OK, I swear that I am coming to the end of my sumptuous English snaps, just a couple more posts after this one on pristine Petworth. With lush grounds designed by Capability Brown and more Turner paintings than could possibly be perused in the company of an exceptionally enterprising toddler (really, it was OK by me - a speed tour of a stately home is the way to go), Petworth House and gardens may provide the focal point for this stylish market town, but the cobbled streets and antique shops provide hours more fun for leisurely browsing and a bite or two of a shared slice of cake with tea.
Just so happened that a wedding was taking place the afternoon that the girls ditched the boys for a wander around Petworth. No snap of a self respecting country church could be complete without a blushing bride and groom, vintage car and confetti somewhere in the scene.
Thanks to little Phoebe's natural gregariousness (don't know where she gets that from?) her Mum and I made friends with lots of middle aged locals sipping tea on a terrace in a tea room on this street as the cheeky toddler passed a happy half hour handing out literature to regional attractions. The more often we replenished her target pile of leaflets, the happier she was to dole them out to all and sundry.
Fish and Chip shops are tending to go the way of the pubs in England, these days, though the really good, authentic institutions have held out and stay afloat by reputation county-wide. Haddock and chips and mushy peas from Petworth made the perfect take-out dinner on our way back to Pound Cottage from a visit to the Cathedral City of Chichester.
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