The Swan Hotel

The Swan Hotel in Arundel has been a place of much happiness over the years; we have been to this pub for lunch a number of times with both family and friends! This page marks our most recent visit which was last month.

I stamped the swan, heart and star images onto the page using embossing ink and covered them with white embossing powder making sure they were completely covered.  Then I shook the excess powder onto a piece of scrap paper and tapped the page against the table to make sure I’ve removed any stray powder. Once the excess powder was safely returned to its container, I used a heat gun to melt the embossing powder. I swept the gun over the images, taking care not to direct the heat in one area for too long until the embossing powder changed to a glossy finish becoming smooth and dimensional. I applied Tea Dye and Cracked Pistachio Distress Inks over the page using a blending tool, which revealed the embossed images beautifully. On the outside of the hotel building were pretty window boxes full of pansies, so I added pansy rub-on transfers to the page. I fussy cut some vintage tableware from a selection of Victorian images from a gift bag I had kept to recycle and also beer glasses from an old magazine. The Swan Hotel logo is from a takeaway menu which I collected during our visit, I edged it with a black Sharpie marker and stuck it to the page using a UHU Stic. I included a chalkboard tag as the pub has lots of chalkboard style signs; I stamped the name of the beer that we enjoyed on tissue paper using Archival Ink, then I stuck it to the tag using a UHU Stic and outlined it with a Uniball white gel pen, drawing a couple of flames to match the beer pump design. I stuck on the paper stars and the family, laughter and happiness words which are stickers, as they remind me of our time there. To finish I added white snowflake stickers as we visited during winter months while they were serving winter ale.

As this page tells the story of our visit and lunch, I’m very pleased to be able to join Erica from BioArtGal who is hosting Art Journal Journey’s January theme “Tell me a Story”.

Here we are walking along the River Arun, there are wonderful views of Arundel castle and the South Downs. I am sure Sophie the dog would agree we certainly walked up an appetite so we headed to the pub for lunch.

The Swan Hotel dates back to 1759, when it was built facing the bustling Arundel Town Quay and served the thirsty seafarers, shipwrights and dock employees. This Georgian building looks much the same as it did at the end of the 18th century.

The outside of the building is always beautifully adorned with window boxes and baskets. They looked so pretty with the winter seasonal bedding, especially the pansies which were bright and cheerful!

The bar itself is very welcoming and being a Fuller’s (brewery) pub it always has a selection of great cask conditioned ales on offer, as well as wines, spirits, hot drinks and even winter specialities of spiced cider and mulled wine.

We enjoyed a pint of Firecracker, which is a delicious seasonal ale brewed with warming winter spices. I’m saying a big hello to the T-Gang over at T Stands for Tuesday – Happy T Day! There are also lots of signs in the pub which link to drinks that some of you may like. Take a look at the above photo again, behind the beer pump, at the large selection of teas available.

And not forgetting the coffee lovers too, I didn’t know there were so many different types to choose from!

We also enjoyed a glass of water with fresh lemon, which you can just help yourself to. They even had oranges for you to takeaway and dog biscuits for our four legged friends!

I just remembered to take a photo of our lunch before it was all gone – the Southern Fried Chicken Burger served on a toasted brioche bun with mayo, tomato, gherkin, onion, gem lettuce, coleslaw and hand cut chips (fries) and an extra side order of sweet potato fries was so yummy!

I loved the signs on the toilet (restroom) doors so much that I used the lovely green colour on my journal page. Being a Lady or a Knight for the day was such fun and ties into nearby Arundel Castle wonderfully.

As some of you may know after our lunch we had a lovely time exploring the town too, so if you want to know more about Arundel and see more of the town, then take a look at my post Welcome to Arundel!

Thanks for joining me today! If you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear from you.

Here is a list of all the materials used to create this art journal page:

• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Tea Dye, Cracked Pistachio)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Uni Pin Fine Line marker (Black 0.1mm)
• Uniball Signo gel pen (White)
• Dovecraft Premium Embossing Stamp Pad (Clear)
• Stampendous Embossing Powder (Detail White Opaque DP100)
• Papermania Urban Stamps 5×5 easy cling stamp set (12 Days of Christmas – Icons PMA 907909)
• Dovecraft upper and lower case alphabet stamps (WDW Alpha Stamp DCVW0030)
• Studio Light Creative with Chalk (EASYCH465)
• Home Bargains (Wall Stickers 16221)
• Takeaway Menu – The Swan Hotel
• Recycled Victorian design paper bag
• Beer magazine
• Royal & Langnickel Rub-on Transfers (Pretty Pansies SM Box Design #LAN2001 RUB-ON)
• UHU Stic