Around West Sussex

A mom that I met at school lived in Maryland for 13 years.  Her kids were born there, so their kids have dual citizenship.  They loved living in America and miss it a lot, but they felt they needed to return to England to be near family. We have some great and funny conversations about language, life in England as an American and life in America as English. We dropped the kids off at school and were on a mission to find antique shops and other cute shops with places to stop for tea and coffee. We were led astray a bit and did not find what we were searching for, but we drove through some quaint towns and my friend showed me some local hotels where we can enjoy cream tea (in America we might know this as having afternoon tea, complete with small sandwiches and desserts). The first quaint town we found ourselves in was Lindfield.  

 A sweet little town with a quaint pond at the end of the main street.

We looked in the few shops they had.

I loved this door with a big key!

Beautiful stuff!!

We then decided we needed a morning tea break.  Often times these cute little shops will have a small seating area for tea, coffee and cakes.  Sometimes lunch items as well.

We did a bit more driving around and stopped in Cuckfield (pronounced Cookfield) for lunch. This was set up in front of a little French bistro.  So pretty!   

Below, the South Downs in the distance.

I loved the old homes around here.

The hotel/spa in Cuckfield, Ockenden Manor.

It has such an old world look!

My friend, Lisa, really wanted me to see South Lodge Hotel.

It is quite grand with sprawling grounds.  I felt a bit out of my element, but the servers were so nice and  we enjoyed a cup of tea/coffee on the veranda.  They gave us some little sweet treats for free!  I guess that's what happens when you go for coffee at a grand hotel!

It was a fun day of exploring our county and gave me some ideas of places to take visitors when they come.  So come on friends!  Let me personally show you around our part of England!