My Love affair with Hastings

After my vast travelling experience of England (ahem) I've decided that I’ll always be married to Sydney, but when it comes to matters of the heart I can’t help whom I love. My current little fling is Hastings and I’ve listed just some of the things I love about this place:

* Every weekend there is something different going on in the Old Town. We’ve seen Morris Dancers; the Food and wine festival; the fireworks; the Owl Lady (she lets her owls fly around the town to scare off the pigeons); a Vintage Car show and a couple of weekends ago was the ‘The 1066 Festival’ with more fireworks, a street procession (straight mans Mardi Gras) and a bonfire.

Big Fat Owl

* The Antique Shopping- The antique shopping is second to none and so cheap. I have been tempted by some amazing pieces of furniture which have cost less that £100 but Mark never lets me get anything- Boo. But it doesn’t matter as we’re going to follow the Antiques Roadshow around in the holidays.

* The Pubs- this makes me sound like a bit of an alcoholic but the fact is that there are more pubs in Old Town Hastings per square mile than any other place in Britain. The pubs have such a great history to them too. Some are just a tiny little room and others this Tudor monstrosity, even if you’re not drinking they’re nice to go in and have a look around.

* The East and West Hill- these two hills (cliffs) border each side of the Old Town. Each cliff has incredible views over the district and I like going up to the West Hill after I come home from work. We are very fortunate as the West Hill is only a 5 minute walk away and the East Hill only 10 minutes away. Each hill has a lift which are among the oldest and steepest in Britain. Last weekend Mark and I did the 7 mile walk along the East Hill from Hastings to Fairlight and it was a great way to spend the day. We went berry picking and came across some secluded beaches (including one nudist beach).

Blackberry picking

* The Seafood- the seafood is very cheap and fresh as Hastings has the largest beach launched fishing fleet in the UK. We’ve eaten loads of fish and chips since arriving.

* The People- the New Town people are a bit different but the Old Town folk are lovely. We’ve mentioned Tina and Paul but most people will go out of their way to help you out and say hello. On the weekend there are loads of tourists so it always feels like we’re on holiday. The funniest thing about the Old Town is how slow people are to get moving, on the weekend most shops don’t open until after 11am and then some shopkeepers can’t even be bothered to open at all- it’s just hilarious!

I will post a far more sensible piece about our holidays (including meeting Pierce Brosnan) when my body has gotten over the shock of being back at school.