UK - Bexhill-on-Snow (Sea)

When I looked out of the window this morning and saw that the garden had turned into Narnia, I knew it wouldn’t be long before I was out there on my tea tray tobogganing down the downs with the other kids...



It’s when it snows, that I remember how pretty it is living opposite the downs. It looked like a winter wonderland and was so quiet that you’d never believe it was a Saturday afternoon. That was until I arrived at the ‘pistes’...





There were about 30 people or varying abilities hurling themselves down the hill on tea trays, bits of cardboard and even – shockingly enough – toboggans!!



Apparently, there were two ‘runs’ – to the side where the kids are was considered the ‘black run’ and you have basically no chance of stopping at the bottom until you hit the trees. The adults were gingerly trying to slow themselves down on the ‘nursery slopes’ but I think gravity was against them in many cases!!



So as you can see from Frosty (above), anyone can make a snowman but there seems to still be a fair amount of one-up-man-ship that goes on. Holly can suddenly be transformed into a bouffant hair-do and a smile for Mrs Frosty.



However, the people opposite were clearly on a mission not only to keep up with the Jones’ but to overtake them at 100mph. For a while, we couldn’t work out what they were doing as it looked like they were making breeze blocks wall out of snow, but it wasn’t long before we worked it out.



Despite the heavy snow, it really wasn’t that cold so I decided to pop over and see how they were getting on. I could see hands over the top so I knew someone was inside and I was praying they’d remembered to leave a door – PHEW!!



It was so nice to see everyone out and about having fun, and it wasn’t long before they had an army of helpers of all ages and even a BBQ on the go to feed the workers and warm the water for the tea. Now that’s dedication!!



I don’t think that there has been so much snow in the south east in my living memory, so as it’s such a novelty living in such a hot place, we decided to take a walk down to the sea front.



Once we’d waded through the snow at the bottom of the driveway and through the foot path at the back, I realised that there was going to be a problem on our walk – there is so much snow that you can’t see where the pavement starts and the road begins!



With the number for the local A&E on speed dial, we set off to break in my new hiking boots. First stop was Egerton Park where there was a nutter out feeding the ducks.



The swans were starting to get quite aggressive in their fight for the bread, so knowing that ‘they can have your arm off’ according to my mum, we carried on down to the seafront. We saw a slightly odd snowman family including what looked like a duck(!) and an igloo, but it wasn’t a patch on the one we’d already seen.



It was really weird to see the pebbles all covered in snow, and I had the feeling that if I changed the colour of the snow to yellow, it’d look just like sand. I was busy contemplating this when my eye was caught by someone in the distance who was clearly deranged...



Yes, he was surfing! A bloke stopped to watch with us and said that the surfer had been out there about 2 hours.



He was worried that he might get hypothermia and drown because as he told us ‘that’s why they died on the Titanic you know’. Yes, but a) we’re not in the arctic and b) the passengers on the Titanic probably weren’t wearing wet/drysuits!!



All of sudden it seemed to be getting dark, so we headed back home to see how they were getting on with the igloo. When we left, I thought they were making a snowman at the front door but it turned out they’d made one of those proper little entrance tunnels.

How amazing is that! Within what seemed like just a few minutes it was fully dark and the snow was once again falling heavily which meant that I could get this great photo of a tree in the garden which looks like it is covered in candles – ahh!

UK - St. Marys in the Snow!

UK - Bexhill & Alfriston, East Sussex

With record temperatures in the UK last week, I was hoping I wouldn’t have to repeat the events of my last visit when I arrived at Gatwick in a spaghetti strap t-shirt and my trusty flipflops, and had to drive straight to ASDA to buy a jumper! Sadly, it was not to be, and my quick trip back to Bexhill was destined to be mainly under cloud.


Bexhill beach - not quite the same as where I live in Corsica...


The De La Warr Pavillion on the sea front

I wanted to catch up with Kerry as we don’t see each other as often as I’d like. We weren’t sure what we wanted to do because the weather had been so iffy, which is a shame as there are so many beautiful places in Susesx, so we decided to rendez-vous at her place for 9:30 and decide from there. Alfriston is a gorgeous little village nearby which is the English village of my imagination (or whichever Agatha Christie novel I happen to be reading that week!).



Being slightly obsessed by food, neither Kerry or I could help ourselves visiting the village stores which were amazing – really quaint with nice smiley ladies serving behind the counter where there were old fashioned jars of sweets and scales. There was a Delicatessen at the back and we found lots of delicious sounding local specialities such as pickles and chutneys. I could have spent a fortune if I’d thought I could have got it back to Corsica unscathed by the EasyJet baggage handlers.



We wandered round the miniature art gallery and were tempted by a few oils depicting the local scenery such as the Sussex downs and stunning cliffs, before heading past the other intriguing shops such as the Bat’s Wing Apothocary (herbal medicine), the Steamer Trading Co. where we agreed we’d like to have the money to completely refurbish out houses with oyster knife kits to the Tye.



The Tye is basically the village green and even during the week there were pensioners sitting on the grass in their fold up deckchairs waiting for a cricket match that I suspected might be a long time coming! We wandered round the graveyard and looked at some of the headstones dating back hundreds of years, including one that looked like it was made of wood in the style of an anchor.



We were keen to be nosy and visit the church but sounds from inside made us weary that there may be a function going on, but I’m far to French these days to be put off by social niceties. All that noise turned out to be two old biddies inside running the ‘shop’ so having got past her nervousness, Kerry then got brave and started directing the photography session of the beautiful stained glass windows!



Just next to the church is the Clergy House, a pretty 14th-century Wealden 'hall house' was the first building to be acquired by the National Trust in 1896 for £10! The thatched, timber-framed house is surrounded by a delightful, tranquil cottage garden featuring a magnificent Judas tree, and views over the river Cuckmere.





Once again I was thwarted on the photography stakes as it was forbidden inside the house, but I managed to sneak in a few shots of the ground floor rooms. The medieval hall has a traditional chalk and sour milk floor with explanations of the processes. It was strange as some areas had a green mould which apparently is caused by the sunlight. It was also damp to the touch and very soft so could easily be damaged by high heels – luckily I had my comfy shoes on.



It was soon time for lunch and a quick magical mystery tour through the leafy lane brought us into the garden of The George Inn. This is another stunning timber building adorned with flowers and a mouth-watering menu – yum! It was a bit overcast so we decided to sit inside. The bar is the oldest part of the Inn, has an impressive inglenook fireplace with a huge copper hood, oak floors and Sussex hop bines decorating the walls. The foundations date back to 1250, and there are is network of smuggler’s tunnels leading from its cellars – eek!



The food was delicious. I’d had trouble deciding what to have as it all sounded just so tempting, but in the end we both went for the Salmon and prawn salad with a bowl of chips between us to naughty it up a bit. It was huge! I must admit I was surprised at how nicely it was presented; little towers of prawns wrapped in smoked salmon sitting on a bed of mixed salad with peppers, cucumber, celery and tomatos. After a quick swap of my tomatoes for Kerry’s peppers, we tucked in.



After lunch we checked out a few more of the shops such as ‘Not Just Chocolate’ (won’t bother then!) and a weeny gift shop tucked away amongst the white timber framed houses where we smelt all the candles and bought some cast iron insects – a bit bizarre perhaps, but we liked them. It was lucky we were so stuffed from lunch because otherwise the homemade cakes in the old fashioned tea rooms would have been too much to resist!



All too soon it was time to pick the kids up from school and on the way home we were reminded how kids minds work when Sam told us his polo shirt was called that because it is white and the same colour as ‘polo’ bears! Bless him.