I was just checking the price of my shares in South American Zinc in the Financial Times today when I came across this very nice article about Petworth House, which was a favourite bolt-hole of Turner.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/5c06aebe-b3ab-11de-ae8d-00144feab49a.html
Nice to see the town getting coverage in a national publication.
The window of Tiffins Tea Room is currently displaying telephones. I am not sure why, but it looks very interesting.
Trust Me I'm a Dealer is a new series following an antique dealer's trades on behalf of ordinary people. Apparently one of the episodes was filmed in Petworth, so it might be worth looking out to see if anyone you recognise is on it. Interesting to see what antique dealers get up to!
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Trust Me I'm a Dealer is a new series following an antique dealer's trades on behalf of ordinary people. Apparently one of the episodes was filmed in Petworth, so it might be worth looking out to see if anyone you recognise is on it.
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Little Boxgrove cottage is on the main road to Chichester just before the turn off to Midhurst. It is clearly a very old building with a long history. Looking at the side view I suspect that the front is a 'modern' exterior on a building that is older still. Its a shame that such a venerable old building is so close to the main road.
A charming cottage tucked away behind a gate in the High Street in Petworth.
St Marys in Petworth has a bit of reputation for being quite a 'high' church. Almost in its shadow is the other end of the scale. The now abandoned Ebeneezer chapel catered for those who like their Christianity a bit less ritualised. It has been long abandoned by the look of it and its position on the main road makes it very inaccessible to all but the very brave.
I took a picture of the bare ground outside the bank in Golden Square back in January (See previous Visit Petworth Blog Post on Open Space by HSBC). Since then things have been planted and started to grow.
I will keep an eye on it and update it further as things develop.
I have noticed from my blog stats that people are visiting my blog looking for details of and the opening hours of the bank. I am always happy to help multinational billion dollar financial institutions, so here are the key facts about the branch:
HSBC
Golden Square
Petworth
West Sussex
GU28 0AR
Tel: 08457 404 404
Fax: 01798 879 281
Opening hours are Mon - Fri unless specified 0930 - 1530
Byworth is a great antidote to the cosmopolitan hussle and bustle of Petworth.
The building on the corner used to be the bakery.
Met some old friends at the Black Horse in Byworth for a quick drink on Easter Sunday at lunchtime. This turned into quite a long drink, an afternoon being introduced to and reducing the size of their wine cellar then back to the Black Horse in the evening for a meal and to participate in the quiz. Verdict - this is a really nice pub serving good food and decent local real ales. I can wholeheartedly recommend the shepherds pie. The quiz was good fun too. All in all - a thoroughly great place to spend a few hours.
Unlike just about every other building in Byworth, the Black Horse is not particularly pretty or picturesque. But it is very old, at least 300 years. It must have started as a drovers pub and there are the remains of an inn sign out the back facing what is now the footpath from Petworth but what would have been the drove in days gone by.
I quite like the way that this is a very old pub but it doesn't play up its antiquity in any way.
The Coco Cafe Sugar Lounge in Petworth doesn't just do chocolate and coffee. They also regularly have exhibitions of art and photos on their walls as well. The latest set is by Petworth resident Claudia Jones, and as Petworth's premier A-list blogger I was at the launch party to see how it all looked.
Claudia grew up in Jamaica and her oil paintings reflect the warmth and vibrancy of the tropics. A big contrast with West Sussex! She started painting in oils at school when she was 6 or 7 and has continued ever since. Her work is on display in several hotels in Negril, Jamaica.
The exhibition is on until May 8th and most of the pieces in it are for sale. Claudia has a website where you can see more of her work. www.stargrasss.co.uk
More about the Coco Cafe Sugar Lounge.
It is still a long wait for the start of the Petworth Festival and still no indications of the programme details yet, but classical music lovers have other options in the mean time.
I will be getting my tickets for this as soon as I can - its a shame there isn't anywhere in Petworth itself you can buy them.
Coverage of Petworth Festival here
The Age of Oak and Walnut is a new antique shop just opened. I don't know anything about it other than looking in the window and seeing that they do furniture. Something about the name hints to me that they might specialise in oak and walnut pieces, but that is pure speculation.
This building was until recently an office of Christie's, the auctioneers.
Update 13.4.09 - I have just discovered the Age of Oak and Walnut website. As I guessed, oak and walnut furniture is their speciality. They do some other stuff as well- all gorgeous.
There is a parade in Petworth on Palm Sunday(the Sunday before Easter).
This picture was taken on the corner of Angel Street and Middle Street.
The Petworth Town Band were there to provide the music. I don't know how many towns in the country still have a town band. Petworth is fortunate to have one to provide the atmosphere at events like this.
One of the good things about Petworth is that it has a large carpark right in the middle of town which is free to use and has unlimited parking. I heard that there were plans afoot to start a system where the parking will still be free but there will be a 2 hour time limit.
On first hearing it sounded a bit daft to me. But I listened and it turns out that there is a problem. It seems that a lot of people who work in London have the habit of meeting up in Petworth and sharing a lift either into London itself or to Haslemere or Pulborough stations, where the parking isn't free.
This means that the car park gets full up early in the morning and stays that way until the evening, meaning that people who have business in Petworth itself during the day have a job finding somewhere to park. The limited time rule should make this a bit easier. The commuters would soon work out that they could use the large car park by the Sylvia Beaufoy centre for the same purpose just as easily.
I couldn't help thinking that 4 hours would be a better time limit than 2 hours - there is a lot to see in Petworth and two hours seems a bit of a short period of time.
Anyhow, I don't know how far advanced these plans are and even if they will ever come to anything. If you know more than me please let me know.
Petworth Butchers can be found in the road leading into and out of the car park.
The shop is run by a local farmer who sells his own produce and also sources from other local producers, so this is a great place to get locally produced meat.
Despite appearances, this is a business that is run on a major internet router straight out of silicon valley using the latest high tech IT systems. The butcher can just as often be found rewriting his DLLs or configuring his code calls as he can slicing his bacon. And all this goes on behind this modest brick building's walls.
I have just noticed that the Petworth Festival 2009 website is now up and running with some previews of what we have to look forward to.
First impressions - it is good that they have not wasted the festival budget on a flashy and stylish website. It is er, basic. Mind you, not that visitpetworth.blogspot is much to e-mail home about.
But what has been revealed of the programme looks sensational. One of only two UK performances of a new work by John Taverner. Wow! I know that John Taverner isn't everyone's cup of tea but I will be queuing up as soon as the box office opens to get in on that one. It isn't until July so I will have to contain myself until then.
I signed up for the newsletter and the questions implied that there might be more on offer than music this year. I don't know any more than that at the moment.
I will post more information as it becomes available.
Petworth's greengrocer.
Pip's has only been open for a couple of years now. In addition to traditional green groceries they also do soup and freshly prepared smoothies. There is usually something interesting to see in there.
This looks like it could be good.
And it is in a very Bach-like setting.
(Thanks to Abridgover on Flickr for the photo.)
Tickets are available at the tourist office in Petworth - or at least they are according to the flyer. I haven't bought mine yet but I intend to. More details below.
Spriggs is the only florist in Petworth and has the most impressive premises of any florist I have come across. I don't know how old this building is but it looks like it could easily be Elizabethan.
The brickwork on the chimney is particularly impressive.
And they have a website.....
I find it rather amazing, and also very convenient, that a place the size of Petworth manages to support a bookshop. The Petworth Bookshop is not only about as accurate a name as any shop could have, it is also small but very well stocked.
An old cottage called Pompey Chimes. There are quite a few in roughly this style in Petworth. The thing I like most about it is its wierd angle relative to the road. No doubt it made sense when it was built.
Even in a really small place like Petworth it is amazing how you can come across really interesting businesses operating that you have never heard anything about it. It turns out that there's an organic flower grower and flower arranger operating near Grittenham Barn called Shiny Blooms. I have never seen any of their work but the illustrations on their website look really nice I like the environmental awareness thing too.
Visit the shiny blooms website
Ronald Chambers is one of the top antique dealers in Petworth, and enjoys a key position in the corner of Market Square. It is always worth a look in the window as you go by, they have some amazing stuff in there including things like grandfather clocks and old keyboard instruments sometimes. The always put on a good show for the Christmas late night opening in December. In the photo they have decorated the window to mark valentine's day. I doubt very much that valentine's day makes much impact on their trade - they seem to just enjoy an excuse for a bit of flamboyance.
They have a website too http://www.ronaldchambers.com/
I only recently noticed that one part of the shop has another name over it, that of Jacqueline Tudor, so I guess that there must be two businesses operating on the same premises. But as they both use the same phone number they must get on pretty well.
Its position in the centre of town makes it tricky to photograph, but the United Reform Church is probably the most pleasant looking of the three churches in Petworth.
How would any of us in Petworth get on without Somerfields? Knowing that a pint of milk or a rasher of bacon is only a short walk away anytime between 7 and 10 is a great comfort. Apart from the banks, the only big chain represented in Petworth.
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A plaque near the Stonemason's arm records what must have been the most tragic event in the history of Petworth. On September the 29th 1942 a bomber dropped 4 bombs onto the school killing 28 of the pupils and several adults including the headmaster.
There is a very moving eye witness account here.
http://www.gravelroots.net/history/ww2.html
The military purpose of the raid is not known, and it is likely that it was simply a mistake or a case of a bomber getting rid of its load of bombs before returning home.
This interesting building is set back from the High Street. It is such an unusual shape that there must be some history to it. If anyone knows please let me know.
Someone has removed the wild vegetation from the area in front of HSBC in Golden Square. This photo taken in January shows the bare soil left afterwards.
I don't know what the plan is, so I will keep an eye on it and add pictures as it develops. I hope they don't just let the weeds grow back.
In its new custom built building and nice sized car park, the surgery is an asset to the town.
The Star is the main pub in the centre of Petworth. It is very much a locals pub with darts and quiz nights. It does food during the day and has a good selection of beers. It has a page on http://www.pubsulike.co.uk/ which makes it seem a bit bigger than it actually is, but has some nice photos of the interior.
The current landlord is quite active in organising entertainment with quizzes and darts tournaments and the like.
Update 30.3.09 First full day after the clocks have gone back. I was wandering past the Star this evening and it was full of people enjoying coffee and pastries, presumably enoying the extra daylight in the evening. It is good the way in the last few years pubs have branched out into offering all sorts of catering options. So if you are in the Petworth area early in the evening, here is somewhere you can get a snack.
Petworth' has a new vicar, the Rev Tim Wright. He takes over St Mary's Church today, along with St Bartholomew at Egdean today.
He is 55 and married to Deborah with three children.
Artful Teasing have re-opened after their refurbishment with a much lighter and cleaner look to the shop. It looks like they have dropped a few lines and are concentrating on their own skin care products more.
There isn't much we can do about the recession, but somebody is trying. The Yes We Can Sussex website encourages you to shop locally and support local businesses. It is a simple idea - they run a mailing list where local businesses can advertise what they are doing and any offers they have on. It seems to be free at the moment. And that seems to be it. I have just signed up for it and I think it is only just starting, but it sounds like something we should all support.
The nearer home you spend your money, the more likely you are to see it again after all.
Sign up here http://www.yeswecansussex.co.uk/
I don't know anything about this apart from what is on the website itself - I will try and find out more.
