One of my favorite places
One of the great joys of living in England is the setting. Just down the road from us, there is this beautiful little town complete with medieval castle, winding river, historical ruins, museum, riverside walks, ducks and swans. It has something for everyone – playground, walks, shops, cafes, ice cream, restaurants, art galleries, antiques, churches, some really lovely independent shops, and it’s the home of Arundel Wetlands Centre. Yes, it’s Arundel, West Sussex!
Arundel is one of my favorite places in the UK to go for a day out, a family picnic, to shop, to visit during their festival and fete seasons or to simply meet up with friends for dinner. Did I mention they also have an outdoor swimming pool? It’s very rare to find one of these in England!
On Saturday evening we went to Arundel to celebrate the Fourth of July as a British/American family. It’s important to me to recognize holidays and celebrations that are American so my children will grow up understanding them and remembering them. It’s a tough task for several reasons – the main one being that American holidays are not celebrated in the UK. So you lose out on the build-up, the excitement, the parades/fireworks/parties and also the national holiday day off of school and work. But, never mind, we do the best we can and enjoy it even though it’s not officially a holiday in the UK. I’m so thankful that many of my British friends took the time to wish me a Happy 4th of July. That’s really lovely.
This time last year, my parents were here visiting from South Carolina. We miss them so much! It was the first time since 1993 that I celebrated the 4th of July with other Americans. I remember I took my parents to Arundel for a day out and they also really liked it. So much fun to share my now home country and surroundings with them. That’s the thing about living a life outside the country you grew up in – you may miss out on some things, but you definitely gain so much more and not just for yourself, but for your loved ones too.
Last year at Arundel festival
This year’s 4th of July celebration at The Loft, Sparks Yard, Arundel
Feeding the ducks in Arundel, just below the castle walls
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Meghan Peterson Fenn is the author of Bringing Up Brits and co-author of Inspiring Global Entrepreneurs with Heidi Mulligan Walker. Meghan is also the Director and Chief Designer at her own design company, White Ochre Design Ltd. And, she is an award winning expat blogger.
Glad you had a good time in Arundel and also that you enjoyed 4th July. I too have a soft spot for Arundel (especially the castle, the boating lake and The Black Rabbit pub overlooking the river) and have always enjoyed visits there. My mum is a real antiques fan and she took all her overseas visitors when they had a big covered antiques market there. I remember buying some charms for my charm bracelet there as a little girl. I once had a craft stall at the Arundel festival in my early twenties and I also remember attending a Shakespeare production played out on the castle walls – magical!
Thanks Vivienne! It’s funny because I’ve never actually been inside the castle. All the kids have been with school but I haven’t yet. One day I’ll go – I just love the setting so much
Meghan, love reading your blog. Still remember so fondly having you speak to the class back in February. We miss London and England. I’m reading a book now, “Watching the English: The Hidden Rules of English Behaviour,” by social anthropologist Kate Fox. It explains a lot, and is funny to have “lived it.” Actually, our time there was delightful, and we found people to be very helpful and friendly, and want to come back. But reading back on one of your blog entries about customer service in the grocery store, I do recall it was a little odd to have the people at the check-out to get a bit impatient if you didn’t get your items in bags as soon as they would like. But they weren’t rude. Anyway, love seeing pictures of your beautiful children.
Thank you John, and for me too, I loved speaking to your class and chatting with you and your students. It really made me realize just how integrated and ‘British’ I have become! And thankfully, customer service is improving – slowly but surely. It still depends on where you are, but certainly some of the bigger companies are getting better which does make life a little more pleasant
yes, do come back to visit England! Let me know when you do.