We spent a lovely time with Bob's side of the family enjoying a tasty lunch in a pub at Reigate before taking Mum to Tilford for her holiday. The log cabin we rented had a beautiful fire surround with carved grapes around the edge. This is the first sketch I drew on Sunday evening while we relaxed after our busy day.
The painted tiles were very attractive with wild roses growing up each side. We had a large veranda where every afternoon we sat out there to soak up a bit of the warm sunshine and while Mum and Bob snoozed I was able to get on with my sketchbook drawings.
On the Tuesday we decided to go out for the day to the seaside and decided on West Wittering as we had never been there before. The beach there is on a private estate owned by the residents and access is only via the huge car park which costs £4 per day regardless of how long you stay. There is only a basic café for refreshments so we had a sandwich and a cup of tea for our lunch. It is a very pleasant, unspoiled place and if we had known we could have brought our own picnic.
The next day we decided to explore a bit closer to home and went to Frensham ponds, only a few miles from Tilford. As I sat on a wall to do my sketch I was joined by a young Polish girl curious to see what I was drawing. We had a very nice conversation and she told me she was a graphic arts student and was very interested to see what I was using, even photographing my tin of odd pencils on her phone for future reference!
Thursday came and this time we had arranged to have lunch at the local pub with Bob's brother and his wife. We drove to the pretty village green and while we sat in the sun under a huge old oak tree I was able to draw this view of the village hall. I would have drawn the pub too but Ivor arrived and it was time to eat. Tilford's green has been used for several film sets and advertisements as it's very typically 'Olde English' and still has cricket matches in the summer months.
On the complex at Tilford lodges there was a pond where several families of ducks lived and every day we were visited by proud parents with their tiny ducklings, in search of food. They seemed to smell bread or biscuits from 100 yards away and were so tame that if we left our gate and door open they came right inside the lodge!
I found a few feathers while we were out walking and I'm not sure what birds they belonged to although the middle one is probably from a female duck.
Our time here was all too short and on Saturday it was time to pack up and leave to go to Justine's annual charity garden party which I'll tell you about in the next episode.
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