With many folk in full holiday mode yours truly has been seeking out the quiet places away from the crowds. A couple of hours walking in the stunning Sussex countryside a few miles from home was just the ticket and gave me the reset I needed. Please tag along if you'd care to join us on our most recent meander.
Regular visitors here will know that I am a lover of Spring and Autumn. This time of year it's all about the freshness and vibrant colours of the new season. Nature didn't let me down. Photos never capture the true beauty of the woods at bluebell time...the colour is sublime as are the lime greens and the sharp orange of that lichen [imaginatively called Common Orange Lichen]. The wings of the orange tip butterfly are tangerine, but they rarely land for more than a brief moment so capturing a close-up is well nigh impossible!
This particular combination of a high gate above and a stile below was one neither of us had encountered before. The design is to keep the livestock in and once we'd crossed the field we found out first hand why that was. That goat is the ringleader....
He called his ovine mates over and then they started nonchalantly following us at a distance to lull us into a false sense of security.
As we neared the other gate on the far side, these would-be Houdinis sped up and we had to get through pretty sharpish. I think that they might have played before😀
Having been very slack this year and barely set foot in any churches I got two for the price of one on this occasion. The first one was a RC one which I only popped over to because I wanted to see the grave of the writer and former MP Hilaire Beloc who lived round here. Not much of interest to report, but then we washed up back at the parish church of St George's in West Grinstead where we'd parked the car. Having been before I wasn't even sure if I was going to bother again, but as ever when temptation is dandled in front of me it is too hard to resist. Am mighty glad that I gave in again for I have learnt over the past decade where I might find things lurking and as you can see below I turned up several things which had previously passed me by.
The faded remains of an early 16th century set of wall paintings featuring St Christopher holding the infant Jesus with a windmill? That's definitely a new one on me. The picture gives you a better idea of what it would have looked like back in its heyday.
You really do find all sorts of things knocking about in churches and often without explanation. At the time I theorised that this wooden box might have been an ancient coffin, but looking at it back at home I can see that it would have been for a very short person and why would it have had strap hinges. Then I wondered if it was the partial remains of a so called crusader chest, but wrong again. It is a hudd [hood] which was a portable shelter to protect the clergyman when he was conducting a funeral service at the graveside in inclement weather conditions.
I have seen my fair share of arcaded 12th century fonts in my time and this one was lovely, but not particularly noteworthy...or so I thought until I saw those teeny faces peering out at me from the corners. Possibly lions, but delightful and nearly missed.
It felt like my outing had definitely been sprinkled with fairy dust.
꩜Aril꩜
