Hastings Holiday 2007

[crazylegs]

Howdy Folks

Just as promised I have posted some piccies of our holiday out and about in and around Hastings, weather was sunny in between all the showers and it was warm everyday so can't complain really..

Out on the Tuesday we went to the Kent and east sussex steam railway..Where we ate old fashioned Blueberry pudding and custard (real custard not the instant stuff) tasted really good and we gobbled the lot all up, after a short break where I took photo's, we bought our Tickets and boarded the steam train, the girls loved hearing the trains whistle, we took to our seats and as the train left the station the girls could see the smoke from the engine and all the other carriages, on the hospitality carriages they were serving afternoon tea and cakes, but we were full from our previous meal earlier so decided to give it a miss, The staff were in full olde worlde uniform from when steam was the order of the day..

Our train journey would end at Bodiam which was the termination for the line, but just so happened to be exactly where I wanted to be, why! because I wanted to visit Bodiam Castle, one of the most beautiful and picturesque castles in the UK completely surrounded by a deep moat and built in around 1340 so its got some history, The guide told us that Disney wanted to buy the castle because of the way it looked.
Inside the castles Turrets are long winding staircases which take you right to the top of each giving stunning views out over the countryside, we also saw a colony of Bats that were living in one of the turrets, and the girls could hear them squeaking..

To top the day off it was back to Bodiam station and a ride back to Tenterden on the steam train that bought us there, what a fantastic day...

Anyway heres a selection of piccies of both excursions...Enjoy

The Girls and the steam train...

The Rolvenden

On the plate

Imagine driving that..every boys dream at one time..

Signals Box

The girls with stationmaster in full regalia...

Inside of one of the carriages, beats the underground...

Bodiam Castle in all its splendour..

The fish in that moat were massive...

View from inside the castle from one of the southern turrets

Looking down into the grounds, most of the walls were 6 to 10 feet thick and solid stone...must of took some building, wonder if they hired Bob the builder..

Now that is some serious graffitti...and stood the test of time..He missed out the woz ere though...

The rear of the castle just as stunning as the front..Not bad for 670 odd years old...

Hope you enjoyed guys and gals...

 

[Taffycat]

We really enjoyed your piccies here my father-in-law used to be an engine driver, and bro-in-law was a signalman - he worked in a signal-box just like the one in the pic, as well as in the modern sort. Sigh... bring back steam I can remember a steam-train journey when I was little (shortly before everything went diesel) it was great. So your pics have made us feel all nostalgic

The castle is wonderful - no wonder Disney wanted it What was that causing a small wake in the lake in castle-pic 2? One of the fishy inhabitants? Duck..? Must be a lovely place to visit

Your girls are very pretty too CL if you don't mind me saying so

 

[fatherchristmas]

Nice

Nice one kevin, all down to your rather expensive camara i gotta get me one oh them some time. did you lose many pounds at the end of the day after going up all those steps in the turrets or did stessy piggy back yer


Noticed there were no pictures of any oger's in the collection why did you not get some one to take a picture of you m8 to complete the theme

Your's sinc, Bro.......

 

[crazylegs]

Thanks Taffycat for your comments, think the wake in castle pic2 was a duck but they had common carp and Koi carp in there that must have been 30lbs plus in weight easily, they were a foot and a half long some of them..

As for Ogre's mr fatherchristmas there wasn't any, then I remembered that you were at work and resigned myself to not seeing any that day...

I'll post some video I got of me and the girls feeding seagulls on the wing in 40 to 50mph gusts down on the beach at Hastings..You got to see it to believe it, those birds have such skill and poise, there flying ability is unreal..Flinging pieces of doughnut 20 feet into the air and seeing them swoop down and never miss is amazing..

 

[Taffycat]

Wow CL, those fish sound mighty indeed must have been lovely to see them though.

Those seagulls are pretty remarkable - we have one (Colin) who is a regular visitor to our bird-table. He usually waits on the chimney of the house whose garden backs-on to our's. When he sees that food has been put out, he comes down and lands very gracefully. We get a wonderfully close-up view of him from our kitchen window.

Some of the coastal areas have banned people from feeding the gulls here in Wales, because holiday-makers were getting "mugged" by them for their chips Can't help having a soft spot for them though

 

[Rush]

Excellent pics...what camera have you got ??? as the carriage shot and the castle ones are superb

 

[floppybootstomp]

Great pix CL I enjoyed seeing those

That music festival I go to, Hope, is on a camp site very near Bodiam, and from the garden of the nearest pub you can see the steam railway go past.

I've never been to the Steam Railway or Bodiam Castle and they're both less than an hour's drive away, maybe I should take time out to go.

I have been on a Steam Railway in Yorkshire though, can't remember exactly where in Yorkshire but I did enjoy riding on it

 

[crazylegs]

I've never been to the Steam Railway or Bodiam Castle and they're both less than an hour's drive away, maybe I should take time out to go.

Hey Flopp's you should you won't regret it the Castle is a sight to behold..An hours drive from you, Jeez how fast you go in that Merc of yours...

I bet a pound to a penny it was the North York Moors steam railway, that you went on Flopp's, I been on that one aswell...Infact one of the railway guys said that pickering in North Yorkshire was under five feet of water last week, and the steam train goes through that town..

 

[murdoch]

Spent many a nice holiday with relations in Hastings as a child.
Always go back when i went to think things over, did last year when i gave up the dreaded drink.

 

[floppybootstomp]

Hey Flopp's you should you won't regret it the Castle is a sight to behold..An hours drive from you, Jeez how fast you go in that Merc of yours...

I bet a pound to a penny it was the North York Moors steam railway, that you went on Flopp's, I been on that one aswell...Infact one of the railway guys said that pickering in North Yorkshire was under five feet of water last week, and the steam train goes through that town..

Hey, c'mon, Hastings is like, 60 miles away from SE London, is all, straight down the A21.

I've spent a lot of time in Hastings over the years, as a teenager, regularly visited a nightclub named the Cobweb, now named something else, over the top of the amusement arcade quite near the Pump House pub.

I wonder what Francis (she lived in a little village named Pett, nearby, is doing now? She was gorgeous )

Had family holidays as a kid at Combe Haven Caravan Park, had fights with rockers, as a mod with a Lambretta TV175 scooter in 1967, took my kids there on camping holidays in the 90's and recently went there by myself after my illness diagnosis and went for a long walk on the clifftop, by myself, to think about things.

I actually quite love the place, it's as familiar to me as SE London and thankfully, hopefully for ever, I don't have to contemplate illness, cos I be cured

At one time, just out of interest, Hastings was officially the most violent place in Britain, but recently it's doing ok, becoming yuppified, just like all of London.

Which may or may not be a good thing.

I will part with the distant squawk of seagulls ringing in your ears

 

[Becky]

Wow, that looks great! Love the castle

A quick search on Wikipedia (anyone else noticed how it always comes up whenever you search for anything??!) tells me that some of Monty Python and the Holy Grail was filmed there!

 

[crazylegs]

Hey, c'mon, Hastings is like, 60 miles away from SE London, is all, straight down the A21.

Maybe for you but took 2 and a half hours with all the damn traffic on the M25...That place really is a car park nowadays..

had fights with rockers, as a mod with a Lambretta TV175 scooter in 1967,

Don't wanna make you feel old Flopp's but I was born in 1967, would love to have been there though, and not sure what side I would have taken as my dad was a rocker and rode a Vincent Black shadow motorbike. (Well thats what he tells us)..I also loved the look of some of the Lambretta scooters aswell, one of me alltime fav films is Quadrophenia..Ah those were the days..

A quick search on Wikipedia tells me that some of Monty Python and the Holy Grail was filmed there!

Yes your right Bex and many Documentaries are filmed there every year so the Guide was telling us...