We took the train again on Wednesday morning, this time from Victoria Station to Arundel in West Sussex. It was a wet, windy walk from the station into the town, and our umbrellas proved rather useless.
We hadn’t had much breakfast, so decided on an early lunch at a the Moathouse Cafe. My full English breakfast was delicious, even the runny egg (I usually prefer mine cooked all the way through).
We saw a bit of the town while trying to find our way to the castle entrance. 😉
Arundel Castle has a long and interesting history, with the original motte dating back to shortly after the Norman Conquest. It was besieged and badly damaged during the English Civil War, and then rebuilt in the following two centuries. It belongs to the Dukes of Norfolk, even though it is in southern England.
The views from the keep were stunning, although it was cloudy (but thankfully had stopped raining). I think we even caught a glimpse of the sea where the River Arun runs into it.
Then back into the castle…
We also saw some of the bedrooms and the Fitzalan Chapel where the Dukes of Norfolk are buried. The grounds were lovely, and I wish we could have stayed longer!
But we had to get to the station to catch the train back to London.
We had been going to squeeze Westminster Abbey into our Tuesday itinerary, but I’m glad we decided to do the ‘Wednesday Lates’ tour instead. I was surprised to find that I prefer the spaciousness St. Paul’s, even though I’ve always been an admirer of Gothic architecture. It felt a bit crowded with all those graves and monuments. 😉 But we saw Poet’s Corner, and Sir Isaac Newton and David Livingstone’s graves, and many others. No photos inside, of course, just a few from the outside.
Another memorable day in England. ♥
