1066 and all that...

A while ago we planned a Sunday train trip to "somewhere". The advantage of a Senior Railcard is that on some routes and at certain times, travel for two is cheaper than the cost of the fuel to get to a destination. Hastings was somewhere that neither of us had been to for more than a "passing through" visit, so enquiries were made. It turned out to be something of a "Cook's Tour" (Cook, the travel agent that is, not the person who prepares food!) and in the end, we went to Poole.

But a trip to Hastings to explore was in the planning folder, especially as we both enjoyed watching "Foyle's War" when it was on the telly. Although Hastings is only a few towns and 100 miles to the east from home in Fareham and both towns are joined by what I can recall being described on those big displays that were erected when road improvements were underway as "The Folkestone to Honiton Major Trunk Road" and otherwise known as the A27 / A259 for most of the route it is little better than it was when first classified as a trunk route in the 1930s.

A week at a caravan site was booked, everything loaded and away we went. The weather forecast for the week looked at best to be challenging. Have you ever noticed that when unseasonably poor weather is forecast, the forecasters are 100% right, but the inverse rarely follows? Three hours later, we arrive, park the caravan and erect the awning. We only took our small porch awning; just as well as I don't think the big one would have fitted with the caravan and car on any of the available pitches. So much for advance booking with dimensions. Although I should add in defence of the Caravan Club that it is probably an old site dating from when a 14 foot length caravan was the norm and the 25 foot monster that we have was usually only seen accompanied by fun fair rides or travelling circuses. And cars were modest sized Cortinas, not humongous 4x4 SUVs.

FOYLE'S HASTINGS

Hastings, we discovered is really two towns; the original fishing village now known as "Old Hastings" and the modern resort town known with some imagination as the new part. The old town is where parts of Foyle's War were filmed, including his house and the episode set amongst the fishing huts on the beach. With little information available on line and no obvious tourist office, first stop was to be a trip to the top of the cliff railway to get a good view

somewhere down there is Mr Foyle's house...

The view over the old town is impressive with Beachy Head in the background and the pier showing the location of the new town. The little information I had found about filming locations led us back down the cliff and a fair walk later got us into the middle of what had clearly started as a fishing village and grown into a prosperous seaside town, even though there is no harbour. It is full of back alleys, narrow streets and many old buildings - and it has mostly been well preserved.

Mr Foyle's house taken from what must have been one of the camera positions used in filming. A wider shot would show how narrow the road was and also some modern street furniture.

We found the house and I think a couple of the passageways that appear in some of the episodes. What you don't really appreciate from the filming is the narrowness of the roads and the steepness of the hills. And of course, nothing is where you might think it should be with many of the locations being either studio backdrops or filmed elsewhere. I was looking for a suitable Wolseley 14/60, but none were around.

A wander back to sea level and along the prom led us to the lifeboat station (a charity we have supported for many years) and into what we thought would be the village of wooden huts in the fishing "harbour" - but most of these are built from cinder block and seem to house the winches used to haul the boats up onto the beach. And as you might expect, the stench of rotting fish is quite, shall we say, fragrant!

HOUSES AND CASTLES

There are a number of interesting places to visit and we were lucky enough to dodge the worst of the weather. If you were to ask a child to draw or describe a castle, you'd probably find a moat and towers set in each corner of a square building would be the result. Such a building is Bodiam Castle. It's a National Trust property, so yet another opportunity to amortise our membership!!

The visitor's first view of Bodiam Castle approaching from the site entrance

Entrance to the castle. Originally, there would have been a bridge at right angles to the current bridge to reach the octagonal island in front of the Barbican. Usual castle fittings including holes to drop boiling tar, molten lead and other inviting substances on uninvited visitors.

I climbed to the top of one of the towers. Why? Because I thought I could! Who cares about bad backs and creaking joints? Here's a view of what remains of the castle's interior.

Rye is an interesting little town just along the coast from Hastings. We did several orbits of the town centre trying to find a par park. There is plenty of parking and well signposted, but somehow we managed to miss several opportunities. Looking back, we found that the signs were right on the junction, with some of the entrances looking more like footpaths. Parking on the edge of town, our walking route took us across the railway line at an unguarded crossing. It's a sad reflection that the gate has a sign advertising The Samaritans.

The older part of Rye. Proper cobbled streets and timber clad buildings

Lamb House, the opposite view of the image above. Unofficially the Mayor's House as it seems that whoever lived in this house frequently became the Mayor

We found Lamb House and took a look around, followed by the obligatory cup of tea and slice of cake. For a period, this was the home of celebrated US writer Henry James and has many literary connections. It's a beautiful Georgian property that is slowly being conserved to allow more to be viewed. There's a large garden at the side, which is where we found the tea room.

He did write exceedingly good books

Dodging more rain, we found another NT property to visit withing easy travelling distance, namely Batemans, the home of that exceedingly good writer, Rudyard Kipling. While most NT properties are interesting, this one is definitely worth a visit if in the area. It has been left as it was when RK lived there and is like walking into someone's house.

Chez Kipling from the front garden

Main reception room in the house. It looks like we've just dropped in for tea

RK's study and desk

Looking back at the house from the garden

Originally, the house came with about 30 acres of land. Over the years, Kipling bought up surrounding farmland that was tenanted and ensured that the peaceful ambiance was not disturbed. It remains so today and makes for a very tranquil garden. a walk through the garden brings you to a watermill that is undergoing restoration. Expectations on when restoration will be complete and milling will recommence are a little fluid as the work has proved to be difficult and, being a listed building, every change to the original planned restoration to circumvent the challenges faced has needed further listed building consent.

A tree sculpture of RK in his garden

The water mill under restoration

 Final stop on this visit had to be the tearoom where they served..... Exceedingly Good Cakes.

Of course, no visit to this part of the world would be complete without a trip to Battle. I've often wondered what the place was called before 1066, but it appears that there was nothing there and it was just a random location for William to gather his troops prior to Harold showing up and battle commencing. The Abbey and battlefield are under the care of English Heritage and - lucky us - we have free admission to their properties. The visitor centre gives a good background to events leading up to the battle and tells it from both the Anglo-Saxon and Norman viewpoint. Both thought they were in the right and so the battle was inevitable. Having routed Harold's forces, William the Conqueror had the massive Abbey built on the site of the battle and the remains are still there to be seen today. A town eventually grew up around the site of Battle Abbey, hence the name - Battle.

The town of Battle as seen from the entrance to the Abbey

William stationed his troops near to the position of the trees, while Harold's were close to the point where the photo was taken. What isn't clear is that this is on a steep hill, with Harold holding the advantage of the high ground. Something akin to what Capt. Mainwaring would call "a shabby Norman trick" turned the tables and the result is, as we know, history

Not much of the Abbey remains

At first glance, you might think this is the main part of the Abbey. It turns out to be the remains of the accommodation for the Monks

The gravelled area give a representation of the Nave of the Abbey. Ann is standing at the point where Harold fell. Whether he really was hit in the eye with an arrow, or whether this is just the stuff of which legends are made, we shall never know

NO TRAINS???

Can we really have a week away and not find either a car museum or a steam railway? No - of course we can't! Leaving Bodiam Castle earlier in the week, we were just about in time to do the last round trip on the Kent & East Sussex Railway, somewhere that I visited a year or so ago (and there's an entry for this elsewhere in this blog). There wasn't any parking at Bodiam, so following road signs we headed to Northiam to join the train to Tenterden for a proper "there and back" trip. In brief, the K&ESR was built as a light railway and retained its independence until nationalisation in 1948.It was run on a shoestring with no expense incurred if it could be avoided. This gives it a charm of its own and because of the lightness of the track, they run small locomotives, frequently hauling heavy trains. On our visit, this was the case with a small "Austerity" saddle tank locomotive hauling five coaches, four ex BR Mark 1 standards and a Southern Railway Maunsell design of the 1930s. The gradients are few, but they are fierce and the little loco was working exceptionally hard.

The top picture shows our train arriving at Northiam and this one shows the loco, having arrived at Tenterden, running around the train for the return

There is a £2 supplement to travel in First Class on most services. Ann is enjoying the style of travel to which she has become accustomed

First Class on this railway always seems to be in the best of the coaches that they operate. This fine example of a 1930's Maunsell design is a good example. Some like this ended up on the Hayling Island branch line which is most appropriate as one of the final engines to work on that branch - 32678 - is also at this railway. Similar designs of coaches formed the electric trains that ran on the "Coastway" line between Portsmouth and Brighton and also on stoppers from Portsmouth to London and were not withdrawn until the later part of the 1970s

That just about rounds out this trip. Our next jolly takes us to Northumberland and the borders of Scotland in a couple of weeks time. The first part is a car club event, so stand by for pictures of classic Triumphs