A walk on the South Downs

We are currently on holiday but we haven't gone away as we decided we wanted to do some decorating and just enjoy the Olympics. So far not a lot of decorating has been done, a lot of athletics has been watched and yesterday we decided to go for a walk on the South Downs. We started our walk in Lewes and headed out over the fields towards Kingston. We were lucky enough to see a common lizard on our way

I have taken this photo from Google images as I was too busy making sure Scamp didn't disturb the lizard to take a photo. This shows a juvenile lizard which is what we were lucky enough to see.  

As we went on our way we passed this windmill

and said hello to the horses.

We stopped in Kingston, which is a small village, for lunch at The Juggs. I can recommend the food here. It was delicious.

After lunch we headed up onto the downs climbing from 98 feet above sea level in Kingston to 587feet at the top.

The views were good from the top.

Once we came off the downs we stopped for a cup of tea in Rodmell, a small village which has a National Trust property Monk's House. This was the country retreat of novelist Virginia Woolfe. In addition the village also had many quaint cottages.

From Rodmell we headed to the River Ouse. The tide was out so the river was quite low.

The path was rich in wild flowers and the teasles were in bloom. I remember collecting the heads and making them into hedgehogs as a child.

Not long before the river walk returned us to Lewes we stopped to enjoy the view. Scamp, having a day off from helping with quilts and other forms of needlework was looking very perky having almost finished a ten mile walk.

Today we are heading out to a National Trust property Polsden Lacy which has been a favourite with our family for years. I think all of our three children learnt to walk in the grounds and they all enjoyed rolling down the slope on the back lawn. Sewing will be resumed shortly.