Why Arundel is as wonderful a place to visit as Paris!
BONJOUR! – So why is Arundel as wonderful a place to visit as Paris?
Read on to discover more about Arundel and our Emily in Arundel photo shoot!
How did Emily in Arundel come about?
Earlier this year, Visit Arundel was at Goodwood Racecourse for a meeting discussing the dog event Goodwoof – Arundel loves Chiens, see our Dog Friendly Activities .
During the discussions, someone mentioned a very popular and fun TV series set in Paris all about a young woman, called Emily, who lives there. They suggested how Arundel in so many ways, resembles the locations where the programme is filmed.
So we thought about this some more – Paris has a River Seine – we have the River Arun, Mill Road is lined by lime trees – not that dissimilar to the Champs-Elysees – after all, it’s tree lined too!
Paris has fabulous shops for clothes and accessories and so does Arundel. The town is mostly Independent & Local Shops – it only has two high street chain stores!
Paris has wonderful street performers. Arundel’s’ streets are so often a stage for many superb musicians and singers.
Arundel and Paris both offer café culture, local Vineyards & Wineries and a wine tasting room at Digby Fine English.
Both Paris and Arundel have a huge array of historic architecture. Perhaps Arundel’s Catholic Cathedral is not as big as the Notre Dame but still incroyable!
And Arundel Castle is so majestic, it might easily be considered far more beautiful and stunning than many a French chateau!
Paris is full of street markets and festivals and our town has an extraordinaire monthly Arundel Farmers Market as well as the famous Arundel Festival held every summer. In fact, Arundel is so tres beau, surrounded by Countryside & Walks, History, and Thriving Art & Culture that you would be hard pushed to better it anywhere.
Alors! Who is Emily in Arundel?
Emily is a beautiful young woman, who is loveable and funny. She is known for her flamboyant and colourful taste in fashion and is always busy taking lots of selfies to post on her socials!
We have been lucky enough to find Arundel’s very own Emily and she has been very busy getting out and about in our beautiful town.
Suivant! What did we do next?
Once we realised that Arundel is equally as good a place to visit as Paris, we now needed to find our OWN, ARUNDEL based Emily to help capture the essence of the town in her very special and individual way and we were lucky enough to find one!
We didn’t even have far to look as our Emily is a local girl who lives just outside Arundel. She’s called Hope Bullen, and when she is not being our Emily, Hope is an author and illustrator who has just brought out her first children’s book We are sunshine, rainbows and all the inbetweens. A wonderful book full of funny doggie illustrations helping youngsters to see life in a good way. Les petits enfants will love it!
Along with our stylist Melissa Sharpe, and our photographer Annabel Cary, and Team Visit Arundel – Arundel’s Visitor Information website, we thought we should highlight the places in Arundel that Emily could enjoy and give her the opportunity to show off her very individual style of fashion.
Off we went on our Emily in Arundel photo shoot with Hope wearing clothes and accessories from the marvellous independent shops in town who supported us during the photoshoot; Fanny Adams, Parkers Atlelier, Envy, Willow & Eve, Retroesque, and showing off beautiful hats and headpieces made individually by Isabella Josie – Bespoke Millinery. Emily had her hair styled by Steph at AR Hair & Beauty Lounge and it looked magnifique!
Unn Bonne Journee! Did you see Emily in Arundel with her camera?
The Emily in Arundel photo shoot was held all around the town and many passers-by were interested to see what we were all doing. We started off in Tarrant Street surrounded by floral displays and bouquets from Labour of Love Vintage.
Then onto the rowing boats at the scenic Swanbourne Lake where many ducks, numerous seagulls and a tres grand swan wanted to get photographed too! We kept them onside by giving them duck food that we bought from Swanbourne Lodge Tearooms.
Emily stopped to take some selfies by the Mill Stream with the backdrop of Arundel Castle then returned to the High Street to try out le bon vin (Leander Pink NV Brut) at Digby Fine English.
Next was a visit to The Steakist to check out their marvellous menu and meet their very own talented chef – you may know that in the TV series, Emily has a friend who is a chef!
Finally across the road to Pallant of Arundel who provided our Emily with a crusty baguette to pop in her shopping basket.
Our Emily thinks that Arundel is a wonderful place to go for shopping, sightseeing and the arts. She loves to visit Tearooms, Cafés and Coffee Shops relaxing Pubs, Bars & Breweries and Restaurants especially those ones that offer al fresco dining so she can sit in the sun ‘people watching’ – something she also loves to do tres beaucoup!
Et Maintenant Toi! Indeed - what is next?
So, you’ve seen that our Emily had a very enjoyable day out and about in Historic Arundel, finding just as much to see and do as when she is in Jolie Paris!
So, is Arundel really as good a place to visit as that particular European City? Would the food and drink be just as marvellous? Is there lots to see and do while going around the local Attractions?
Our Emily certainly thought so and now we think you should definitely go and find out for yourself!
WIN! Enter our Competition!
To celebrate everything #emilyinarundel, we’re running a fantastic competition!
All you have to do is go over to our Instagram account @visitarundel and read our pinned post – as we’ve teamed up with local Arundel businesses to give one of our lucky followers a BUMPER BUNDLE OF PRIZES worth over £500!!!
You need to be quick as the competition ends at midnight, Sunday 21st May midnight!
This competition is a joint promotion between Visit Arundel and V2 Radio from 15th May. Also keep an eye out in the local online and newspaper publications like Sussex World and Chichester Observer!
And remember when you’re next in Arundel taking your selfies, tag us @visitarundel and use the hashtag #emilyinarundel – we want to see your outfits!
Bon chance et aime votre jour!
Behind the Scenes!
From a simple idea to making it happen – it took a team to execute the photo shoot!
A huge THANK YOU goes to our Model, Hope Bullen, Photographer Annabel Cary, Art Director & Stylist, Melissa Sharpe, Hair, Steph at AR Hair & Beauty AND all the businesses (all mentioned in this blog) that took part in lending us the outfits, locations and generously donating prizes for our competition, in collaboration with our local media partners, V2 Radio.
Here’s some behind the scenes photo’s to enjoy!
Written by Barb Hogan, Visit Arundel
Model, Hope Bullen, Author & Illustrator
Hair, Steph, AR Hair & Beauty
Photographer, Annabel Cary
Art Director & Stylist, Melissa Sharpe