Open day at the Coast Guard cottages

During the Napoleonic wars, a garrison of soldiers was stationed here.

Lovely cottage garden.

This is the old Cable House. A telegraph cable was laid from here to the D Day Landing HQ.

A piece of the old cable.

Inside the Cable House. Built in 1911 and lined with timber planks.

Highland cattle near Storrington

More ash remnants in the sky...

Polegate Windmill

Spring in the woods at Folkington

Wild garlic and the old gate.

Lots of wild garlic.

Bluebells at Arlington

Birling Gap in the evening, April 2011...

Elmer Sands

Myself, Ruth and Mabel spent a few hours here while Billy was at doggy re-hab!

Iron Gates Lock

This wonderful old structure was completed about 1793, enabling barges to travel up the River Ouse as far as Sheffield Park Bridge. It wasn`t until 1816 that the river was made navigable as far up as Ryelands wharf near the Ouse Valley Viaduct.


The first I knew about this lock was seeing it marked on an old ordnance survey map in the porch of Fletching church in the 1970`s. I managed to walk to it about 35 years ago and remember it being in quite good condition. The walls were complete but there was no sign of the iron gates. Now, 35 years later and it`s almost vanished from sight. Strong winds have brought trees down which have ripped the brickwork apart. The western end is in good condition and you can clearly see the sill in place and the recesses where the gates sat.


These locks were 52ft long and 13ft wide, made of brick with sandstone blocks along the edges. The barges were horse drawn and tolls were payable depending how far up the river you went.

New arrival

I thought I`d better put some photos of Billy on here, our new dog. He is a Patterdale cross who was in a rescue home for 4 months before we saw him on the internet, drove to Stevenage to see him and brought him back as he and Mabel got on well.

And here`s some nice photographs of Barnaby in the low afternoon sun...

Our garden after the heavy snow...