They headed out of the village together and soon found their way to the abrupt edge where the green hills became cliffs of stark white chalk. To the left, balanced on the brink of Beachy Head was the lighthouse of Belle Tout. Mr Kelly told Luke how the lighthouse had been moved nearly twenty metres back from the edge of the cliff in 1999, to prevent it from falling into the sea.
"Of course it had already been nearly completely destroyed in the war," he added.
"By the Germans?" asked Luke, trying to be polite.
Mr Kelly laughed. "You'd think so wouldn't you? No, it was the Canadians."
Luke's knowledge of history wasn't wonderful, but even he was fairly sure that the Canadians weren't fighting against the British during the Second World War.
"How come?" he asked, getting interested, despite himself.
"They had dummy wooden tanks lined up for artillery practice on the cliff top near Belle Tout," explained Mr Kelly. "They were supposed to be shooting at those, but the lighthouse got hit, too. Sounds like they needed the practice."