Littlehampton

Littlehampton used to be a little seaside village on the south coast.  But sometime during the mid 1900's it turned into a sprawling tourist resort with a multitude of fish and chip shops, boats and barges moored along the river, lots of shops and 60's buildings and a little museum which provided some relief from the wind and the cold.  We explored the three floors quite quickly and enjoyed reading up about the history of the town and in particular how holidays in England have changed over time with a significant impact on towns like Littlehampton...

• In 1773 the first tourists arrived to escape London's pollution - bathing and drinking seawater (at least a pint in one sitting) was afterall good for your health.
• By 1780 the first tourist hotel was built and you could lease your own bathing machine - I presume you hired the pusher and the puller to aid you modestly down to the waters edge.
• A century or so later John Constable the painter holidayed here and presumably painted a few pictures.
• 1900 - 1920 - the working class discovered they too could afford a holiday in Littlehampton (wonder what the upper class thought of that?).
• WW I put a stop to all holidays and so did WW II (Ian Fleming trained here during the war, and some of parts of the James Bond movies was later shot near the town).
• 1950's holidays began to appear again on the English calendar and along came the tourist in buses, trains and motor cars to enjoy the Punch and Judy shows, donkey rides, paddling in rock pools, mixed bathing and Butlins!!
• 1970's saw the gradual decline of the English seaside holiday in favour of the cheap holidays to Europe.
• Now that the Sterling isn't holding up against the Euro there appears to be a resurgence in the local seaside holiday.

The claim to fame for Littlehampton really is the longest bench in Britain.  It was built to enjoy which we did to the amusement of many locals (imagine Harry attempting the Lotus position). The bench is 324 metres long - quite a fun project to brighten up a water front.  It curves around lamp posts, goes down to ground level across paths, is high up in places and slopes just for fun.  The creators said " we imagined the longest bench as a charm bracelet gifted to the town as a delicate piece of jewellery that can accommodate new and varied additions..." - good imagination and a bit more than I had.  We recovered from all that exercise with a Pot of Noodles in the car and then drove to Bognor Regis and wondered why?  Then it was dinner and the panto Jack and the Beanstalk.

The next day we visited Arundel Wildlife and Wildfowl Trust and enjoyed walking around outside with a number of birds - actually it was really only ducks at this time of year.  The highlight for us was to see a little NZ blue duck - though he wasn't so pleased to see us!!  While walking around, up to hides and through reeds we found some interesting reading...

• A study demonstrated that walking in a natural setting can lead to an overall healthier lifestyle and attitude by increasing healthy emotional states and reducing the desire to smoke and drink!
• That after a 20 minute walk in a natural setting your attention and memory increased by 20% even in winter (oh boy I need to walk more).
• If you haven't got time to join a gym then perhaps you could do join the 'Real World Gym' eg take the stairs (yep that's us), walk run or cycle to work (yep that's us), chop wood (no fireplace!!), collect bathwater in a bucket and carry it outside to water the garden (yeah right - do plants like bubble bath?)
• A study showed that patients who could see nature from their hospital bed recovered more quickly and were discharged earlier and needed less painkillers!!