many years of church crawling I have learnt to expect the unexpected and this time it was a model of an organ made from cardboard tubes and wooden clothes pegs for the keyboard. I have without guilt chopped of St John's head as I wanted to focus on the amazing level of stitching in the eagle that accompanied him. I even found myself a couple of dinky little dragons on the bell.

The local crafters had been busy and the band stand was swathed in Easter themed crochet work.

The sculpture is called 'Stone Garden' and is by David Parfitt and Jane Syblilla Fordham. It consists of 10 pieces representing a tree and plant forms made of Bath stone and set within a picked out garden shape. Tricky to capture it in all its entirety, but I hope that it gives you some idea.

I love this one. The Burgess Hill Theatre Club has been going since 1935 and puts on three plays plus a panto every year. It actively encourages new playwrights to bring their work to them to perform and seeks out members from within the community. If Am Dram is your thing you're well provided for here. 

Although I can't explain to you why, I do like to to take a quick look at any war memorial I come across. It's rare, but good to see that the sacrifice of the non humans is also remembered and I'm very pro the different coloured poppies now available to mark this.

A spot of colour to end on. The centre of the town does feel a bit run down these days [as many places do], but we were only here briefly [we were after binoculars for David and it was mission accomplished] and we met some very friendly folk. It seems to have lots of good community initiatives set up and some fabulous green spaces one of which I blogged about here https://gnatbottomedtowers.blogspot.com/2018/02/on-green-circle.html. We had time to visit another whilst we were over here. Next blog post coming up.....

Arilx

Daylight Robbery

Well you've got to laugh or else you'd cry. Seen in town today.

Arilx

 

Home Goal

For my own sanity as well as yours I've been uber keen to winkle out things locally that are not in any way related to the events of the past few weeks. I've covered Horsham so often on here and really relied on it during the Covid lockdowns to keep me sane so I wasn't really sure how well I'd get on. However, I set myself the challenge with the walks I've taken over the past couple of weeks and just trusted that the magic would happen. It's as random as ever, but I don't think that I did too badly all things considered😊 I am bookending the post with purple flowers. Have never really had myself down as a purple kinda gal, but I seem to be finding it at every turn along with cats, robins and butterflies. Weird but I'll take it.

Couldn't resist this anemone.

This is the first time I've seen this version of the King's cipher [and on a white Royal Mail van]. I prefer its more classical appearance than the more modern one they're putting on the new post boxes.

Look I found me another cat. You might imagine that this is a regular occurrence, but it really isn't. This one wasn't fully grown. It rushed over to make friends and then dashed off to play in all the dead needles that have fallen from the pinetrees. 

I'd heard about George the cob in Horsham Park who's developed a bit of an attitude these past few weeks in the park. He's gone all alpha male and has already chased off the teenager cygnets who were still hanging around and is now refusing to let the pair of Canada Geese anywhere near the pond. It's a bit of a Mexican standoff at the moment, but I'm sure that it will all settle down again once his pen Sweetpea is on the nest. This sculpture has been hidden away for years and to be honest I thought that it was meant to represent a swan, but had been vandalised. As is oft the case I am wrong in my assumption. This week I have found out that it's called 'Waterforms' and is by Claire Morgan [2003]. It's recently moved to a much more prominent position where it can be admired. I shared it on our local FB group and lots of people had never noticed it before.

I have no idea what this graffito near the station is about, but may be something to do with Mick Lynch who was the secretary general of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport workers until last month. It's near one by the same hand that says 'Tories out' so I am guessing it's some sort of political statement. As to the 4pm? Am completely stumped.

It's been an age since I've been able to show off any quirky gargoyle/grotesque type things. You've got my parents to thank for this dragon shaped ridge tile as they sent me a photo. I couldn't resist popping up to pay homage and the road it's in proved rather fruitful in the end as the two following photos on from it show.

I just liked this mad house shaped play equipment. The design of these is just so much more imaginative than what we had back in the 1970s and much safer. All our playground stuff was embedded in concrete so if you fell off you really did hurt yourself!

This grave in our parish churchyard caught my eye last year...that carved church with its broach spire is a dead ringer for St Mary's which stands directly behind it. Frustratingly the light wasn't right to take photos then, but lady luck smiled upon us and this time they came out rather well. Some of the epitaph is undecipherable, but someone kindly looked up the records and I can tell you that Charles Yohurt [d1790] and his wife Ann [d 27 January 1797] are interred here. With all that detailing it must have cost a pretty penny.

Sorry [not sorry], but couldn't resist this iris either.

 

Brace yourselves...tomorrow is our first day out beyond Horsham just for the sheer hell of it. It might not be to the most exciting of the Sussex towns [David is hoping to buy some binoculars], but I am very excited😁 Progress indeed.

Arilx