Midhurst/Chichester

Cowdray Castle in Midhurst is in an ideal setting, flowing stream in front, surrounded by green fields and trees. It is just unfortunate that it was destroyed in a fire. The interesting thing is that the castle was designed so that the kitchen was separated from the rest of the castle. This was done to protect the rest of the castle from damage in the event of a fire from the kitchen. The irony is that the fire actually started in the courtyard where some repairs were being done - the wood shavings on the floor caught alight with the oil lamps around. The entire castle was destroyed except for the kitchen.

The tower by the kitchen is also still in tact so we had the opportunity to go up the tower and see the amazing view from the top. The legend regarding the castle is that a curse was placed on the family when they accepted a gift (an abbey up on St Annes hill) from the king, it was said that the family line would be destryed by fire and water.

While the castle was burning down the last male in the family line was away on holiday and decided to go river rafting where he drowned... spooky.

In one of the rooms at the bottom of the castle, they have a display of a man who looked after the wine. The room is kept dark and it lights up with a voiceover when the sensor picks up movement. Since it was in complete darkness I walked up slowly peering inside, unsure if it was open to the public. The sensor detected me and it all lit up - I got the fright of my life so I included a pic depicting my scare. Not too sure acting is my strength, but you might be able to see the scary face of the dude in the background.

The area around the castle is now used for a rugby field and cricket field and one of the little houses there has a bunch of cricketers in their garden so I took a pic. I thought it was really cute.


We then made our way to Chichester - looked at the Cathedral and walked around the old city - following the roman walls that once surrounded what was once a roman city. The wall doesnt look real high from this pic but that is because it is taken from inside the city walls, on the other side it is real high.

In the centre of the old city is this clock structure thing - can't remember what they call it. I think it looks quite funky.

We didn't stay in Chichester too long cos we had to head back to Littlehampton to get a spot in the pub to watch the rugby. Watching SA beat England in the final of the Rugby World Cup was good, at the end of the game the pub went pretty silent. Was almost freaky but it was fun. Vicki and I were sporting our SA rugby shirts - the manager nearly walked away with our dinner cos of that.