East Sussex

East Sussex is a moderate drive from London but a long drive from cheltenham. We drove around the M25, past Gatwick, and on to Crowborough. We stopped at this pub for lunch.

At Crowborough, we stayed with Joan and Brian Webber, our good friends we first me in Nottingham. We enjoyed their sunny garden.

Above, the Glyndebourne Lobby.
Now that Brian is refreshed, we can explore the grounds.

And we got the gal that served us to take this picture. Below, Brian is trying to figure out how to identify the different dips..

The next day, we were off to do some serious touring. We were given some choice of where we wanted to go, and I (Marv) was really keen on the south coast of England. I had heard of all those chalk cliffs and really wanted to see them.
On the way, we visited the site of the Glyndebourne Festival Opera, England's Wolf Trap. John Christie was the founder. One of our life's goals is to attend an opera here.

This is where the fancy, formally dressed audience prances between acts.

The Egg and Brian.

The Loo and Brian

After getting back to the USA, Joan and Brian sent us this wonderful picture postcard of the Glyndebourne auditorium.

All the pictures below were taken at Seaford, on the Southern coast of England. The cliffs were every bit as white as we remembered the white cliffs of Dover.

Above, Joan and Brian, and me wetting my toe in the channel.

So, we bid farewell to Glyndebourne, hoping that sometime in the future, we can come back for a performance. Perhaps when England rediscovers their Handel operas, they will invite David Daniels to sing a countertenor lead, and we will return.

On the way to the next sea side, we stopped at

Then we had lunch at Rose Cottage Inn in Alciston. We only photographed our guests, the Bantams.

this very beautiful scenic overlook.

Lovely tea shop with a fantastic flower display.

I have no idea who that red critter is above.

The vertical picture below had to be straightened, but I didn't have the heart to crop anything away. My Kodak 16mb card failed, and I didn't get to photograph some of the more spectacular pictures on the way back.

We had to photograph the one Congregational church we saw.

We are now in Alfriston and the beautiful Parish Church of Saint Andrew.

The interior was really grand and the gardens and as you can see, I couldn't stop photographing.

Finally, we drove to the coast at Birling Gap. The pictures below reveal the fantastic scenes. Those houses below are definitely at risk. The sea is encroaching slowly toward any building that was built near the cliff.