And The Grumpy Old Trout Went Out!

Overtired and snippy Sunday morning- that was me. Absolutely charming I was but thankfully Mr GBT put up with me being frankly a PITA and once I'd been out in the sunshine and enjoyed a local jolly I returned to The GB Towers in a far better frame of mind.

I've recently discovered and joined a Facebook group called "Strange Things Found In Churches". To my delight I find there are many other souls who take great delight in snooping around churches so I'm afraid this has made me ten times worse! I've got a list of places I'd like to visit including churches [I add more on as fast as I tick others off] and yesterday saw another one scored through.

 Nestling at the foot of the South Downs this is St Botolphs which is a late Saxon church, Dating from 950AD it was originally called St Peter De Vetrie Ponte [St Peter of the old bridge] as it stood at the western end of the bridge [no longer in existence] which was on the pilgrimage route from Canterbury to Winchester. It was renamed after the Norman Conquest.

The ownership of the church passed into the hands of the Churches Conservation Trust in 2014 who are now doing the sterling job of carrying out essential maintenance work. It still has the occasional service held in it and I have to say it exudes the most wonderful sense of peace as you enter. It is simple and unadorned but that is part of its charm for me and I was touched to see in the visitor book that people came  sought solace within its walls after the tragic events of the Shoreham Air Show disaster a few months ago.

I had to wonder if whoever added their mark to the church door got themselves into a spot of hot water upon its discovery?!

And this is a tapsell gate. Although this one is modern [2003] they are quite rare. Mounted on a central spindle they can swing all the way round and are named after a carpenter called John Tapsell.

Always mindful of making the most of our fuel we then dropped into St Mary's in nearby Washington. Parts of the building are 13th century but the Victorians had a whale of a time and ripped down great chunks of it willy nilly whilst they set about "improving" it. Frankly it's left the place a bit sanitised but I did give the thumbs up to the rather splendid wooden barrel vaulted ceiling and the rather Arts and Crafts type depiction of the four gospels. It is very much still a hub of the local community and seems to have adapted to the changing demands made of it. Guess that's got to be a good thing rather than seeing it fall into rack and ruin through a lack of use.

Arilx

Come Fly With Me.

It is my friend E's birthday next week and I wanted to treat her to a cuppa and a slice of cake by way of an early celebration. I asked her if there was anywhere she fancied going, but she texted back to say she was happy to go whereever. After an initial headscratch I suggested the cafe in Shoreham Airport [now called Brighton City Airport]. It opened in 1936 and still has planes flying from it. Whilst the Art Deco decor and building is a big draw I made my choice on a slightly different basis. Before E had her family she was cabin crew and loved it....she tells some great stories from that time. She's never lost her love of planes and even to this day she has an app on her phone against which she can check the route of any plane she spots flying overheard😀 As luck would have it she's only ever driven past the airport and I'm glad to say she thought it was fabulous. The weather even ignored the forecast as it was due to be cloudy with possible showers.....we got beautiful sunshine and blue skies.

That huge building in the background is Lancing College chapel.

There is a small room of memorabilia and this type of flying hat was all the rage with the female pilots of the 1920s....genuine leopard skin. Not something you would thankfully see in this day and age.

I last visited here in Feb 2015 when it was all covered in scaffolding. I always intended to come back, but not entirely sure what took me so long. We made our way back cross country and passed the Churches Conservation Trust church of St Botoplph's which sits at the base of the South Downs. E asked if we could pop in [I've been before https://gnatbottomedtowers.blogspot.com/search?q=the+grumpy+trout+went+out] but it's always good to revisit these places. It's utterly charming. We both agreed that we are definitely Downswomen at heart as we watching the clouds scudding across the big skies. I am very lucky living in this little part of the world.

Arilx