I look at my life sometimes and just think how blessed I am with the opportunities, experiences and friends I have. I have a dear, dear friend who I met at Music Camp (I have many dear friends I have met at music camp). She is 70 but she has a heart younger than mine. She is also one of the most generous people I know, she's stylish, funny, talented and witty and totally down to earth. I was fortunate that recently, she got in touch to tell me she and her lovely, equally kind and talented husband were moving to Petworth in Sussex. She sent me a parcel of clothes that I might like and said I was welcome to come and stay with CBC whenever I wanted and also offered to lend us her small barge if we wanted to go narrow-boating.
Duly, we chatted and she said that we could come and stay the bank holiday weekend as well as visiting the barge. On Friday night, we braved the awful bank holiday snarl-ups on the M25 and other roads to go and see her. Unfortunately, our phones died at the crucial stage of getting to her house- we knew the street name but not the house number and I was fortunate that when knocking at a door, despite the fact she'd only moved in a month ago, the people knew who she was and where she lived!
We turned up at 10pm at night where they welcomed us into their beautiful new home. After a hearty dinner, we set off to bed. The next morning, I awoke early and looked out my window to see the most glorious views of wonderful countryside. She kept saying how lucky she is and how wonderful it is to now have a view and she wasn't wrong- it was glorious!
We had an explore of her gorgeous house (which has the most amazingly designed and immaculate 1970's kitchen) and had breakfast, then set out across the fields to Petworth's town. It is a Medieval walled town/village with lots of original buildings and the wall, and there is so much to look at.
We walked through the town and admired the buildings:
![town hall]()
This is the town/community hall.
![buildings in Petworth]()
Another fine building.
![Petworth streeets]()
Picturesque cobbled streets. Embarassingly, we saw a shop called 'Vintage tack' which when I got into, thinking it was 'my sort of vintage' and it turned out to have lots of horse paraphenalia- I started to back out and accidently said out loud, "Oh no, it's just horsey things," which was quickly corrected by the proprieter who corrected me and showed me other items!
![petworth market]()
There are some lovely shops around.
![Warning sign]()
Right, I won't be doing that then.
![Petworth secret garden]()
Apparently, my friend has been waiting to find a house here for about a decade. Apparently, most houses in Petworth don't have gardens with a view but have walled courtyard gardens like this, so she was so chuffed to find her house right on the outskirts.
![Petworth church]()
Here is the church in the market place
We found these cottages with these crazily low doors- I feel like I need a bottle saying 'Drink me' to go smaller!
![Houses]()
The main market street with amazing wares.
![Petworth 2]()
A lovely cottage on the outskirts of town.
![Hovis house]()
We enjoyed the market place with my friend. That's her smelling lavender below.
Amazing turkey sausage seller- we bought some garlic and chilli sausages for our forthcoming canal trip and bought some Victoria sponge for the afternoon.
![Market 1]()
I was intrigued by the Dinosaur pasty and seriously tempted by the rainbow donuts but it was the huge bunches of asparagus (they supply Waitrose) that we indulged in.
![Market 2]()
After filling our shopping bags and having a quick explore, we headed to my friend's allotment to plant some seedlings she had purchased in the market and did a bit of fun gardening work. Those strawberries were eaten the moment I took the shot! I enjoyed the flora and fauna to be seen.
![At the allotment collage]()
After this, we set off back to her house for a delicious lunch, the shifting and shelving of many, many boxes of books, before our afternoon adventures began. More anon....
Duly, we chatted and she said that we could come and stay the bank holiday weekend as well as visiting the barge. On Friday night, we braved the awful bank holiday snarl-ups on the M25 and other roads to go and see her. Unfortunately, our phones died at the crucial stage of getting to her house- we knew the street name but not the house number and I was fortunate that when knocking at a door, despite the fact she'd only moved in a month ago, the people knew who she was and where she lived!
We turned up at 10pm at night where they welcomed us into their beautiful new home. After a hearty dinner, we set off to bed. The next morning, I awoke early and looked out my window to see the most glorious views of wonderful countryside. She kept saying how lucky she is and how wonderful it is to now have a view and she wasn't wrong- it was glorious!
We had an explore of her gorgeous house (which has the most amazingly designed and immaculate 1970's kitchen) and had breakfast, then set out across the fields to Petworth's town. It is a Medieval walled town/village with lots of original buildings and the wall, and there is so much to look at.
We walked through the town and admired the buildings:
This is the town/community hall.
Another fine building.
Picturesque cobbled streets. Embarassingly, we saw a shop called 'Vintage tack' which when I got into, thinking it was 'my sort of vintage' and it turned out to have lots of horse paraphenalia- I started to back out and accidently said out loud, "Oh no, it's just horsey things," which was quickly corrected by the proprieter who corrected me and showed me other items!
There are some lovely shops around.
Right, I won't be doing that then.
Apparently, my friend has been waiting to find a house here for about a decade. Apparently, most houses in Petworth don't have gardens with a view but have walled courtyard gardens like this, so she was so chuffed to find her house right on the outskirts.
Here is the church in the market place
We found these cottages with these crazily low doors- I feel like I need a bottle saying 'Drink me' to go smaller!
The main market street with amazing wares.
A lovely cottage on the outskirts of town.
We enjoyed the market place with my friend. That's her smelling lavender below.
Amazing turkey sausage seller- we bought some garlic and chilli sausages for our forthcoming canal trip and bought some Victoria sponge for the afternoon.
I was intrigued by the Dinosaur pasty and seriously tempted by the rainbow donuts but it was the huge bunches of asparagus (they supply Waitrose) that we indulged in.
After filling our shopping bags and having a quick explore, we headed to my friend's allotment to plant some seedlings she had purchased in the market and did a bit of fun gardening work. Those strawberries were eaten the moment I took the shot! I enjoyed the flora and fauna to be seen.
After this, we set off back to her house for a delicious lunch, the shifting and shelving of many, many boxes of books, before our afternoon adventures began. More anon....