OK, confession time. When we left Fishbourne, I left my camera in the café. Realising this when we got home, I gave them a call and ascertained that they had it, and yes, they did, and were taking good care of it. This morning, therefore, we had to head back in that direction to collect it, so decided that a trip to Arundel Castle and Gardens would be a great thing to do. Also in that direction is Bignor, home to a Roman villa.
Out we set, and reached Fishbourne in good time, collected the camera, and headed to Arundel. We stopped for fuel along the way and sheesh! Have you seen the price of it? Nearly £2! Anyway, needs must, so we bit the bullet.
We decided we’d hit Bignor first, so put the directions into Sattie, who told us “may be closed today”. A quick check online confirmed that this was indeed the case, so it was straight to Arundel.
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| Arundel Castle |
Arundel was already getting busy – the main car park was full but the overflow had plenty of space. The gardens and outside buildings were open, but the castle doesn’t open until midday. No matter, we toured the water garden, which has a pond and the plants have been left to grow wild; and the formal gardens and Fitzalan Chapel, resting-place for a lot of the Dukes and duchesses of Norfolk, who are the people who live at Arundel...some of the time, anyway, as they have vast estates and properties around the country.
We’d packed a lunch before we set out, so found a shady corner of the gardens with a bench to stop and eat. Then we climbed the hill to get into the castle proper. We’d bought tickets for the castle, but did not pay the additional bit to see the seven bedrooms. How interesting can a bedroom be, right? We ascended to the top of the keep, the final section of which was up a very windy and narrow staircase, to get views out across the town. Fortunately (unlike Pembroke Castle) they’ve instigated a one-way system so you go down a different spiral staircase to descend back to the castle and continue the tour. Most of the castle is in fact Victorian restoration by the 15th duke, and the older bits are only a small part of the complete castle these days. It’s all very castle-y and ostentatious, with an armoury, dining room, halls, drawing room, and library. And that’s only in the parts open to the public! There are guides in all the main rooms, on hand to provide information and answer any questions we might have. We had some, and they seemed well-informed and confident in their answers. We also passed Queen Victoria’s bed, in a room that was not her bedroom. When Victoria visited she gave two years’ notice that she was coming, and they built a bed specially for her.
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| View of Arundel Cathedral from the keep |
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| A Duke of Norfolk |
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| Norfolks are involved in coronations. This was the last one they did |
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| Queen Victoria's bed |
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