On Friday we headed down to see Sarah’s sister in St. Leonards on Sea, via Hassocks. The reason for the diversion via Hassocks was a fairly sombre one – we were visiting Sarah’s Mum’s grave.

Sarah’s brother Jon and his family agreed to come and meet us. Normally meeting at a  cemetery would be a little peculiar, but Sarah’s Mum was buried in Clayton Woods Natural Burial Grounds, which is 15 acres of beautiful Sussex countryside adjacent to the South Downs. It is planted with native trees and only small wooden grave markers are allowed, so it is not like a conventional cemetery at all. Believe it or not, it is a very pleasant place to spend some time – maybe eternity!

Anyway, we met up with Jon, Cheryl, Ethan, Reece and Aaron. The boys enjoyed playing with our dogs and after paying our respects to Sarah and Jon’s mum Eileen, we retired to Basil for a cup of tea and a catch up.

Sarah, Aaron, Ethan, Jon, Reece and Cheryl

After saying goodbye to Jon and family we travelled down to St. Leonards, where we said hello to Sarah’s sister Claire and her son Leo. Claire came with us to our campsite in Battle and we then went for dinner in the excellent Abbey Hotel in Battle, with the dogs.

We dropped Claire back home and went back to our campsite for the night. The campsite was another Caravan Certified Location (50.923727, 0.492066) (£14  including electricity)  and in the summer would be very pleasant and convenient for Battle. Unfortunately the wet weather made the whole site impassable for motorhomes. Luckily there was a small area of hard standing near the toilets, where we set up for the night.

On Saturday we returned to St. Leonards and had a lovely day with Claire on the sunny St. Leonards’ sea front. It always seems to be glorious weather when I visit Hastings and we sat and had lunch overlooking the sea, on the promenade.

St. Leonards on Sea looking towards Hastings

Sarah and Claire, with Mabel, Melek and Pickle