The Woodbeams

So on Sunday, we left London. And after all we'd done, we were ready to go! We took the morning train out of London to the Surbiton station, where Justin's wonderful Aunt Gill picked us up. Then we spent the afternoon doing a bit of laundry & catching up with Gill. We're staying with Gill until Friday. Very very very very nice of her to offer us a wonderful place to stay!

Justin also helped Gill figure out how to burn her movies to DVD. Only took them a little bit of time... >:)


So yesterday (Monday) morning we headed out for a day of exploring. We drove south, starting with Arundel. Arundel is home to Arundel Castle, which is an amazing sight to behold! Looked just like a fairy tale castle!


So we arrived in Arundel, all ready to tour the castle.... and yes, it was closed. Despite what our guide book says, Arundel Castle is closed on Mondays. But we were still able to walk around the outside (from a distance). And we spent some time wandering around Arundel, which is a beautiful old town. There were some business offices in a building that looked like part of an old castle! Very odd, but very neat!


So after Arundel, we got back in the car and drove to Bignor. There is an old Roman Villa in Bignor. And when I say old... it was built & occupied in the 3rd or 4th century. Some of the mosaic tile floors are still intact, and you can even still walk on some! The picture below is of a room in the Villa, this room has the longest intact mosaic tile flooring in Britian. (Britain was occupied by the Romans for quite a while, back in the day.)


This picture is a hole in some of the flooring, and it shows the heating system the Romans used. They built fireplaces that vented under the floors, and out the other side of the building. Therefore, heating the floors and the rest of the building!


This Villa was occupied by the Roman's until one day, probably due to lack of business, they packed up, locked the doors & moved to France. This sign is in the front yard of the Villa, pointing to Rome and London. When the Villa was in full working mode, they sold clay, food & wool to both Rome and London, as they were right in the middle.


After the Roman Villa, we used the amazing GPS we have to find another castle. It took us to Bramber Castle. This castle is just ruins, but still beautiful. Up high on a hill in southern England. Must have been amazing in it's day. It had been raining earlier, but just a bit. The ground was still very wet.


And for our last stop of the day, we drove all the way to the southern coast of England. We ended up on a beach in Shoreham. It was a rock beach, not much sand. But very peaceful.


Justin skipped rocks out over the sea.


The below pictures were taken from our fancy car while we drove the 2 hours south to start in Arundel. The drive was sooooooo beautiful. Words can't really describe the areas we drove thru. Every hill top was breath taking...


So today, Tuesday, J & I are taking a well-deserved rest. It's raining pretty hard outside, so we thought we'd lie low and rest up. We've just passed the half way point of our trip, so we're taking it easy before we jump back in!

Tomorrow we're hoping to get to see Justin's Grandma Woodward. And Gill knows a place that has great fish & chips, so we'll go there for lunch. Then maybe some gardens in the afternoon... we'll see. Depends on the weather!

Cheers!