Maps are deceiving. The entire United Kingdom is about the size of Oregon. England itself, is about the size of Alabama. There is a lot to see which is great because we still had to balance our Schengen time so that we could return to mainland Europe in the spring and UK is not part of the Schengen agreement. https://chosenfugue.xyz/2018/10/07/schengen/
England is also surprisingly far north. Liverpool is along the same latitude as Hamburg, Germany and Edmonton, Canada. It’s further north than Winnipeg or Calgary, Canada. In February, England is still cold. We thought that southern England might be a bit warmer. We have adapted to thinking 50 degrees is warm, ( we don’t wear shorts at that temperature….. yet.) but unfortunately, in mid February, 50 degrees is not happening anywhere in England.
Our first stop was northeast London. Weirdly, we actually haven’t spent much time in London but you could spend years visiting because every neighborhood seems like a different city. Walthamstow was a cosmopolitan treat exemplfying London’s reputation as a world city- restaurants and markets from all over the world. An Albanian restaurant next to a Caribbean market next to a Middle-eastern restaurant-next to chicken shop next to a Romanian market next to a Mosque which was above a Tesco Express next to an egg-free bakery! Walking with an adorable labrador named Champ surrounded by chatter in about 100 different languages. It was a blast.
Besides (Olympic) Champ the labrador, the other highlight here was going to the V & A East Storehouse. It was exactly that, the storehouse for the Victoria and Albert museums. It was so great, we went twice.https://www.vam.ac.uk/east
While most items were on the shelves (kind of like a supermarket with specials on the end caps), we particularly enjoyed these two little “rooms”.
Onward to the still cold southeast coast for a return trip to Brighton, which we had visited just for a day in 2018 https://chosenfugue.xyz/2018/10/10/bonfires-bands-and-beaches-in-eastbourne/ . Brighton, the Berkeleyesque, seaside town was our base for two very different dog sits.
From Brighton to Lewes, where we watched two little schnauzers. Walking along the river, through the fields, in the mud, everyone passing, stopping and saying “Hello Arti, Hello Ella”, chatting with us as we joined the doggie community. Ella and Arti were our amabassadors to the Lewes community, and with each introduction we immediately apologized for the behavior of the US president as he tries to ruin the world.
We added to our pet resume with worms; helping to set up a worm bin 10 minutes before the pet owner had to leave to catch her train. The worms proved to be more work than the dogs. Like us, the worms kept trying to escape the wet and cold, we had to keep collecting them from outside of the bin. Once we read the instructions, problem solved, they need a day or two of sunlight to borrow into their new home (good luck in England). Who knew that worms needed to be housetrained.
Adorable Lewes had a full bingo card of classic British town features:
We had one day between sits so we took the opportunity to explore the downs and walk to the next town to stock up on groceries at Tesco since the next house was a bit isolated. Paths of mud interspersed with green marshy fields where we could use the grass and puddles to clean the mud off our shoes so we could get them muddy again.
On to Ditchling, kind of an upscale suburb of Brighton. We stayed at an inn above a pub, The Bull to the right in the picture. The town describes itself as a “candy box”, it was essentially an intersection, but a cute intersection. The house was the opposite, more like a candy store; San Fernando Valley mini-mansion, Calabasas meets the South Downs.
Dudley, an old terminally ill sheepdog with a weeping wound and an old but not terminally ill English Bulldog named Dorothy, Dot for short. Caring for the sheepdog was pretty bittersweet, caring for Dot was …… she was like a stubborn truffle pig constantly on the prowl for any morsel or crumb. Checking off british dog tropes. No one moved much. Our first experience with either of these breeds and it was memorable.
Off to Leigh-on-Sea because apparently second to muddy paths, hurricane level windy seaside cities are our jam. https://chosenfugue.xyz/2026/01/02/the-brrrritish-coast/ A two cat, one beagle mix awaited us in Leigh-on-Sea. Night before our sit was spent in a B and B, we generally avoid these, but this was Bingo time in England. Then we spent the day escaping the wind by having a pint, hanging out in the mall and going to the local museum; every British city seems to have one displaying the ancient artifacts found when putting in a highway, parking lot or apartment building.
A windy, cold tour of England, but it beats touring Alabama.
Chosen Fugue 
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