Bodiam Castle is a fantastic place to visit; it is on the Kent and East Sussex border and is looked after by the National Trust. I would imagine it must be a very popular place to visit as there is a large car park and lots of suitable places for picnics in the warmer weather. You can also travel here on the steam trains of the Kent and East Sussex Railway, which sadly weren’t running today so perhaps we’ll have to make another trip here one day travelling in style.

Now anyone who really knows me knows that getting up to witness the sunrise is one of the most unlikely things for me to do, even though I know that the best photographic light is at that time of the day. But while I was out taking pictures on my previous visit to Reculver I knew there was the potential for a much better looking picture of the towers from a particular spot as the sun rose

It was a lovely spring-like day once more and we decided to do the 3rd walk in the series of walks we are doing following the course of the Royal Military Canal. We could quite easily have combined this with our second walk as in places it followed the same footpath, but this did allow us to take a few detours from the walk described to add interest (and a pub).

It was another very hazy day so not much chance of distant views today but we fancied a walk along the cliffs and for a change we headed to St Margaret’s Bay to walk along the cliffs there. We started by having some lunch in The Coastguard pub watching the brave souls putting on their wet suits and putting out to sea in their kayaks. Looked a lot of fun and I guess once you’re in the boat you won’t feel how cold the sea is.

It has been many years since I’d visited the stunning gardens at Sissinghurst. I thought it might be a nice idea to make several visits during 2009 to see the changes during the seasons starting with this visit at the end of March just after it opens it doors for this year. On a beautiful spring day there were plenty of early spring flowers to enjoy and I was really enjoyed soaking up the atmosphere of this world famous garden.

We had a very pleasant spring walk in the woods at East Blean enjoying the early spring flowers. I must admit to being very surprised though to see my first bluebell of the year in flower The promise of things to come in a few weeks time.

For anyone who travels to the West Country there will almost certainly come a time when you travel along the A303 and go past Stonehenge.  I know we have done in the past, but I’ve never stopped to have a closer look, so as we were heading off for a few days away in Dorset we did just what hordes of other people do and stopped.

We woke to a glorious blue sky day and decided pretty quickly that we would walk along the South West Coastal Path towards Durdle Door, which is just a mile from Lulworth Cove where we were staying. It was such a good day we just kept walking enjoying the scenery all new to us.

An incredibly busy day starting with seeing the sunrise at Durdle Door, visiting the deserted village of Tyneham and Worbarrow Bay on MOD land. Then finishing the day visiting the ruins at Corfe Castle.

 

It had been many years since we were last on Brownsea Island but I have vivid memories of the place. It was the place where our eldest son James (who was only 5 at the time I think) was terrified as a Peacock pinched his sandwiches as he sat trying to eat them. Another thing I remember was the beach below the island. How much of the island would still be the same I wondered.