On our final day in Amberley, after yet another lazy breakfast, I was perfectly happy with just returning straight to London until Lloyd mentioned a place I just knew I’d have to visit.
That place was Petworth House, which we’d passed on the way over to Arundel and Amberley from London and so it was fairly quickly decided to be the perfect little stop before heading back to London.
Except, there’s nothing little about Petworth House…
This amazing home and expansive grounds around it is one of those places that would up too big for the family that owned it to handle and ended up being handed over to (in large part – the family still own and live in a small part of it) to the National Trust.
It’s so huge there’s even a deer park here where the deer roam free and attempt to steer clear of most humans visiting.
It’s also a place that is home to some pretty amazing art – especially portraits that are several centuries old!
Everyone who’s anyone in British history appears to be captured in portraits hanging on the walls here! It’s nothing short of impressive!
I’m one of those people who has to stop and read everything in a museum so every time I see a portrait, I have to stop and read more about the subject and the artists (I usually think I remembered who the subject is – thanks to Wikipedia – but it actually ends up turning out to be someone else from the same era that’s totally different from who I was thinking of 😄).
Suffice to say, this ended up being the perfect place to spend a few hours for me and I left feeling somehow like I knew more about aspects of British history than I did before.
The rooms and hallways here are also pretty impressive by the way, especially the one where Henry the 8th’s portrait is in – the intricate woodwork here is just fantastic!
Eventually, we left the main house, swinging by the servants quarters to check out how the other half lived and worked here back in the day (random fact – post and pans can be found here that are centuries old and boy are those things deceptively heavy).
Eventually, we left Petworth House in search of a pub lunch. For some reason, Lloyd had his mind set on this and so, after roaming the pretty cobbled streets of Petworth, we found the perfect place in The Star.
We both started off with the prawn tempuras – which came piping hot with pretty impressive batter and disappeared within seconds, before tucking into fish and chips for myself and a burger for Lloyd.
This places really does fantastic pub lunches!
Dessert was apple crumble for me and a thick slice of Victoria sponge with a pot of tea for Lloyd.
Finishing this trip to Amberley Castle and Arundel (filled with experiences I’d wanted to do in England for such a long time), with a delicious homely meal like this was just the perfect way to round things off.
I absolutely love spending time exploring England and can’t wait to see even more of our amazing country!
Read more: Best day trips in England
Check Out The Very Best Of Great Britain!
