A week away in West Sussex – a mini sightseeing guide

Hey guys! Welcome back to the blog. Last week I went away to West Sussex – a place I’d never been to before. So today I thought I’d share with you what I got up to and the places I visited.

Day 1- Arundel Castle.

I am a big fan of castles, and I’d heard about Arundel before, so we decided to check it out. It was massive! And took most of the day to walk around which is a good thing in my opinion. Luckily the weather stayed dry so we could walk around the gardens which were so pretty, and the allotments which were full of fruit and veg. The castle itself was so interesting and had loads of in depth information boards to learn all about the history of the castle and the surrounding town. From the top of the keep there was a beautiful view of the river Arun and the woodlands in the distance. I would recommend this as a day out if you’re into castles and history, but I would say get there fairly early as there’s so much to see!

 

Day 2 – Brighton

On the second day we decided to give Brighton a little visit. Word of advice – don’t drive into the centre! Get the park and ride if you can because honestly it was one of the worst driving experiences of my life (and I didn’t even drive). Once we had parked – which cost us £30 per car – for a few hours, we headed to the aquarium. This was a really nice aquarium, pretty big and reasonably priced. We had a look round at all the types of fish, and even got to touch a starfish which id never done before. We also went on the glass bottom boat to look at the sharks swimming under our feet.

We then headed out and had a walk down to the end of the pier and back. We didn’t go on any rides as that’s not really our thing, but it was a nice walk nonetheless. We headed to Harry Ramsdens for a meal, which was delicious! I had the fish burger and I would 100% recommend. Yum!

Looking back I wish we had gotten there earlier, as we didn’t actually look round Brighton town, or find choccywoccydoodah which I really wanted to do, or get the ‘blogger shot’ in front of the colourful beach huts. But there’s always next time!

 

Day 3 – Marwell Zoo

I can’t go away without visiting a zoo, and we discovered Marwell Wildlife Park, which is one of the best zoos I’ve visited for a while. It is massive – on the same scale as Paignton and Chester and took hours to walk around. There was a free road train which you can hop on and off if you are not as able to walk round the whole place, and there was also a little steam train you can go on for £2.50, which just takes you on a little ride around one section. The zoo itself was very reasonably priced for the size it is, and there was a huge range of animals. We had lunch in the café when we got there which gain wasn’t badly priced compared to most places, so I would recommend this as a day out if you’re into animals.

 

Day 4 – Petworth House

A holiday in England just isn’t the same without visiting a giant National Trust house, am I right? We chose to visit Petworth House, which turned out to be really interesting. It was mostly the story of the house and the people who lived there told with paintings (with corresponding info). The paintings were incredible and some of the woodwork in some of the rooms was amazing. We then had a huge walk around the grounds. There’s actually loads of walks you can do around the grounds, but we chose the shortest one as we were worn out by that point! Overall it was a really good day out.

Day 5 – Fishbourne Roman Palace

This was one of the first things I decided I wanted to do when I heard about it. I love learning about Roman history, and this did not disappoint. There was a guided tour around the mosaics which we were lucky enough to catch as we got there, and the guy leading it was brilliant. It sounds cringy and cliché but he really did bring the mosaics to life and showed us things we wouldn’t see just by looking at it. There are some beautiful gardens there and a really interesting museum of Roman artefacts discovered from the area. A great day out!

Day 6 – The Weald and Downland Living Museum

This was a very different day out for me, and I wasn’t sure I’d actually enjoy it that much but it turned out to be really good. It’s basically a huge walk in the country with about 50 historic buildings dating from 950AD to the 19th century, along with gardens, farm animals, walks and a mill pond. It was really interesting learning about how people lived in different centuries and how the houses and typical town building changed design over the years depending on status and technology of that time. The Pond was so pretty with tonnes of Ducks and Moorhens which you could feed.

That brings me to the end of the week! I had a fantastic – but tiring – week away and I hope this gives you a little insight into what to do if you’re visiting the area.

Until next time.
XOX

See also:

A weekend away in Cornwall with BlueChipHolidays

A few days in Amsterdam! A mini travel guide

Visiting Pompeii and Mount Vesuvius – a mini guide