County motto: We wun’t be druv
Best thing: It boasts a wealth of literary connections from Shelley to Blake to Belloc
Local food: Selsey prawns; Sussex Pond Pudding which includes a whole steamed lemon; organic Sussex Slipcote cheese from Tremains Farm
Heroes: Anita Roddick; reformer Richard Cobden; Jon Snow; boxer Alan Minter
Events: Glorious Goodwood and Goodwood Festival of Speed; British Lawn-mower Racing Grand Prix, Wisborough; World Marble Championships, Crawley; Ebernoe Horn Fair includes a cricket match played as a sheep is roasted, the highest scorer being presented with the horns; Blessing the Plough, Chichester
Battle: In 894, the defenders of Chichester forced the attacking Vikings away, killing many and capturing some of their ships
Worst thing: Legend has it that George V was on his deathbed when a chirpy chap remarked he’d soon be at Bognor again. The king exclaimed ‘Bugger Bognor’, and expired
What they say: ‘Chichester is a very handsome city, Sussex is certainly a happy place and Felpham in particular the sweetest spot on earth’ (William Blake); ‘The Sussex lanes were very lovely in the autumn… all the magic of the countryside which is ordained for the healing of the soul’ (Monica Baldwin)
Artistic connections: H. G. Wells; Percy Bysshe Shelley; William Collins; Philip Larkin’s An Arundel Tomb was inspired by a tomb at Chichester Cathedral; E. H. Shepard (Winnie-the-Pooh’s illustrator) lived at Lodsworth; Oscar Wilde wrote The Importance of Being Earnest in Worthing; William Blake penned the line ‘England’s green and pleasant land’ when at Felpham; Ivon Hitchens; Hilaire Belloc
Wildlife: The Sussex martlet, a mythical bird on the county’s coat of arms, has no legs, and symbolises the constant quest for knowledge
First: The Duke of Monmouth founded the Charlton Hunt, which became the first established pack of foxhounds in Britain in about 1675
Houses: Petworth House contains the National Trust’s finest art collection, with works by Turner, Reynolds and Blake; Standen House, PhilipWebb’s final Arts-and-Crafts masterpiece; Uppark, a Restoration mansion superbly restored after a devastating fire; Arundel Castle, seat of the only remaining medieval dukedom; Parham Park
England’s counties: West Sussex
Thursday, 02 April 2009
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