Testing out Van Life in West Sussex - July 29-31 2022
The micro camper with its awning
Testing van lIfe
We've just returned from an exhilarating four days of living in and sleeping in our versatile vehicle/people carrier. It was quite a steep learning curve, a madcap experiment in a nomadic way of life which did not put us off (as I had feared) though we are still refining some parts of it, namely a mattress topper. Being close to nature and warm fresh air and away, in my case, from the disquieting internet was reinvigorating. I confess there has always been a part of me that longs for the simple life. I watch You Tube videos about American van lifers whose only home is their car or truck and I dream about tiny comfortable homes on wheels. Freedom beckons.
I was surprised at how elated I felt, just being on a campsite, near Angmering in West Sussex (almost next door to Castle Goring, the home of Lady Colin Campbell). I camped across Western Europe as a child but oh! the rekindled happiness of pitching alongside Swiss, Dutch and British campers all rubbing along, in a couple of fields, after years of global lockdowns. It was a fast track way of rediscovering 'community'. There was total trust, helpfulness and authenticity among this disparate, well-behaved mini tribe of people with one thing in common: a desire to 'beat the system'. This is a system that rents out British cottages and hotel rooms for over £100 a night - and for what? Just a bed. Naturally, we had electric hook up so Paolo was online throughout. We boiled kettles and made toast. With an eletrric single hob one can easily cook meals using a a steamer, or make a risotto.
For speed and lightness, we’d selected a versatile Renault ‘Kangoo’ similar to a heavier Berlingo. We added an inflatable, rear awning on the back which we erected for the first time. Docking the car to it on returning to the campsite in the dark was daunting, but not difficult in practice. To sleep, we put down the back seats, as flat as they will go (with a little extra underflooring, inserted by me). One sits on the specially created backwards sofa (see photo) to eat breakfast while being able to use the other regular car seats, for reading and eating too. It all worked. We slept adequately with some further refinements to be added, shortly. We did not need a roofbox either as the Kangoo boot is spacious..
The view from inside the awning of the backwards ‘sofa’
Britain is very expensive and the weather cannot be trusted. This is why the British themselves head for Spain and Italy in summer. We ourselves rent AirBnB flats, including in wings of castles abroad, but in Britain, accommodation is much more expensive. Yet Britain is a beautiful country of coasts, woods, pubs, gardens, castles, country houses and cottages. We refuse to be deprived of its beauty by its steep cost.
A basic hotel room for this trip would cost five to six times more than micro camping. The advantage of van life is that you can afford to do some luxury things, such as eat out and go to expensive events, spending money on the things you really enjoy (not on a bed for the night). The petrol costs are not unaffordable, as with a semi 'mobile home' i.e. a large camper van which may only manage 15-20 miles per gallon (a gallon is about 4.5 litres). One does not need to block one’s driveway with a useless, rusting camper van covered in a tarpaulin for 9 months of the year.
Open Gardens Scheme - The Old Vicarage, Washington
We started by having lunch on the patio of Sir Peter and Lady Walters in Washington, Sussex, which is a former vicarage. Sir Peter is a former Chief Executive Officer of British Petroleum (BP). They kindly open their gardens once a week in summer through The Open Gardens Scheme. They (reportedly) stay inside the house while people tour their beautiful gardens and sit having their packed lunch in their conservatory or on their private patio (as we gratefully did).
Sir Peter and Lady Walters’ patio given over to us - to eat our packed lunch
Lady Walters, who developed this garden over the course of thirty years to its current immaculate condition, is a patron of the Royal College of Music. She puts on garden concert events so that guests can wander through the fernery to the melodious voices of operatic students, perched in tree houses. The house and garden were sumptuous and I learned a lot from the gardener.
View towards the road and garden buildings from the patio
This was the grand style of living of humble parish vicars with a good ‘benefice’, until quite recently, when most vicarages were sold off. They were too large to heat and ‘over the top’ in terms of social privilege (and snobbery). Interestingly, when the Walters bought this house which was their weekend retreat away from London, there was a busy road in view, which one can still hear. To block the sight of it, they planted a huge bank of trees on the left, above, which, being deciduous, lose their leaves in autumn. I had a long discussion with the gardener about how to cope with leaf fall on wood chip paths. It turns out that the best approach is to ‘net’ them, to lift the leaves off in spring. It is a very good tip which I shall utilise at home in the High Weald
View of part of the the garden from the patio
Bignor Roman Villa
We drove from there to Bignor Roman Villa which houses the best Roman mosaics in Britain. Close to Stane Street, a Roman road from London Bridge to Chichester via Box Hill and Pulborough, it is situated in a beautiful South Downs valley and it must have belonged to someone very wealthy. Here is a model of it in the 4th century:
I was blown away by a stunning portico mosaic (below) which after excavation in the early 19th century was covered up because it was considered ‘too boring’. How wrong they were. Its colours are classic, subtle and calming, and should be imitated by British hallway carpets. The muted colours are highly suited for the cold winters of Britain and it is the most beautiful object from the era of Roman Britain I have seen:
Here is a close up::
As for winter in Britain, there was a mosaic about its hardship, full of misery, shivering in a thin cloak, with a bare branch. Winter was when the hypocaust here ran full blast. Hypocausts ran hot air under the floors and up the walls, so the underfloors and walls had to be hollow. The system was heavy on the provision of wood fuel, so local woodlands would have been grown for the sole purpose of feeding the hypocaust. From 400AD until 1900AD central heating was unknown in Western Europe, though corner stone stoves with ceramic heated palaces, like Whitehall Palace with open cast coal from Newcastle and wood and coal fires warmed domestic homes. We may be returning with rising gas prices to a situation where Roman luxury is out of our reach and “winter” is like the miserable looking mosaic at Bignor.
Winter misery
There is a cut-away hypocaust (underfloor heating system) below which one could call ‘an ancient heat network’. The decoration is some beautiful pictures of gladiators, who clearly meant something in their day, even in Roman Sussex.
Gladiator mosaics with head of Venus
The winter dining room hypocaust is cut away (presumably it had collapsed)
I tried on a Roman helmet for size. It was heavy on the neck.
International Joust and medieval fair - Arundel Castle
This jousting tournament is not between stunt men but jousting experts. One of the contenders from France, Luc, was very fine (below) in his armoured array. The clash of lances which shattered noisily on contact with armour was violent and dramatic. Made from ash or cyprus, the hollow lances were (and still are) designed to shatter on impact, not impale the opponent. However, in battle, the more solid lances were designed to do just that. So jousting in medieval tournaments was not like duelling i.e. kill/wound or die. I can understand how Henry VIII nearly lost his life jousting at Greenwich Palace in 1536. The injury sustained to the head is thought to have driven him mad: a tragedy for Anne Boleyn.
Luc in full armour, which adds a third to the body weight
Paolo engaged in ‘flags’ as he noted similarities between the Cross of St George and his PIedmontese flag, thus wrapping himself in it. A medieval fair with music was all around
Flag of St George in front of Arundel Castle
After lunch in the Castle’s restaurant, we toured the state room and bedrooms trying to fathom the mystery of why Arundel Castle belongs to the Dukes of Norfolk but is situated in Sussex. The Duke of Sussex has no castle or home in ‘his’ county. Why do Dukes live in ‘the wrong county’? One thinks of the Duke of Devonshire (Devon) living at Chatsworth House.
Arundel Castle and Arundel
By Chensiyuan - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=61252048
This portrait below clarified the reason. This lady sadly died in childbirth aged 17, as many women did, in those days, but her marriage and her surviving child united the title of Duke of Norfolk with ownership of Arundel Castle by the Earls of Arundel. All the lands of the Duke of Norfolk in Norfolk were lost and Arundel became the main castle of the Norfolk line.
The missing link between Norfolk and Arundel - lady who died in childbirth aged 17
Though an anglican, the fourth Duke of Norfolk who lived under Elizabeth 1st, unwisely offered marriage to Mary Queen of Scots. For this act of disloyalty, he was beheaded by Elizabeth 1st and his title was abolished. However, Charles II restored it to his loyal cavalier descendants. The Duke (Earl Marshall of England) and his family today live in one wing during the summer, but when the castle closes to the public, in October, the family spread out and inhabit the whole castle. It must be like living in a vast, baronial hotel. They use the largest state room (below) for community and charitable events and for the Christmas party for staff. The best bedrooms all overlook the floodplain of the River Arun which rises just south of Horsham. No doubt, Dukes down the ages have fought to keep them beautiful and free of development.
Baronial Hall at Arundel used for community events by the Dukes
I was fascinated by this view below from a basement window: an intact Norman motte, bailey, gatehouse and keep, albeit restored during the 19th century. There are ruined Norman mottes in various towns today, like Tonbridge, but this one shows how they worked. This courtyard is almost identical to the Upper Ward at Windsor Castle, where the Queen lives, except that the keep at Windsor is higher (and now houses the Royal Archives).
View of the bailey and motte at Arundel Castle
(By the original uploader was 98octane at English Wikipedia. - Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons., CC BY 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4696863)
Arundel, itself, is a charming town of little tea shops, antiques, craft markets and ladies designer wear shops. We found a tea shop with a back garden and iced tea, in which to cool down. There is a lot of culture going on in the environs of Arundel, The sea with some of Britain's finest beaches is nearby. It is a very desirable place to live. However, visitors and locals cannot go to sandy West Wittering beach in high season unless they book a parking place a week in advance (and before they know what the weather will be like). There are a lot of traffic queues in this area, due to tourism and beaches (and roadworks).
Denmans Garden
This garden just north of Bognor Regis is a collaboration between a plantswoman Joyce Robinson who specialised in creating low maintenance planting in gravel, a skill she introduced from the Mediterranean and a leading garden designer who excelled at leaf and flower patterns and textures.
Denmans Garden is the 'mini Eden' mostly designed by the late Johns Brookes MBE, a top Chelsea Garden RHS winner. He was a poet in planting design and originated the square paper design skill, now widely used for planning gardens. He said something like 'anyone can grow a plant; the art is to position it correctly' . There were salutes to Claude Monet in the blue benches and a lily pond. A new cafe and restaurant is an idyll of planting with outside seating: we gladly lunched there. This garden is very artistic, another piece of perfection during the summer months, a rhapsody of leaf patterns and shapes. It is a place I would like to return to, to learn more. Failing that, I will read John Brookes’ book “How to design a garden”.
I sat in the restful conservatory for this shot:
Paolo was intrigued by this statue (Narcissus?) by the lily pond:
Borde Hill Gardens
Our final garden was set in rural Sussex countryside near Haywards Heath and run by a charity. Borde Hill Gardens surround a large private home owned by descendants of the Victorian arborist who planted the many trees he sourced from around the world. The Rose Garden and The Italian Water Garden are beautiful at this time of year. The latter majors on water lilies and agapanthus. These gardens are not creative in the way that Denmans Gardens are, but they make the most of their highlight: the beautiful blue agapanthus which is resplendent everywhere at this time of year. The charity puts on operas in the grounds in July. Frankly, I was a bit disappointed by Borde Hill, after the perfectly kept and artistic Denmans but we got in for free (Historic Houses members can).
Alison in the Rose Garden at Borde Hill with the private house in the distance
Along the way we discovered beautiful Cuckfield, a delight of a Sussex village and listened to Respighi’s “The Birds” which seemed perfect for this beautiful rural setting.
Conclusion
I am not advocating setting up a kitchen in the back of a micro camper van as some do, but I am strongly advocating getting:
out there into Nature, warming sea winds on the skin and grass under the feet
out of your comfort zone (important as we get older)
back fully to life and its beauty - even in your own home county.
All it takes is a pinch of ingenuity, a little flexibility and inventiveness, a willingness to pick up new and old skills (like dusting off the tent in the garage) and half a day of online research.
The rest is sweet air, enjoyment and refreshment, treasured all the more, after seemingly endless lockdowns and Covid restrictions and ahead of a 'Bignor' winter.
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