Tag Archives: sussex

The First Planes I Flew

These photos are not too sharp I’m afraid.  However, they are important to me.  The summer of 1986 had me just outside Chichester learning to fly at the historic Goodwood Aerodrome.  Along with a bunch of similarly aged lads, we were being taught the basics of aviation courtesy of HMG.  It was an amazing summer and, since we were flying once or twice a day, we were learning very quickly.  I soloed on the Friday of my first week there having never even been inside a light aircraft prior to the Monday.

At some point during the summer, I borrowed my Mum’s camera and took a few pictures of the PA-38 Tomahawks that the flying school operated.  These are those planes.  In the line up of the planes can be seen G-BGRL.  This was the very first plane I flew and will always be a plane that I am fond of.  The fence behind them had a hole for a while when one student got to close with his wingtip.  It was redefined as a gate named after his student number.  The club had a PA-28 which is I the background in which I was self loading cargo for a flight for a student needing some weight and a couple of Gazelles lived next door.  That was an outstanding summer.

Goodwood Festival of Speed

More from the archives today.  Only once have I made the trip to the Goodwood Festival of Speed.  For car enthusiasts, this is quite the event.  An enormous variety of motor vehicles are on display and the drive them up the hill across the estate past the main house – a place I am quite familiar with having spent a summer living in the stable block around the corner.  Oh how I wish they had done this when I was there!

My one trip would have probably been in 2003 shortly before leaving the UK.  I only got a few photos but there are some rather unusual cars in the shots I did take.  I thought that a few of you are in to cars and might be interested in what was there.  Maybe some of you were there too?  One day I will try and be back when it is on again and make another trip.

Sheffield Park Gardens

wpid7948-C59F9138.jpgOne of our transit days in the UK had us moving from the Cotswolds back to Surrey for my Dad’s birthday party.  En route, we decided to take a detour to an old favorite location of ours.  When we lived in Sussex, we were not too far from Sheffield Park.  This is an estate that has been divided up with the National Trust owning the gardens and parkland and the house being privately owned.  The gardens are a delight to visit.

wpid7933-C59F9102.jpgOver many years, a collection of different botanical species have been cultivated at the gardens so they have a great diversity of plants and trees including some sequoias.  The gardens are built around a series of lakes that make the whole place look just gorgeous.  Some of the older trees are really solid and gnarly looking.  Nancy thought it looked like something from the Wizard of Oz.  One of the National Trust guys told us to look for a spot that had a great view back up the lakes to the house.  It took a bit of searching since the tree cover is quite dense but we found it.  It was certainly a nice view.

wpid7940-C59F9117.jpgGreat to get back to this place after being away for so long and to see it on a lovely day was even better.  If you are ever thinking of visiting, they apparently have a nice day trip from London to get there.  You can take the normal train to East Grinstead and from there the Bluebell Railway runs a steam service to Sheffield Park.  A shuttle from the station operates on busy day but it is not a long walk if not.  Not done this myself but it sounds like a nice way to make a day trip of the whole thing.