Where Go the Boats

Lunch at the Harbour Lights Café and Bistro, Littlehampton but sadly the sun had gone by the time we got there. There is a viewing tower above the café and visitors centre, with this view down the River Arun to the sea, but the light was poor for such a view (and the wind raw).

Littlehampton is more interesting than it seems at first glance. Like so many Sussex seaside places, it has a history of smuggling with the consequent auctions of confiscated liquor and other goods. And many well known people have visited lived here over the years.

John Constable painted here and the poet Blake lived here. J.M. Barrie lived at nearby Rustington which is said to be the inspiration for Peter Pan settings. Other famous visitors who made an impact were Pepys, Shelley, Coleridge and Lord Byron.

Ian Flemiing of James Bond fame trained at the West Beach before D Day and later many scenes from the JB films were shot here.

Ronnie Barker had a home here for 22 years during the Open All Hours era. There is a shop in town which inspired his series.

But perhaps best known is Anita Roddick who founded the Body Shop. She went to school here and launched her first shop in Brighton along the coast in 1976. I was living near Guildford at the time and remember the excitement of this new style shop and concept. Littlehampton had the enormous company Headquarters. The Body Shop was taken over in 2006 by L’Oreal, just before Anita passed away in 2007, aged 64. What a lasting legacy of ethical business, worldwide.

On goes the river
And out past the mill,
Away down the valley,
Away down the hill.

from Where Go the Boats
Robert Louis Stevenson, c1913