Yes, we often go to Chichester, and last week we went again. It was our wedding anniversary on Friday… We stayed in our usual place, trawled the shops and went to a first-class exhibition at one of our favourite places, the Pallant House Gallery. Another still-life exhibition, but so different from the last one at the Hastings Contemporary (see last post).
Wedding Anniversary? Yes, 38 years this time. So, I’ve been married to the Philosopher for over half my life. Crikey. I’m a lucky woman.
Why do we go to Chichester so often? Simple. We love staying at 4 Canon Lane, the shops are fantastic and all contained in a small, walkable cross formation of streets in the centre, there are loads of reasonably priced eateries, we love the gallery, which has a fabulous permanent collection as well as excellent exhibitions – and of course, the shop is to die for. And oh – the theatre is there if you want it. Of course the big downside is the journey to get there and the hideous traffic round the centre, so we only go a couple of times a year.
We have friends who go to Chichester on the train. We have never tried it. It takes a long time and involves a change at Brighton. Then we’d have to accommodate our shopping haul… So, we drive. It means a trek along the coast road. We should be used to that, and indeed we are, but the journey never fails to throw up some interesting new hold-ups apart from the usual delights of Bexhill/Little Common, Polegate (but better since road works), Worthing – horrendous, Arundel – we have our methods, and of course, the ridiculously congested Chichester ‘by-pass’ and getting into Chichester.
There’s also a major issue with coffee/loo stops. The journey takes over 2 hours so a stop has to be found! Between Brighton and Chichester the options are severely limited. We used to go to Sainsburys in Worthing, but they have completely closed the cafe… Why? On the outskirts of Arundel we often do a sneaky trick to avoid queues on the road and turn off to a service area that has a Macdonalds (gross) and a big filling station with take-away coffees and just-about usable loos. It is all basic but OK if you are desperate. Then, a few yards past that, there is the Crossbush Beefeater. It looks OK from the outside but inside v worn and shabby with astonishingly sticky floors and tables. Generally yuch. And that’s it. No garden centres, no big supermarkets with caffs, not even a wayside Starbucks. There are a couple more pub/hotels we need to try so will update if we have better luck!
Anyway, this time we left later so we stopped at another favourite, Middle Farm, well before Brighton.
Our accommodation situation was slightly different this time. We usually stay at 4 Canon Lane – see this post, but when I booked they only had a room which last time we didn’t like – Room 7. So, as it was our wedding anniversary I asked for something else. They put us in another house close by – the Treasury Suites. It was more expensive, and was supposed to be more luxurious, than Canon Lane. The room was huge, with a little kitchenette, and directly overlooked the Cathedral, which was almost close enough to touch. You could walk out of the front door straight into the cloisters. But even so, we didn’t like it nearly as much as the other house. It didn’t feel as homely, and, odd to say, the views were not great. From one window you just got a faceful of ancient buttresses, from another you could just about squint up and see half the tower.
Sitting on the loo, (with the door open) I looked straight out onto a stained glass window. It felt like God was watching me. Look, Battleaxe is not a believer but even so it was a bit of a constipating concept. Door was open because the bathroom was very small – and the shower leaked. Then, there was this huge state-of-the art telly but it didn’t work. A very pleasant young woman came when we called but couldn’t fix it. Now don’t get me wrong it was a lovely place in a fabulous location, just for us, not as good as our usual. It was, of course, very quiet. We could hear the organ, and singing, from the Cathedral, but that was calming and peaceful. No supernatural spookiness either. I saw a cloaked figure when we tried to get into the dark cloisters through a locked gate late in the evening, but am pretty sure it was a real person.
One big advantage of the Cathedral accommodation is that you get free parking and it’s just a very short walk through the Close to get to the City Centre. They don’t serve breakfast but you can get it in the Cloisters Cafe, just a few yards away.
So, shops – everything you can imagine and more. This time I confined my purchasing blitz to the also excellent charity shops – got a skirt and a jacket. Last time Philosopher got a lovely jacket from the improbable sounding Cat and Rabbit Rescue shop. I feel a bit worried about the retail trade for clothes. There were so many shops, all full of clothes, all low on customers. Most in Chichester had 10%-20% off on all items, which on the face of it, looks exciting. But 10% off a £120 pound blouse does not make a hell of a lot of difference. Battleaxe has plenty of extravagent moments, but there are limits… even places like Seasalt and White Stuff seem to be charging much more for clothes. Of course, right thinking people like us shouldn’t be buying so much of the stuff anyway….
We had our evening meal meal at Cote – reliable and only about 100 metres from the gateway to the Close.
Next day, the Pallant Gallery, and the exhibition – The Shape of things. Btw it is only on until 20 October, so although Battleaxe would totally recommend, it is sadly, too late… Clearly, the Pallant is considerably bigger and more wealthy than the Hastings Contemporary, and the sheer range and number of paintings on show was considerably more impressive, but the whole approach is different. None of the infuriating, overblown and incomprehensible art-speak that so annoys me in Hastings, and which I thoroughly slagged off (not for the first time) in the last post. At the Pallant House, the picture labels are written in plain language, and are straightforwardly informative. They are entirely accessible to a visitor with little or no knowledge of art. I’ll show you what I mean. First, a flower painting by Ethel Walker, from the Pallant House, with a particularly informative label. OK, so we already know what pointillism is, but do we mind being told again? No. Then, two very similar paintings by Mark Gertler. The first is from the Pallant House, the second from the Hastings Contemporary….
