After months and months stuck in SE London for lockdown, we finally escaped the capital for a tentative holiday in early August. We booked a cottage in a Sussex village just over an hour from home with our friend Katharine and her daughter, and kept our fingers crossed that Covid-19 restrictions didn’t increase again.

Thankfully they didn’t, and with a heatwave on the forecast, we found ourselves giddy with excitement leaving the M25 in a hire car. We stopped on the way for a hike from Ticehurst towards Bewlwater and it was such a huge pleasure to pull on our walking boots in the sunshine and get out into the countryside.

We walked through woodland and vineyards, before stopping at the reservoir for a picnic.

On the walk back, the children were surprised to find a little library in an old phone box and some very friendly pigs!

After our very first drink in a pub garden, we continued our journey south to Robertsbridge where we checked into the beautiful Cricket Cottage. We immediately headed back out to the village green to watch some cricket and explore the playground. It was such a pleasure to see the three kids slotting right back into their friendship after a 6 month hiatus!

The cottage proved to be ideal with far-reaching views, a lovely garden just perfect for family games and plenty of space for us all.

And the children enjoyed sharing a room – love this picture of them enjoying a bedtime story together!

We planned a few excursions during the week, including a trip to Battle to explore the site of the 1066 Battle of Hastings. We whiled away a fun couple of hours following the historical trail around the grounds, with Alex, Sophie and Emilia happy to recreate some of the battle scenes!

After our busy morning of battles, we enjoyed a more peaceful afternoon fruit-picking.

We came away with several punnets of raspberries and blackberries – as well as tummies full of local ice cream!

During our week away, we also paid a visit to glorious Bodiam Castle – an incredible moated, medieval castle in beautiful grounds.

The children took every opportunity to get close to the water so they could see the enormous carp that patrolled the moat!

Sophie spent some time with the camera photographing leaves, flowers and the water – but also managed to capture a nice one of Alex, Matt and I!

The weather was outrageously hot, so we spent quite a lot of our visit seeking out shade!

Bodiam really was a fairy tale castle and I definitely plan to visit again so we can see inside the castle!

Loads more photographs of our Sussex break to share in the next post…