One of the surprises of our England trip was the tiny village of Burpham. I chose to stay in the Burpham Country House because it was well regarded on tripadvisor.com, but even more importantly it has a Goble family connection. Apparently, in the 1700’s Squire Goble lived in this home and managed to irritate all the local peasants while also being suspiciously involved with the disappearance (possible murder) of a French maid.
Cousins…what are you gonna do?
The stories all seemed so old world, like an Agatha Christie mystery, so we just had to stay there.
And I’m glad we did. The Country House is nice, but the real attraction was the village. Tucked away in the rolling green hills dotted with content sheep or the occasional lazy cow, and at the end of a 3-mile country road, this is a village few tourists see. It has one pub and one church. Each is worthy of mention.
The pub, called The George and Dragon Inn was a last resort place for dinner when we ran out of other options. Jedd, Kevin and I stumbled in about 8 PM and didn’t expect much from this remote pub with more tables than customers. But it might have been the best meal of our trip. In fact, I’m sure it was. Jedd even commented that it may be in the top ten of his life, though he later altered that high acclaim. Still, it gives you some idea of the quality of the food, beer and wine!
One morning I walked from our inn to the center of town. The sun was out, the church bells were ringing, and the village was just beginning to awake as I strolled along the country roads. It was a short walk to the beautiful church in the heart of the village. The condition of the church was better than in Aldingbourne, in part perhaps because the neighborhood seemed nicer. There’s an arch in the church that is pre-Norman, making it 1000 years old.
We talked to a woman cleaning the church, who told us the Vicar would be coming by at any time. Sure enough, he strides in after his daily walk, smile on his face, collar on his neck, high boots on his feet. And his trusty golden labrador following along. It fulfilled all the images I have of country life in England!
The Vicar and I spoke for a time, and he managed to dig up a map of the burial plots around the church. Even previous to this we found one Goble headstone for a brother and sister, apparently twins, who died in the late 19th century. The Vicar also found a list of baptisms going back to the 1570’s, and we found a lot of Goble’s who had been baptized there in the early 1700’s. Cousins, all of them, but not direct relations.
So if you are in Southern England, and if you need a place to eat or would like a chat with a friendly Vicar, I high recommend Burpham. It’s the English countryside that we read about and dream about!