After breakfast we made our way to Arundel in order to visit the castle. The lady who sold us our tickets helped us choose the most economical way to purchase tickets given that we were able to claim discounts. She advised us to visit the gardens first and then make our way to the shop where we should upgrade our tickets to include the castle interior. The rose and walled gardens, with their fountains, were spectacular and at their best.

We also visited the Fitzalan Chapel which is the Eastern end of a church building. This is divided by glass from the Southern end which is home to the Parish Church. This is one of very few churches that is currently divided in this way, Catholic in one half and Anglican in the other.

After upgrading our ticket we had lunch. Our next port of call was the castle keep which is the oldest part of the castle. As we got higher up the castle keep this caused me a problem due to the narrowness of the spiral staircase. I was struggling to balance whilst holding my bag and camera out of the way. Eventually I made it and the views were worth the struggle.

Before we descended via another spiral staircase Mr C put my bag in his rucksack. Ironically this staircase was wider that the staircase on the way up.

The rooms in the castle were full of interesting treasures and history and the rooms guides ready to impart additional information and answer questions. The library which had at one time been the long gallery was spectacular.

Before leaving the castle we had another drink in the cafe and I purchased guide books about the castle and chapel. As I was making the purchase the lady who served me was pleased that I was buying ‘The Arundel Church with the Fitzalan Chapel’ guide because she was featured in a couple of the photographs. I asked her to point the photo out to me; it is one of her singing in the Church Choir which led to us having a conversation about choral singing.

Whilst leaving the castle we met the lady who had sold us our entry ticket earlier in the day. She remembered us and asked  if we had enjoyed our day and whether we were staying in the area. She asked what other things we planned to visit before offering some suggestions of her own to add to our list. She told us about a lake with walks just beyond the castle and also a Wildlife and Wetlands Trust (WWT) reserve .

We had a short amount of time to spare so we went to investigate. We weren’t in the mood for the lake so we went to investigate the WWT reserve when Mr C rather rashly paid to go in even though we only intended on spending half an hour there.

The visit was very enjoyable and we saw many species of ducks and geese, several of which Mr C had not seen before. Unfortunately I had left my hat in the car so needed to seek out shady places to cool off whilst enjoying the lake views.

For our evening meal we dined al fresco in Purchases Restaurant which had a continental feel to it. Once again the food was delicious. After the meal Mr C took me into Wetherspoons for a nightcap before returning to the B&B. The noisy atmosphere was quite a contrast to the lovely ambience of the restaurant and there was a miscommunication on what wine was available. It was another venue to strike off our list of return visits