Tuesday 25th May: I set out on my first full day of my holiday in Bexhill-on-Sea to find a nature reserve I had spied on the map. Gillham woods Nature Reserve is owned by Sussex Wildlife Trust. My map reading skills aren’t the best, but I knew I had to be on the other side of the railway line and I’d end up walking through housing estates. Did I get lost? Yes, I did. But I found Collington Wood on route, which I decided to walk through. This piece of land is owned by The Woodland Trust (yet the website says it’s not…confusing!). It made a lovely cut through, and is obviously popular, especially with dog walkers.
Back on the trail, I finally found I was on the road that led to the nature reserve. What a long, windy road that was. It meandered through a rather nice housing estate, and suddenly there it was on the other side of the road. The reserve itself isn’t very large, but again it seemed popular with dog walkers. I kept to the main path and before long I was out the other side. Decision – which way now?
I wanted to get back to the sea walk, which meant crossing the railway again. There appeared to be only one way, and that was to walk into Cooden Beach where I could walk under the railway bridge. That is what I did.
Cooden Beach is small. There is one hotel, and the rest is housing which spreads along the seafront. This means walking along the road, or walking on the beach with its large pebbles. There was just one part where I could access the beach and take some photos. Then it was off along the road as I made my way back to Bexhill. As soon as I could I got back to the beach, walking a short way on the pebbles when I reached Collington (I assumed). It was a leisurely walk back. This area is very flat, so it makes for easy walking.
I’d eaten such a big breakfast that morning, I had no need for lunch! Just to the edge of Bexhill is Egerton Park and Bexhill Museum. I fell in love with the park. It’s been beautifully laid out with the stream, art sculptures and a cafe. There are areas for tennis, a kid’s play area, basketball and plenty of seating. Ducks are plentiful, and the whole park has a great atmosphere. It is a lovely place to relax in.
The museum is accessed from the road and was once the shelter for the park. Some shelter! It is enormous. The museum houses an interesting collection of its past with ancient tools, dinosaur bones, stuffed birds, shells, maps and models. There is much about the families whose names still live on in the names of buildings around Bexhill, name De La Warr, but others too, all of whom appear to be connected.
Eddie Izzard has a connection to Bexhill. He is building a model railway set in the 1940’s when his father came back from the war to the town. It was a winter’s day that his father returned, with snow covering everything. So, the model railway is set in the snow and has moving parts – not just the trains but the windmill, an air raid scene and children in the park skating. The model is almost finished. There was a short presentation while I was there when all the moving parts were given their part to play, including the church bells. Eddie also donated another model railway to the museum in 2016, built by Eddie and his brother, Mark.
Eddie’s other contribution to the museum is props and mood boards to the film Six Minutes to Midnight, starring Eddie Izzard and Dame Judi Dench. On display is a school uniform and gym wear, photos, and lots of information, including a film where Eddie interviews someone who worked at the school. Basically, the Bexhill school was a Nazi girls’ school!
Here is a trailer:
Bexhill is known as the birth place of motoring and cars were driven up and down the promenade. You can read about it here on these boards that are dotted along the seafront.
After then museum I then strolled along the seafront and eventually back to my B&B. The weather had thankfully held. Lots of heavy cloud, but I never got rained on, and there were some bright spells.
There was a lot packed into this day. On Wednesday I was off to Eastbourne, and I’ll blog on that tomorrow.
My London+ 