Sussex day trips #1 - Horsham

Crawley may be a quiet little town, but is excellent base to explore Sussex part of England. After going around Crawley on first weekend and visiting my friends in London on second, it’s time to check out few nearby towns. My landlady suggested 2 towns - Horsham and East Grinstead. I picked Horsham and headed out on a Saturday morning.

It was the first time I went out completely on my own and, even though it’s only a day trip, it felt slightly weird at first. I went inside what seemed like a tourist office and enquired the lady at the counter for places to visit or things to see. She seemed confused and rather unamused - Horsham is not a typical tourist destination and probably not many (if any) walk in and ask for attractions😅. She told that highlight of the town is its buildings, most of them built in 18th century, however they are not open for public. What I could do is walk around the town admiring the buildings from outside, so that’s what I did. First I visited the museum which is smaller in size but have good collection. Then I went around the neighbourhood when I came across a church.

Towns in England seem to have a default template - a Church (mostly in residential part of the town), shopping centre (next to main bus station), a museum (between shopping centre and before residential buildings begin) and a park (few smaller ones are spread across, but the huge primary one will be  located slightly away from the centre).

I went inside the church and, surprise, no visitors at all. There are few people who seemed to be preparing for some event. I was met with confused and sceptical stares. Till then I only went to touristy areas where people are used to strangers walking around but, in smaller towns, people are only used to known faces. I tried my best not to look lost and asked the lady if it is okay to take some pictures. She readily agreed.

 

I went around before sitting down, without realising, on a seat which is hidden from their view (not the best thing to do). In few minutes,  they started murmuring about what I was doing. Then I understood, I am not only a foreigner in a non-tourist area but also a solo traveller which might have seemed even more strange in family centric community. With the thought of handing the situation in better way, I went back to the front, introduced myself and gave few details about my trip, just enough to put them at ease. They relaxed immediately and, when I took their leave, they asked me to visit again if I want to take more photos - communication is the key dearies😊.

I went back to the town centre for a quick bite from a food truck. In contrast to other part, the centre was crowded with shoppers and locals out for a stroll in sun. 

I went around few shops, it was good that I visited the place early on my trip when I was still excited to see stores like Superdrug and Boots 😁.

As final stop I went to the park which is quite huge. Small ponds, garden area, huge lawn and small section have statues of dragons with some inscription planks. 

I couldn’t help but find the place similar to Crawley, only latter have more spacious museum and bigger park, but the church is much bigger in Horsham. 

As I walked back to bus station, it occurred to me that it’s highly unlikely for me to visit that town again. The food truck where I had my lunch is getting wound up and the owners waved at me. Just like that I felt like sitting there for some more time and took the next 🚌, not before taking a parting picture.