Today we visited the rural life museum at Tilford.  The museum contain a prefabricated house exactly like the one that Colin and his brother Derek grew up in so they were keen to go and see it.  We spent quite a few hours wandering around the museum.

Colin and Derek outside the prefab

Colin inside the prefab

Yesterday we drove from Chichester to Cobham in the pouring rain. we are now in Cobham for the next few days.

you wouldnt guess it was a summer day

Tonight we are have been to the beach at West Wittering for more Golden Jubilee celebrations.  A huge crowd had gathered for the lighting of the Armada Beacon on the beach followed by a fireworks display.  There was entertainment from a plane doing acrobatics and in one of the tents there was a swing band.  At the end of the evening the band played songs and everyone sang along, waving flags and the finale was the National Anthem.

We all then went outside for the lighting of the beacon followed by a great fireworks display.



Armada Beacon

We had a brilliant time.  There was a great community spirit and everyone was so excited about the Golden Jubilee celebrations here and everywhere throughout the UK.  The whole country has enthusiastically embraced the Golden Jubilee and every town and village are having celebrations and all the streets and houses are decorated with bunting.

Yesteray we went to London to watch the royal pageant on the river Thames.  When we arrived in London there was a huge crowd already lining the river with still a few hours to go to the start of the pageant.  We walked along the Embankment past Battersea power station towards Battersea Park.  The park was a ticket only event.  We tried to get a vantage point on one of the bridges but were told it was ticket holders only and we could walk over the bridge but once the procession began they would be closing the bridges.

The atmosphere was amazing.  People were dressed up in red white and blue and waving flags, wearing face masks of the royal family and silly hats and glasses.  There were lots street parties where people had spread picnic rugs and were having a picnic.

We found a vantage point at Plimlico park and arrived just in time to hear the roar of the crowd and we surged forward and there right in front of us was the royal barge in all it’s glory.  I got a good look at the queen.

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We went to the pretty little village of Petworth and we visited Pethworth House. It is a  vast late 17th-century mansion  set in a beautiful 700-acre deer park, landscaped by 'Capability' Brown.  The house contains huge numbers of paintings mostly by Turner but there are some Rembrandt’s and Van Dyke’s and plenty more that I’ve never heard of.  There are lots of sculptures as well.

The house is still occupied by the current Lord and Lady Egremont.

There is a lovely lake with geese and ducks and the grounds are dotted with sculptures and smaller buildings.

We didn’t see any deer but it is such a vast place that you couldn’t possibly see it all.

There are some really nice old houses in the village. Some are very grand, one called  Dainty House has a Georgian facade built onto the pre-existing Elizabethan house. Other houses are cute and slightly rickety in appearance and many are tile hung in the traditional Sussex way. The cobbled streets take you on a tour of a large number of fairly expensive antique shops.

The room where Talbot Fox invented photography

From there we went to visit the village of Lacock and Lacock Abbey.

Lacock village is famous for its picturesque streets, historic buildings and more recently as a TV and film location. Scenes from two of the Harry Potter films were filmed in the Abbey and throughout the village.

The Abbey, is a quirky country house of various architectural styles, built on the foundations of a former nunnery. There are still the medieval cloisters on the ground floor, dating back to the 1300’s and on the first floor the more modern by comparison house with it’s odd rabbit warren collection of rooms weaving around the former nunnery.  Wealthy ladies used to stay at the nunnery when their husbands or fathers were away for long periods of time to preserve their chastity.

A notable owner of the Abbey was William Henry Fox Talbot the inventor of photograpy.  There is a museum of cameras through the ages along with the story about William Fox Talbot.  There is also a photographic exhibition of Michael Palin’s travels taken by his friend and travelling companion Basil Pao.