Brighton and Battle, England

Battle of Hastings took place here. Norman Knights charged up here. 

Golden Labradors frolic in the midst of the English garden a gun metal sea in the distance, whilst classical music floats from a grand old house. It could be a scene from a movie, but it's just breakfast at The Whitehouse.

This is Mr Jones and Oscar (pictured above).

Our host, Suzie, put on a sumptuous breakfast for us; scrambled eggs on toast, coffee, and orange juice. There is also a continental breakfast table if you prefer.

Well prepared for the day we drove to the seaside village of Brighton that is appropriately named, "London by the Sea". It is like a London suburb that has been placed by a beach (pictured below).

On this summer’s day, Brighton was packed with people enjoying the sunshine in restaurants, cafes, and on the shingled beach in striped fold out beach chairs.

The main feature is of course the famous Brighton Pier (pictured below).

There is a red double storey open deck Hop On - Hop Off bus run by City sightseeing that we caught that takes you on an interesting tour of Brighton.

We could have stayed there all afternoon; however we drove to the town of Battle, appropriately named after the Battle of Hastings. William the Conqueror, an improvement over his previous nickname, William the Bastard, founded Battle Field Abbey (pictured below) a few years later.

There is an informative audio tour of the Abbey and the battlefield.

The Norman led by William the Conqueror charged up this hill toward us crashing into the wall of shields of the English before finally the English King, Harold famously finally fell with an arrow in the eye. I took the Battlefield Tour, and walked down there and back and it’s deceptively steeper than you think. It would have been hard work going up and back all day.

It's wandering worth wandering around town, browsing in the quaint little shops.

The Italian Way restaurant was once again packed, and up to the usual high standards for dinner. It's the place to dine in Hastings.

Tomorrow we are off to Torquay in Cornwall for a couple of nights.

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FACTS SHEET:

1066 Battle of Hastings Abbey and Battlefield

Battle Abbey

Battle

East Sussex

www.english-heritage.org.uk/battleabbey