Arundel weekend break in West Sussex April 2006 - page 2
On the Sunday of our Arundel weekend break we visited
the historic Arundel Castle, touring both the castle and gardens.
In the afternoon we moved on to the nearby Arundel Wildfowl &
Wetlands Centre, handily just down the road from the castle.
Contrasting with the previous day, it rained all day - bummer!
This is page two of two.
Arundel 1 | Arundel 2
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At the entrance to Arundel Castle on the Sunday of our weekend break we
paid a pricey £12 for entry. And we discovered they don't permit
photos to be taken in the castle. Not a promising start then!
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First impressions then, and the grounds of Arundel Castle were
disappointing, maybe they'll look better later in the year when more
flowers are in bloom. No matter, time to move on and find
refreshment in...
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...the Tea Garden, which was closed! Oh well, the gardens in this
area weren't looking too great either. Arundel Castle is yet
another attraction where photography isn't allowed inside; it really
annoys us when you pay more than the norm at attractions and then find
they don't allow photos.
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This is the final bit on the way up to the Keep at the castle, a total
of - well, a lot of steps!
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Well, you always take a picture like this after all those steps, don't
you! Arundel Castle's website in our UK tourist resources. From
the...
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...Keep a good view could be had of approaching armies in the olden
days, here looking over the Sussex downland towards the River Arun.
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Here's the inner courtyard at Arundel Castle on the way down from the
Keep. This area hasn't public access, yet looked far better kept
than the dire castle gardens! Best leave Arundel Castle and
move...
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...just down the road to the Arundel Wildfowl & Wetlands
Centre. Our first stop here after paying the £7 entrance was
lunch in the airy café, then we read the informative notices to see
where to head first.
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Getting in to the Wetlands Centre proved rather tortuous, this
aggressive Swan was having none of it, it kept hissing and wouldn't let
Belinda in! However...
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...she managed to sneak past it and then we followed the excellent
Discovery Trail learning about all the wonderful wildfowl as we went
along. The Wetlands Centre consists of many lakes, reedbeds and
wooded areas where the wildlife can thrive in its natural habitat;
despite the rain we were engrossed!
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Armed with the handy wildfowl leaflet, we worked our way round and
tried to spot some of the 115 different species at Arundel Wildfowl
& Wetlands Centre.
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From the various Hides we could watch the wildlife without bothering
them. Here we fed them some of the wildfowl feed we purchased
earlier.
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This is the view from Ramsar Hide out onto the wetlands. This
Hide enables the ducks and birds to be observed with minimal
disturbance. Next we...
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...took the short boat cruise round the wetlands with a gened-up guide
telling us all about the species as we passed them, but unfortunately
we didn't pass many.
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On the wetlands cruise that Arundel Castle kept popping up in the
distance. The Arundel Wildfowl & Wetlands Centre was well
worth the visit, their website is in our UK tourist resources. Our
advice to Arundel visitors: concentrate on the worthwhile Wildfowl
& Wetlands Centre rather than the castle.
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Mike just couldn't resist chasing the birds
at Arundel's Wetlands Centre!
Roll on our next weekend short
break!
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Arundel 1 | Arundel 2
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