On the Eve of the feast of Corpus Christi, 2 June 2010, I fulfilled a long cherished ambition by leading a walk to visit the Carpet of flowers at Arundel Cathedral. The creation of a carpet of flowers in the Centre Isle of the Cathedral is a tradition dating back over 100 years.  When it started, the diocese of Arundel and Brighton had not even been created so it must have been a tradition in the Parish Church which became the Cathedral when the diocese was created by the generosity of the Duke of Norfolk, one of England's best known Catholics.

We began our day at the Cathedral following the short walk from Arundel Station and of course had to queue before actually viewing the flowers

The year 2010 was celebrated by the Church as the year of the priest so that was the theme of the carpet of flowers also

Having photographed the theme flower display a few times

on the way round the queue I eventually got this full on shot

showing the words and the year in Roman numerals

This one shows the carpet from the door to near the sanctuary

Obviously I was not the only one taking photographs and

people were shooting from all angles

At the very end of the tour round the Church I got this nice

shot from just inside the main door taking in the Sanctuary

Being the year of the priest there were various exhibits on

display of vestments and other items associated with

priesthood

Our tour of the flowers over we took a leisurely walk along the bank of the Arun to the Black Rabbit for lunch.  Being midweek our numbers were not very large we all enjoyed our visit to the world famous Carpet of Flowers.

Lunch was served at the delightful riverside pub The Black Rabbit with its traditional red phone box on the river bank and (below) nice views of the fairytale castle at Arundel.

Immediately after lunch we had a very sttep climb up the hill looking down on the Black Rabbit pub on one side and the town of Arrundel. The photographic above and the two below were actually taken on the walkout but we did cover the ground again on the walk itself.

Having enjoyed the picturesque steep descent back to Arundel we had a closer view of the Castle before refreshments in a local hostelry and the return train journey back to London.