Battle of Hastings

On Wednesday morning Stewart and I went to 'Battle'!

Well! The Battlefield of 1066 at the town of Battle!

If you look at the map above Hastings is on the coast and

Battle, the actual Battleground of 1066 is inland.

The original castle was wooden and it was William,

that had the Abbey built on the grounds after the Battle.

It took 25 years to build and by the end of

William's reign it was one of the wealthiest Abbey's

in Britain.

Stewart and I did the walk around the Battlefield and as you can see

by the steepness of the hill the Norman soldiers had

a real struggle, to overcome and reach the top.

We live in Norfolk, which is known for it's flatness!

So this was a good walk/climb for us too!

It is always fun to get into the steps of History!

See more by visiting

www.english-heritage.org/battleabbey

This video is an animation of The Bayeux Tapestry

Brighton Festival

After walking around The Brighton Lanes we

needed a cup of tea and went into The Corn Exchange

for a cuppa and to see what else was going on around Brighton.

Inside the Foyer Bar was this Origami Booth.

It was funny as I had been playing with origami last week.

We watched the video and following the

instructions we made a lotus flower.

Coco Sato is a conceptional artist and you can see

more of his work and The Brighton Festival

by visiting

www.brightonfestival.org.uk

There was also a tribute table to Aung San Suu Kyi,

The Brighton Festival is celebrating her perseverance and freedom.

Brighton

Walking around Brighton window shopping

and soaking up the atmosphere,

was so interesting and I especially liked this shop window

with all the old sewing machines. I have never seen

so many in one place!

Brighton has so many individual shops and boutiques

there was so much to explore.

There are galleries and art work everywhere.

The murals are something else!

Brighton Pier

After the Royal Pavilion we just had to do the stroll

down Brighton Pier and take in the 'Sea Air'.

As you can see by the photograph directly above

the tide was on the way out and the 'Sea Air' was very fresh!

We had an ice creams, walked right to the end and watched

people putting up the deck chairs!!!

Brighton Pavilion

On Monday we went South to The Sussex Downs about

three and a half hours by car from us to stay at

Leonard on Sea in a cabin.

Neither Stewart or myself have been to this side

of the country to stay so we wanted to visit

Brighton and of course The Pavilion.

We entered by The Coach Door,

the original entrance visitors to King George would enter.

We were breathless in how the Pavilion is decorated,

most of which is so over the top it is amazing!

Everywhere is painted, gilt and showmanship.

Each and every room has it's own atmosphere and

must have looked even more spectacular

or imposing by oil lamps.

One of the crystal chandeliers in the Banqueting Room

over the dining table weighs a ton

and has a large silver dragon sitting on the top.

The Music Room Dome is covered in hundreds of guilded

scallop shells and has had to be restored several times.

We have never seen anything like this before

and would recommend Brighton Pavilion

as a must see for extraordinary interiors.

This is one of the few videos that shows the interior

and gives some of the history of

The Royal Pavilion.

Gallery Tuesday 18th May 2011

@ The Gallery Dereham is hosting one of the Taster Exhibitions,

for Norfolk's Open Studios this week.

The Gallery looked very different when we went to view on Saturday.

there are eight artist work on show.

Open Studios is always worth visiting and enjoying.

I didn't hold a workshop Tuesday this week because of the taster

and we were away on Holiday in Sussex.