Petworth Parking Poser

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

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.

Petworth Festival 2009

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.

Pips of Petworth

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.

Bach in Bignor 21st March 2009

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.