Time Travelling

Well, hello. We Beans have been away for a weekend to Sussex. We stayed in a beautiful oasthouse, near Uckfield. This is the view of the beams and rafters from the galleried sitting room. The Small Beans had the best beams though. They were in the roundy end but every time I remembered to take a photo of their amazing bedtime view, they were in there, supposedly sleeping. And they really didn't need any encouragement or distraction from their task. So that view won't be seen by any of you unless you visit Mallingdown Oast for yourself. I can't believe we were only away for three nights. It seems as if we have just come back from a fortnights holiday. We did pack in quite a lot, so maybe that's why...


Yesterday afternoon we hopped onto a shiny green steam train on the Bluebell Line and had a ride. This in itself is fun fun fun but imagine how much more exciting the return trip is when the trusty old puffer has to keep stopping so that the men in orange jackets can Put Out The Fires in the cutting! Yes. We were setting fire to the countryside as we went along. It was a bit too early for the bluebells. Maybe it will be too late as well.



On Shoreham Beach I picked up a few pebbles. I have to ration myself now, as our house was beginning to look like a shingle beach for a while. So, I allow myself to pick up heart shaped stones, or pebbles with a line in them. Or hagstones. (They have a hole going all the way through.)


And every now and then I am permitted to keep one which is not any of the above, like this gorgeous, fantabulous one which in cross section looks like a fried egg.


On the way home, this very morning, we went here, Bodiam Castle. It is magical. It has a real moat and ramparts and a very rare, original, wooden portculis. Beware of the many steep spiral stone stairs- I had jelly legs for quite a long time after, though that may be down to age as Small Beans was very springy until bedtime. I haven't even got that need-a-holiday-to-recover-from- my-holiday-feeling, so we must have had fun.