Here is my travel blog for my holiday in Kent in October 2010. Don't worry if there are no photos - I'll get aroudn to putting them in eventually! In the meantime, you're welsome to click on my photo gallery at thetop to see photos from all my travel blogs :o)
Oh and the blog reads from top to bottom :o)
Enjoy!
Siobhan xx
Saturday, 23 October 2010
Holiday in Kent, October 2010
Saturday October 9th
We left Markfield at around 9am, although we were planning on leaving a little earlier, but we had to re-pack the food because the base of the crate broke when Mathew lifted it to put it in the boot!! Fortunately it wasn’t far off the floor when it happened, there was a loud crash as everything fell to the tiled kitchen floor, but nothing broke! It didn’t take too long to re-pack it in bags though!
After we checked we had everything, we set off. We’re so used to returning home 10 minutes later because we (or rather I…!) usually forget something, but this time we headed straight off to the M25, then onto the M20 southbound. The traffic was fairly light and the weather was very misty which was not exactly forecast! Where was the sun?!
We reached Down House - Charles Darwin’s home - at around 11:30. We started the tour of the house upstairs, which was a series of rooms which told Charles Darwin’s story, laid out like a museum with exhibits of his notebooks, and photographs of his family and people who were important to him. The last room was full of fun interactive exhibits which were great fun to play with! I particularly liked the flick-books of the evolution of the whale!
Our stomachs couldn’t wait any longer for food, so we headed back downstairs to get some lunch. At first we thought the tearooms were only serving cake, but we soon discovered soups and sandwiches were also on the menu so we sat down and both ordered a Ploughmans platter - I went for the cheese and Mathew went for the pate. It was very delicious and I traded in my coleslaw for Mathew’s pickled onions and the bread was so soft and delicious, it was obviously fresh! Of course we had to follow our lunch up with a slice of cake - they were displayed very nicely so Mathew went for carrot cake while I went for coffee and walnut. MmmMm MMmMm!!
We continued the tour of the house on the ground floor with an audio guide - but this wasn’t one those dodgy audio guides, this was David Attenborough telling us about Darwin’s house and with each room there was a choice to listen to more information about the furniture, pictures, and carpets. My favourite room was the study of course, I could just imagine him in there with books strewn about the place in some sort of orderly chaos! I also loved the photo of Darwin in the Billiards room on which he had written how he really liked the photo and he thought it was the best photo which had ever been taken of him! I also liked how the audio guide revealed more personal things about Darwin, for example, if he was reading a book which was too heavy for him to hold, he would snap it in half and read the two parts separately!!
It was time to go out into the garden, for which we still have the audio guide, but this time Andrew Marr was talking to us, and after each segment we had the choice - like before - to listen to more information, and this time we got to play a cute little game using the touch screen each time too! It was great fun!
We ended our tour with a trip around the shop of course, and I bought a couple of souvenirs including the guide book which I was told was “a very good one, especially as there are a lot of rubbish ones out there”…!! By the time we left it was around 3:45pm and the tearoom and the car park were very busy indeed, lots of people obviously having late lunches and afternoon tea! We got back into the car and set off to Bodsham to our holiday cottage.
We arrived around 4:40pm to “The Smithy” which is a converted Blacksmiths building! We got in and explored the place - which looked much nicer than it did on the website. There was a very helpful book with information on places to eat and even recommendations on places to eat nearby in the visitors book - including a place where diners are advised to “keep an eye out for the greedy cat…”…interesting! we’ll be eating out at least twice during this holiday so we’ll have to find out where the tastiest sounding food is!
We settled down, unpacked and as Mathew read his book I enjoyed Strictly on BBC2!
We left Markfield at around 9am, although we were planning on leaving a little earlier, but we had to re-pack the food because the base of the crate broke when Mathew lifted it to put it in the boot!! Fortunately it wasn’t far off the floor when it happened, there was a loud crash as everything fell to the tiled kitchen floor, but nothing broke! It didn’t take too long to re-pack it in bags though!
After we checked we had everything, we set off. We’re so used to returning home 10 minutes later because we (or rather I…!) usually forget something, but this time we headed straight off to the M25, then onto the M20 southbound. The traffic was fairly light and the weather was very misty which was not exactly forecast! Where was the sun?!
We reached Down House - Charles Darwin’s home - at around 11:30. We started the tour of the house upstairs, which was a series of rooms which told Charles Darwin’s story, laid out like a museum with exhibits of his notebooks, and photographs of his family and people who were important to him. The last room was full of fun interactive exhibits which were great fun to play with! I particularly liked the flick-books of the evolution of the whale!
Our stomachs couldn’t wait any longer for food, so we headed back downstairs to get some lunch. At first we thought the tearooms were only serving cake, but we soon discovered soups and sandwiches were also on the menu so we sat down and both ordered a Ploughmans platter - I went for the cheese and Mathew went for the pate. It was very delicious and I traded in my coleslaw for Mathew’s pickled onions and the bread was so soft and delicious, it was obviously fresh! Of course we had to follow our lunch up with a slice of cake - they were displayed very nicely so Mathew went for carrot cake while I went for coffee and walnut. MmmMm MMmMm!!
We continued the tour of the house on the ground floor with an audio guide - but this wasn’t one those dodgy audio guides, this was David Attenborough telling us about Darwin’s house and with each room there was a choice to listen to more information about the furniture, pictures, and carpets. My favourite room was the study of course, I could just imagine him in there with books strewn about the place in some sort of orderly chaos! I also loved the photo of Darwin in the Billiards room on which he had written how he really liked the photo and he thought it was the best photo which had ever been taken of him! I also liked how the audio guide revealed more personal things about Darwin, for example, if he was reading a book which was too heavy for him to hold, he would snap it in half and read the two parts separately!!
It was time to go out into the garden, for which we still have the audio guide, but this time Andrew Marr was talking to us, and after each segment we had the choice - like before - to listen to more information, and this time we got to play a cute little game using the touch screen each time too! It was great fun!
We ended our tour with a trip around the shop of course, and I bought a couple of souvenirs including the guide book which I was told was “a very good one, especially as there are a lot of rubbish ones out there”…!! By the time we left it was around 3:45pm and the tearoom and the car park were very busy indeed, lots of people obviously having late lunches and afternoon tea! We got back into the car and set off to Bodsham to our holiday cottage.
We arrived around 4:40pm to “The Smithy” which is a converted Blacksmiths building! We got in and explored the place - which looked much nicer than it did on the website. There was a very helpful book with information on places to eat and even recommendations on places to eat nearby in the visitors book - including a place where diners are advised to “keep an eye out for the greedy cat…”…interesting! we’ll be eating out at least twice during this holiday so we’ll have to find out where the tastiest sounding food is!
We settled down, unpacked and as Mathew read his book I enjoyed Strictly on BBC2!
Sunday October 10th
This morning we awoke to the sun coming through the bedroom window - we face east! The sky was cloudless and it looked like it was going to be a nice day. As we were eating breakfast, we had the TV on looking out for a weather forecast, and what we were told was today would be warm and sunny at 20 degrees C, tomorrow would be the same at around 19 degrees C, the rest of the week being cloudy but dry.
My first task was to figure out what I wanted to do on my Birthday - on Friday - as we had a nice long list of places to visit, and Mathew had already chosen where he wanted to go. It was a little difficult to decide because the place where I really wanted to go for my Birthday was the place I wanted to go straight away because it looked so enjoyable. Eventually I decided that I would be able to wait a whole week, and we decided that today we would go to Scotney Castle and Sissinghurst Castle Gardens.
As it was the furthest of the two, we went to Scotney Castle first. Here there were two houses to see, although we could only go into one of them, as the second house was closed to the public after the end of September, which is unfortunate because we really would have liked to go inside! Still, there was enough to see in the morning at least. We first went into the new house which was designed by Anthony Salvin in Elizabethan style and built in 1837 for Edward Hussey III, who took the “Picturesque” style as his inspiration. Inside the house, it was very nice, lots of wood and not too ornate ceilings (they always irritate me, they’re so fussy!), and I always like the libraries - I was told that there were around 6000 books in the house, which sounds a lot but doesn’t look much (apparently…!), but I often wonder how many of those books would have actually been looked at by the family who lived there. I reckon at least half weren’t even touched, and were just there for show….
Upstairs was quite different. A series of quite small bedrooms which looked as they were when the last family lived there in the 1930s. Everything looked so modern and the rooms were filled with things anyone nowadays would have probably seen belonging to their grandparents, or great grandparents. It was a very odd mix of 1930s décor upstairs and 1840s décor downstairs. I have to say I think I preferred downstairs, because the rest of the house seemed like a very modern, abandoned house!
We left the house and explored the gardens which were full of lots of flowers, and late flowering Dahlias - which must mean that the weather MUST have been mild just lately, because my Dahlias at home are still flowering. The first week of October saw mine with 10 buds each (I have two plants) and both had flowered very successfully since mid August this year. I had no idea these plants flowered quite so much! Plus, these flowers gave me lots of reasons to take photos - I have been making use of my “macro” setting when taking close ups, and I like taking very close photos of interesting and unusual flowers. If a bee happens to be rummaging around in there then it’s a bonus!
Onward around the garden and we came across the very romantic overgrown ruins of the medieval castle and moat, which is the focal point of these gardens. If we had come earlier we would have seen more in the way of rhododendrons and azaleas but the season for those had come and gone. Still, the gardens were nice and it was VERY warm! The ruins were very picturesque and one viewpoint showed them with an almost complete reflection in the water.
We had lunch here, and I was very thankful for mayonnaise not being in every single sandwich, as I went for cheese and home made red onion chutney, which was quite nice, although it was nothing compared to yesterday’s delicious Ploughman’s platter! However, for dessert we both had a scone with jam and clotted cream, which was DIVINE! But so far, English Heritage vs. National Trust catering is currently 1 - 0.5 to English Heritage!
We had a look around the shop in which there were a handful of Christmas items, and I really wanted one of the decorations in the box of 8, but sadly I could not buy just one of the reindeers! We then left to go to Sissinghurst Castle Gardens.
There was no Castle as such, but there was a cute little tower in which we could go to climb to the top and get a good view of the cute looking library and private buildings, and of course the oast houses which were currently being used as a stash for wheelchairs and a temporary exhibition of paintings of the garden by artist John Doyle.
We walked around the garden where more interesting and unusual flowers were on show. Not only that, but there were several small gardens which made up the entire place, including a rose garden, a cottage garden, a “white” garden (yes, you guessed right - white flowers everywhere!), and there was a small moat, a herb garden, and an orchard. There was a lot to see but it was all within a relatively small space - I have been to gardens much larger than this one, but there were just as many flowers in this one.
There was also a “food and beer” fair which we had a quick look around, although we - or rather, Mathew - saw no beer, and I suggested he get some local honey but he didn’t seem interested, which is quite unusual for him! We popped into the national Trust shop where Mathew bought some local ale, and we both had some of their lovely Elderflower Sorbet and sat outside in the sun eating it as the wind slowly picked up a little. We then went back home for a nice cup of tea and a slice of fruit loaf, and later on we had our Sunday roast. MMmMm MMmMm!
My first task was to figure out what I wanted to do on my Birthday - on Friday - as we had a nice long list of places to visit, and Mathew had already chosen where he wanted to go. It was a little difficult to decide because the place where I really wanted to go for my Birthday was the place I wanted to go straight away because it looked so enjoyable. Eventually I decided that I would be able to wait a whole week, and we decided that today we would go to Scotney Castle and Sissinghurst Castle Gardens.
As it was the furthest of the two, we went to Scotney Castle first. Here there were two houses to see, although we could only go into one of them, as the second house was closed to the public after the end of September, which is unfortunate because we really would have liked to go inside! Still, there was enough to see in the morning at least. We first went into the new house which was designed by Anthony Salvin in Elizabethan style and built in 1837 for Edward Hussey III, who took the “Picturesque” style as his inspiration. Inside the house, it was very nice, lots of wood and not too ornate ceilings (they always irritate me, they’re so fussy!), and I always like the libraries - I was told that there were around 6000 books in the house, which sounds a lot but doesn’t look much (apparently…!), but I often wonder how many of those books would have actually been looked at by the family who lived there. I reckon at least half weren’t even touched, and were just there for show….
Upstairs was quite different. A series of quite small bedrooms which looked as they were when the last family lived there in the 1930s. Everything looked so modern and the rooms were filled with things anyone nowadays would have probably seen belonging to their grandparents, or great grandparents. It was a very odd mix of 1930s décor upstairs and 1840s décor downstairs. I have to say I think I preferred downstairs, because the rest of the house seemed like a very modern, abandoned house!
We left the house and explored the gardens which were full of lots of flowers, and late flowering Dahlias - which must mean that the weather MUST have been mild just lately, because my Dahlias at home are still flowering. The first week of October saw mine with 10 buds each (I have two plants) and both had flowered very successfully since mid August this year. I had no idea these plants flowered quite so much! Plus, these flowers gave me lots of reasons to take photos - I have been making use of my “macro” setting when taking close ups, and I like taking very close photos of interesting and unusual flowers. If a bee happens to be rummaging around in there then it’s a bonus!
Onward around the garden and we came across the very romantic overgrown ruins of the medieval castle and moat, which is the focal point of these gardens. If we had come earlier we would have seen more in the way of rhododendrons and azaleas but the season for those had come and gone. Still, the gardens were nice and it was VERY warm! The ruins were very picturesque and one viewpoint showed them with an almost complete reflection in the water.
We had lunch here, and I was very thankful for mayonnaise not being in every single sandwich, as I went for cheese and home made red onion chutney, which was quite nice, although it was nothing compared to yesterday’s delicious Ploughman’s platter! However, for dessert we both had a scone with jam and clotted cream, which was DIVINE! But so far, English Heritage vs. National Trust catering is currently 1 - 0.5 to English Heritage!
We had a look around the shop in which there were a handful of Christmas items, and I really wanted one of the decorations in the box of 8, but sadly I could not buy just one of the reindeers! We then left to go to Sissinghurst Castle Gardens.
There was no Castle as such, but there was a cute little tower in which we could go to climb to the top and get a good view of the cute looking library and private buildings, and of course the oast houses which were currently being used as a stash for wheelchairs and a temporary exhibition of paintings of the garden by artist John Doyle.
We walked around the garden where more interesting and unusual flowers were on show. Not only that, but there were several small gardens which made up the entire place, including a rose garden, a cottage garden, a “white” garden (yes, you guessed right - white flowers everywhere!), and there was a small moat, a herb garden, and an orchard. There was a lot to see but it was all within a relatively small space - I have been to gardens much larger than this one, but there were just as many flowers in this one.
There was also a “food and beer” fair which we had a quick look around, although we - or rather, Mathew - saw no beer, and I suggested he get some local honey but he didn’t seem interested, which is quite unusual for him! We popped into the national Trust shop where Mathew bought some local ale, and we both had some of their lovely Elderflower Sorbet and sat outside in the sun eating it as the wind slowly picked up a little. We then went back home for a nice cup of tea and a slice of fruit loaf, and later on we had our Sunday roast. MMmMm MMmMm!
Monday October 11th
Today we decided to go to Canterbury. We used the park and ride to get there, and we walked straight to the cathedral which I would describe as long and narrow, and fairly plain inside save for the stained glass windows of course! This surprised me a little as it was quite ornate on the outside, but it was very grand inside without going over the top with the decoration. Inside there were various tombs including those of King Henry IV and “The Black Prince”, and I never know with these tombs whether the people depicted on the top are just inside said tomb or buried in the crypt…..
We came outside and walked around the cloister before walking around to the Canterbury Roman Museum. Before we went in there, we popped into a cosy little café to have some lunch. I had a Ploughmans Lunch which was very nice, and Mathew had practically the same thing but all put into a sandwich! I was glad that the face did decaffeinated coffees so I had a nice cappucino as it was a little chilly outside, the wind was picking up although the sky was sunny and clear of clouds.
We left the café for the Roman Museum for which we had a “2 for 1” given to us when we went into the cathedral earlier. It was quite a small Museum, not a lot inside, but it was quite fun. The first part involved a little set up of an archaeologist in his office. His monitor was a huge chunky one of course, and for some reason there was a huge brick of a TV in one corner of his “office” along with various books and journals….well I guess it’s half right, we do tend to hang on to random things for no reason….! Actually, the last part which we saw was even more amusing - basically we were looking at the ACTUAL remains - tessellated pavements and nice mosaic floor surfaces - but there were two mannequins which were both dressed in smart trousers, shoes, tweed jackets with a shirt and tie, both supposedly “working on site”…!! I know this was probably set up a good few years ago but nowadays…..Ha! As if!!
We left the Roman Museum and walked around Canterbury a little. I was hoping to see some nice shops to pop into but I didn’t see many which I hadn’t seen in other towns and cities before. Either that or we were on the wrong streets, but it was still a very nice town to walk around. I would describe it as a much smaller yet more dispersed version of York. It is quite a touristy sort of town, but there are also many students around, and there are lots and lots of café’s, perhaps even more than or just as many as there are shops which I find quite unusual as we’re often trying to find a nice little place to have some lunch which doesn’t just serve bog standard disappointing sandwiches made with stale bread! Oh and there was a Starbucks but Mathew didn’t let me go in! Hmph!
There are plenty of pretty, interesting old buildings in Canterbury too, I love these buildings and I have noticed in some of the local villages near where we are staying in Bodsham, there seems to be a trend of having either square or really fancy-cut tiles decorating the FRONT of the building, which is very unusual but it looks so good and to me, it makes some buildings look quite old. I have no idea if some of the private houses are old on the inside, but many of the buildings in Canterbury are clearly very old and historic, and the tiles on the façade and of course slumped tiles on the roof give the place so much character.
We left Canterbury and went back to the car via the park and ride. I felt a little disappointed that I didn’t come away from the town with any souvenirs, but at the same time I felt very good about the fact that I didn’t buy any old thing - I like to try and justify my purchases - do I need it? Or do I just want it? Where would I put it? What would I do with it? Would it just gather dust at home? All these sorts of things. So I guess I was being good really!
We headed for Hearne Bay which is right on the coast. I had spotted a walk which I thought we could do on the same day as Canterbury, which is what we decided to do. It was VERY windy and the sea was very choppy, and unfortunately the walk was incredibly boring - Mathew doesn’t mind walking on a field but when there is nothing on it, I find it totally boring and my determination to complete a walk often diminishes with my interest of the surroundings!! It wasn’t too bad though, we walked a fair way and my pedometer told me I had walked 3,400 steps there and back which I felt was a decent amount for a boring walk! While Mathew went to look at Reculver Abbey, I stayed by the car next to the sea and took some photos of the waves crashing into the rocks. I stood by the little telescope taking photos, and when Mathew returned to the car, I stood up …….and yes, I hit my head on the end of the telescope VERY hard….!!!
I felt fine, and we got back to The Smithy at around 5:30pm to have tea and a slice of cake. I seem to be injuring myself in some sort of freak accident on each holiday just lately, so we thought that hopefully, this would be my accident for THIS holiday over and done with!!
We came outside and walked around the cloister before walking around to the Canterbury Roman Museum. Before we went in there, we popped into a cosy little café to have some lunch. I had a Ploughmans Lunch which was very nice, and Mathew had practically the same thing but all put into a sandwich! I was glad that the face did decaffeinated coffees so I had a nice cappucino as it was a little chilly outside, the wind was picking up although the sky was sunny and clear of clouds.
We left the café for the Roman Museum for which we had a “2 for 1” given to us when we went into the cathedral earlier. It was quite a small Museum, not a lot inside, but it was quite fun. The first part involved a little set up of an archaeologist in his office. His monitor was a huge chunky one of course, and for some reason there was a huge brick of a TV in one corner of his “office” along with various books and journals….well I guess it’s half right, we do tend to hang on to random things for no reason….! Actually, the last part which we saw was even more amusing - basically we were looking at the ACTUAL remains - tessellated pavements and nice mosaic floor surfaces - but there were two mannequins which were both dressed in smart trousers, shoes, tweed jackets with a shirt and tie, both supposedly “working on site”…!! I know this was probably set up a good few years ago but nowadays…..Ha! As if!!
We left the Roman Museum and walked around Canterbury a little. I was hoping to see some nice shops to pop into but I didn’t see many which I hadn’t seen in other towns and cities before. Either that or we were on the wrong streets, but it was still a very nice town to walk around. I would describe it as a much smaller yet more dispersed version of York. It is quite a touristy sort of town, but there are also many students around, and there are lots and lots of café’s, perhaps even more than or just as many as there are shops which I find quite unusual as we’re often trying to find a nice little place to have some lunch which doesn’t just serve bog standard disappointing sandwiches made with stale bread! Oh and there was a Starbucks but Mathew didn’t let me go in! Hmph!
There are plenty of pretty, interesting old buildings in Canterbury too, I love these buildings and I have noticed in some of the local villages near where we are staying in Bodsham, there seems to be a trend of having either square or really fancy-cut tiles decorating the FRONT of the building, which is very unusual but it looks so good and to me, it makes some buildings look quite old. I have no idea if some of the private houses are old on the inside, but many of the buildings in Canterbury are clearly very old and historic, and the tiles on the façade and of course slumped tiles on the roof give the place so much character.
We left Canterbury and went back to the car via the park and ride. I felt a little disappointed that I didn’t come away from the town with any souvenirs, but at the same time I felt very good about the fact that I didn’t buy any old thing - I like to try and justify my purchases - do I need it? Or do I just want it? Where would I put it? What would I do with it? Would it just gather dust at home? All these sorts of things. So I guess I was being good really!
We headed for Hearne Bay which is right on the coast. I had spotted a walk which I thought we could do on the same day as Canterbury, which is what we decided to do. It was VERY windy and the sea was very choppy, and unfortunately the walk was incredibly boring - Mathew doesn’t mind walking on a field but when there is nothing on it, I find it totally boring and my determination to complete a walk often diminishes with my interest of the surroundings!! It wasn’t too bad though, we walked a fair way and my pedometer told me I had walked 3,400 steps there and back which I felt was a decent amount for a boring walk! While Mathew went to look at Reculver Abbey, I stayed by the car next to the sea and took some photos of the waves crashing into the rocks. I stood by the little telescope taking photos, and when Mathew returned to the car, I stood up …….and yes, I hit my head on the end of the telescope VERY hard….!!!
I felt fine, and we got back to The Smithy at around 5:30pm to have tea and a slice of cake. I seem to be injuring myself in some sort of freak accident on each holiday just lately, so we thought that hopefully, this would be my accident for THIS holiday over and done with!!
Tuesday October 12th
Mathew’s 30th Birthday today! Yey! First thing in the morning I got all his presents so he could open them all in bed with a nice cup of tea. After spending an hour opening presents (well, why not?!) we got up And had breakfast. We set out for Chatham Historic Dockyards for the day. When we got our tickets we were told a couple of things would be closed by a certain time so it was best to go see those things first so we wouldn’t miss out on them. We went to “SLIP 3” which was like a hangar with the largest things in - like bits of machinery, tractors and of course boats. Adjoined to this was an exhibit of lifeboats through the ages, and Mathew even had a go on one of them - it was made for kids of course, but anyone could have a go really. A boat the three oars was available to walk onto, and if you wanted, you could sit at the middle oar and have a go at rowing. Evidently it was very difficult as the elderly lady failed to do anything with it before Mathew had a go and managed to do a bit which impressed her! He did say it was very heavy though. Also one of the other lifeboats was accessible so we could go in and see all the way to the front right inside - I love these kinds of boats!
Outside, HMS Gannet was unfortunately unavailable to explore as it was being renovated, but we were able to go onto HMS Cavalier and the Submarine Ocelot later on. We had tickets to go to the Ropery and have a little tour there at midday, so we went there first. Out tour guide spoke as if she came out of the Victorian era, and I think she may have been from London but she put on the accent a little thicker when she was speaking to us in character as I remember it not being quite so prominent before the tour started! She took us through the entire rope making process which was actually more interesting than it sounds! When we went onto the second floor of the building, a couple of bits of equipment had been prepared and she said that we were going to make some rope.
She eyed us up and who did she choose first? Mathew of course!! He had to turn one wheel while another guy turned another wheel at the other end to twist the yarns taught, and there were two other “volunteers” who were also helping with the process. The tour guide stopped them before she put in this simple contraption which she put between the three yarns so it would make a nice piece of rope after turning a second time. They turned their wheels again and ended up with a piece of rope which she described as “Not good at all - it’s excellent!” And as she continued talking she cut the rope they had made into pieces of equal length and gave all the participants a piece of rope to keep before we walked into the main part of the ropery building which is still in use AND still uses much of the old equipment used 200 years ago! The building was SO long….we could hardly see the end of it!
We came out of the ropery and it was time to have our tour on the Submarine Ocelot. Now there was a sign outside the timed ticket kiosk for this which I had not actually take ANY notice of whatsoever, so those little circular hatches which we had to go through came as a complete surprise to me! I found it as one of those things which looks quite hard to do, yet when I came to do it, it seemed quite easy. A couple of the people on the tour decided not to go ahead with it because they had difficulty getting through the hatches, as one of the ladies said about her husband “He’s recently had two new knees and he can’t bent them very well”. So the rest of the tour group continued, and it was SO incredibly cramped and there would have been so many people in such a tiny space, and nobody would have seen daylight - they only had a red light to go on which indicated night time. I certainly wouldn’t have liked living in there for 12 weeks at a time with about 39 other people. Wouldn’t it get stuffy? And smelly too - each man was allowed one change of clothes and one pail of water a day to do what he wished with - except drink, as they could drink as much water as they wished, so I don’t know how often they washed or washed their clothes. Also, the log books of this submarine are top secret for 50 years. So it’s only got 31 more years to go until anyone can find out where that submarine was and what it was up to…!
So now it was time for lunch in the ONLY eatery……well….I know it was around 2pm, but there was barely anything left to eat. There was a shelf only half full of sandwiches, a handful of cakes, and no soup whatsoever, never mind the bread rolls which weren’t even present. The place was spacious enough of course, but I have to say that the eatery at Chatham’s Historic Dockyard is absolutely terrible, and people would be better off packing their own lunch and taking some tea in a flask. Really - this place needs some serious work done to it! Still, I took my chances with a gammon and tomato sandwich which I thought was probably better than the two cheese and spring onion sandwich, as experience with said two cheese and spring onion sandwiches in general often means that it’s actually two cheese, spring onion and a heapful of mayonnaise, and I absolutely cannot stand mayonnaise. Seriously - it’s devil’s work!!
Anyway, we consoled ourselves by splitting a little iced bun in half for dessert before continuing exploring the Dockyard. Our route wasn’t the most economical as we has been walking around various places due to having timed tickets. So we walked past the ropery to the Museum, then onto a new building in the area (the only place who asked to see our tickets before we continued……how would we have got into the Dockyard without our ticket? There is only one entrance, and they won’t let you in without having to buy a ticket first…so why did we have to show it here?? This one really puzzled me…!), it was all shiny and new, and we went into the main gallery which is what we were interested in. The main thing worth mentioning here is the Stanley Spencer paintings. I have to say I really like his style. It reminded me of cubism, but these paintings made sense! They were all fairly complicated and busy, and there was much going on in each painting. It seemed to start off with the raw materials at one end and the finished product at the other end. I just really liked the use of colour here, and how he could well have done these paintings in drab grey and brown colours, but no. These were bursting with colour, movement and life, without getting gaudy with the colour. I also loved the detail in the clothes that all the workers were wearing - tweed and thick woollen jumpers and tartan trousers. They were really nice paintings and I recommend going to see them. It’s a shame the shop didn’t have them in postcard format, otherwise I would have bought them.
That was the last stop we made before the gift shop which - like the “restaurant” was VERY disappointing. They could have been selling much more interesting things and I don’t know why they weren’t because there was a LOT of space which could have been used much better, if they’d had nice and not tacky merchandise to sell. Such a shame, but at least I was able to take some photos and Mathew came away with a piece of rope which he had created himself.
We got back to The Smithy for our cup of tea and slice of cake, before heading out to eat at one of the local pubs for dinner. Mathew’s choice was “The Compasses Inn” and our meals were with us by 8pm - I had slow cooked pork and Mathew had rabbit pie. Dessert was strawberry cheesecake for both of us which was absolutely DIVINE, of course if anybody asks me, Cheesecake is the king of dessert! On the way out, we paid for our meal at the bar, and I was asked the most oddest question ever. Obviously the barmaid thought that we were with a group of other people - although I don’t know why because we were seated right at the other end of the building…! While I keyed in my pin number, she asked us “So, have you been milking cows as well then?”
!!!!!
Milking cows? Huh? She explained that this is what the people who paid before us has told her about their day so for some reason she thought we had done the same. No! We all laughed and thought it very amusing, and I decided the incident was worth tweeting before we got back to The Smithy and relaxed for the evening before going to sleep ….. ZZZZzzzzzzz ……..
Outside, HMS Gannet was unfortunately unavailable to explore as it was being renovated, but we were able to go onto HMS Cavalier and the Submarine Ocelot later on. We had tickets to go to the Ropery and have a little tour there at midday, so we went there first. Out tour guide spoke as if she came out of the Victorian era, and I think she may have been from London but she put on the accent a little thicker when she was speaking to us in character as I remember it not being quite so prominent before the tour started! She took us through the entire rope making process which was actually more interesting than it sounds! When we went onto the second floor of the building, a couple of bits of equipment had been prepared and she said that we were going to make some rope.
She eyed us up and who did she choose first? Mathew of course!! He had to turn one wheel while another guy turned another wheel at the other end to twist the yarns taught, and there were two other “volunteers” who were also helping with the process. The tour guide stopped them before she put in this simple contraption which she put between the three yarns so it would make a nice piece of rope after turning a second time. They turned their wheels again and ended up with a piece of rope which she described as “Not good at all - it’s excellent!” And as she continued talking she cut the rope they had made into pieces of equal length and gave all the participants a piece of rope to keep before we walked into the main part of the ropery building which is still in use AND still uses much of the old equipment used 200 years ago! The building was SO long….we could hardly see the end of it!
We came out of the ropery and it was time to have our tour on the Submarine Ocelot. Now there was a sign outside the timed ticket kiosk for this which I had not actually take ANY notice of whatsoever, so those little circular hatches which we had to go through came as a complete surprise to me! I found it as one of those things which looks quite hard to do, yet when I came to do it, it seemed quite easy. A couple of the people on the tour decided not to go ahead with it because they had difficulty getting through the hatches, as one of the ladies said about her husband “He’s recently had two new knees and he can’t bent them very well”. So the rest of the tour group continued, and it was SO incredibly cramped and there would have been so many people in such a tiny space, and nobody would have seen daylight - they only had a red light to go on which indicated night time. I certainly wouldn’t have liked living in there for 12 weeks at a time with about 39 other people. Wouldn’t it get stuffy? And smelly too - each man was allowed one change of clothes and one pail of water a day to do what he wished with - except drink, as they could drink as much water as they wished, so I don’t know how often they washed or washed their clothes. Also, the log books of this submarine are top secret for 50 years. So it’s only got 31 more years to go until anyone can find out where that submarine was and what it was up to…!
So now it was time for lunch in the ONLY eatery……well….I know it was around 2pm, but there was barely anything left to eat. There was a shelf only half full of sandwiches, a handful of cakes, and no soup whatsoever, never mind the bread rolls which weren’t even present. The place was spacious enough of course, but I have to say that the eatery at Chatham’s Historic Dockyard is absolutely terrible, and people would be better off packing their own lunch and taking some tea in a flask. Really - this place needs some serious work done to it! Still, I took my chances with a gammon and tomato sandwich which I thought was probably better than the two cheese and spring onion sandwich, as experience with said two cheese and spring onion sandwiches in general often means that it’s actually two cheese, spring onion and a heapful of mayonnaise, and I absolutely cannot stand mayonnaise. Seriously - it’s devil’s work!!
Anyway, we consoled ourselves by splitting a little iced bun in half for dessert before continuing exploring the Dockyard. Our route wasn’t the most economical as we has been walking around various places due to having timed tickets. So we walked past the ropery to the Museum, then onto a new building in the area (the only place who asked to see our tickets before we continued……how would we have got into the Dockyard without our ticket? There is only one entrance, and they won’t let you in without having to buy a ticket first…so why did we have to show it here?? This one really puzzled me…!), it was all shiny and new, and we went into the main gallery which is what we were interested in. The main thing worth mentioning here is the Stanley Spencer paintings. I have to say I really like his style. It reminded me of cubism, but these paintings made sense! They were all fairly complicated and busy, and there was much going on in each painting. It seemed to start off with the raw materials at one end and the finished product at the other end. I just really liked the use of colour here, and how he could well have done these paintings in drab grey and brown colours, but no. These were bursting with colour, movement and life, without getting gaudy with the colour. I also loved the detail in the clothes that all the workers were wearing - tweed and thick woollen jumpers and tartan trousers. They were really nice paintings and I recommend going to see them. It’s a shame the shop didn’t have them in postcard format, otherwise I would have bought them.
That was the last stop we made before the gift shop which - like the “restaurant” was VERY disappointing. They could have been selling much more interesting things and I don’t know why they weren’t because there was a LOT of space which could have been used much better, if they’d had nice and not tacky merchandise to sell. Such a shame, but at least I was able to take some photos and Mathew came away with a piece of rope which he had created himself.
We got back to The Smithy for our cup of tea and slice of cake, before heading out to eat at one of the local pubs for dinner. Mathew’s choice was “The Compasses Inn” and our meals were with us by 8pm - I had slow cooked pork and Mathew had rabbit pie. Dessert was strawberry cheesecake for both of us which was absolutely DIVINE, of course if anybody asks me, Cheesecake is the king of dessert! On the way out, we paid for our meal at the bar, and I was asked the most oddest question ever. Obviously the barmaid thought that we were with a group of other people - although I don’t know why because we were seated right at the other end of the building…! While I keyed in my pin number, she asked us “So, have you been milking cows as well then?”
!!!!!
Milking cows? Huh? She explained that this is what the people who paid before us has told her about their day so for some reason she thought we had done the same. No! We all laughed and thought it very amusing, and I decided the incident was worth tweeting before we got back to The Smithy and relaxed for the evening before going to sleep ….. ZZZZzzzzzzz ……..
Wednesday October 13th
This morning we couldn’t decide what to do at first. We were relying on the weather forecast to make our decision for us. If it was going to be quite a nice day, we would go to the Dover cliffs and do some walking followed by Dover Museum. If not, then we would have a day out doing odd little things, or something which we hadn’t quite planned and it would be a bit of an ad hoc sort of a day.
After the weather forecast told us that it would be more or less the same today and tomorrow, we decided on going to the white cliffs to do some walking. We set off for Dover, although we went “the scenic route” as is the case sometimes…! We eventually got to Dover but we had to drive around the Castle to get there as a lorry was blocking the route we were initially going to take. We got there in the end, and I got my walking sticks out - I love them! We set off from the visitors centre and headed to the lighthouse which we knew was closed today - which is a shame because we would have liked to have gone inside. Unfortunately, it was the end of the tourist season so it was no longer open to the public. But we thought that they could have made the grounds accessible, as there were lots of benches there and it would have made an ideal picnic spot if it had been a really nice day.
It was chilly and windy, but this made me walk faster, and I warmed up nicely. It took us an hour to get to the lighthouse, where we stopped for a few moments - fortunately, Mathew’s sister decided to call him at this point to wish him a Happy Birthday for yesterday as she had not been able to get through as we were on a submarine at the time…! After the call, we had some water and a little snack before heading back. We decided to take the same route back as we did there. Mathew took all the photos this morning as my hands were full with the walking sticks and I was feeling determined!
Just before we got back to the visitors centre, we stopped to go down a steep pathway which led onto the beach. This was an official route which people could walk, although it was very challenging - steep, very uneven all over the place, with stones and rocks frequent obstacles! I wasn’t looking forward to going back up there, so I warned Mathew that I may become grumpy on the way back up! We eventually got down to a platform on which there was a steel step-ladder attached, leading to the actual beach. It was a very steep ladder of steps, and it looked quite far down to me. Mathew started going down and he said it was okay, but I was unsure. VERY unsure. I attempted to go down, but as soon as I was on the first step I felt completely uncomfortable and I told Mathew I couldn’t do it, and I stayed up there while he went down onto the beach. If the ladder had been half as long I probably would have been okay, but it was a long way down and I had already hit my head on a beach telescope earlier this week, I didn’t want to add to my injuries. I can be very accident prone sometimes, and although I came down to the platform without incident, I thought it best not to risk going backwards down some steep steel steps, even though there were two sets of hand rails. I just decided it wasn’t a good idea. I already conquered my fear of ladders but I think it was the height aspect which made it worse because I do not like heights unless I am 100% secure inside something like a plane. I still have issues with cable cars and I absolutely HATE ski lifts!!
It was a shame that I couldn’t go down onto the beach, because the reason for going there was the remains of an old shipwreck. Mathew went over and took lots of photos though - he told me it was full of sea anenomes, and he brought me back a pebble. Now it was time to go back up the cliff!! Now, I was expecting to get all unnecessarily grumpy but on this occasion this did not happen. Perhaps it had something to do with my determination, and the fact that this pathway up the cliff was far from boring (as was the walk at Hearne Bay!). But I think I realised the difference between Mathew and I when it comes to walking - Mathew loves to climb up mountains, and enjoys the feeling of achievement when he reaches the top. I like to walk down into canyons and explore what’s inside because I can’t see it from the top, and I like to feel the canyon edges looming high above me, and it helps me to understand the scale. I think because I want to go down into a canyon - or in this case down the cliff and onto the beach - I know there is only one way back up and I HAVE to do it as there is no other option. If I were to climb a mountain I have to be VERY determined to do it, otherwise I’m happy to stay at the foot of a mountain and feel it looming high above me.
Anyway, slowly but surely we made our way back up the cliff and we eventually got back to the visitors centre where we both had a sandwich and a slice of “Kentish Apple Cake” which was very nice indeed! We bought some postcards in the shop along with a couple of edible souvenirs for my family, and headed into Dover itself.
We parked and visited Dover Museum and Bronze Age Boat Gallery. There were three floors to the museum - the ground floor seemed quite dated with its dressed mannequins and yellowing information tags, but the little models were quite good, showing the development of Dover in general. The ground floor was all about the Romans and the Anglo - Saxons, and I noticed the “celtic” man standing next to the Roman general seemed to be growing a rather bad mullet….!
The hallways where the stairs were had lots of cabinets of memorabilia of the girl guides as the Museum was celebrating a landmark year in 2010. Up the stairs onto the first floor, and we were in the “Special Exhibitions Gallery” where I assume temporary exhibitions are usually displayed. It seemed a little off this one, and again a little dated - this gallery had a room which had been created to show the average Roman, Medieval, and Victorian household (which has a very disturbing painting of three children - two boys and a girl - all with the same face - a young man’s face. It was seriously disturbing!!) along with a few paintings, pictures, and cabinets of artefacts from the same time periods. There was a random one at the end with WW2 memorabilia inside, but the strangest thing about this gallery was that there were no information cards or anything telling the visitor what things were. I appreciate this may have been an exhibit in the making, but I did find it quite strange how NOTHING was labelled at all.
Back in the hallways with more girl guide memorabilia, and up the stairs to the second floor. Two galleries lived here - the history of Dover gallery and the Bronze Age Boat gallery. We decided to look at Dover first, which took us from the very beginnings with the Anglo Saxons to WW2. Again there were more of those models showing the development of Dover through the ages, and there was yet another model boat made from bone by prisoners of prison ships - we saw a couple in the Museum at Chatham Dockyard, and there was another one here, along with a box and a little mechanical working toy which, when you wound the wheel, it made the lady up to look like she was spinning wool. Very intricate and clever these things were, all made from animal bone by prisoners. There was even a box made from straw which I found quite impressive.
Across the hallway we went, into the Bronze Age boat gallery and this gallery looked pretty much brand new, with the exception of worn buttons and levers, but still, this gallery looked like it was created yesterday. It was cool and the lighting was very low. Artefacts were on show from an excavation in the centre of Dover, of a Bronze Age wooden boat, along with information about how it would have been made, how it would have been used, and there in the centre was the boat itself. Only the base, but it was still an impressive sight. Nobody mentioned anything about taking photos so I took some! There was also a reconstruction of part of the boat which had been made by archaeologists using tools and methods of the time. It was a very impressive - and the best - gallery on the top floor, and the last thing we did before leaving was sit down to watch a short film on the excavation of the boat, it’s reconstruction, preservation and display.
We left the Museum and headed back to Bodsham, but this time I was paying attention to the map and managed to direct Mathew back with no trouble at all! My next task on Friday will be to get him out of Bodsham and back to Dover with much less hassle than this morning….!!
After the weather forecast told us that it would be more or less the same today and tomorrow, we decided on going to the white cliffs to do some walking. We set off for Dover, although we went “the scenic route” as is the case sometimes…! We eventually got to Dover but we had to drive around the Castle to get there as a lorry was blocking the route we were initially going to take. We got there in the end, and I got my walking sticks out - I love them! We set off from the visitors centre and headed to the lighthouse which we knew was closed today - which is a shame because we would have liked to have gone inside. Unfortunately, it was the end of the tourist season so it was no longer open to the public. But we thought that they could have made the grounds accessible, as there were lots of benches there and it would have made an ideal picnic spot if it had been a really nice day.
It was chilly and windy, but this made me walk faster, and I warmed up nicely. It took us an hour to get to the lighthouse, where we stopped for a few moments - fortunately, Mathew’s sister decided to call him at this point to wish him a Happy Birthday for yesterday as she had not been able to get through as we were on a submarine at the time…! After the call, we had some water and a little snack before heading back. We decided to take the same route back as we did there. Mathew took all the photos this morning as my hands were full with the walking sticks and I was feeling determined!
Just before we got back to the visitors centre, we stopped to go down a steep pathway which led onto the beach. This was an official route which people could walk, although it was very challenging - steep, very uneven all over the place, with stones and rocks frequent obstacles! I wasn’t looking forward to going back up there, so I warned Mathew that I may become grumpy on the way back up! We eventually got down to a platform on which there was a steel step-ladder attached, leading to the actual beach. It was a very steep ladder of steps, and it looked quite far down to me. Mathew started going down and he said it was okay, but I was unsure. VERY unsure. I attempted to go down, but as soon as I was on the first step I felt completely uncomfortable and I told Mathew I couldn’t do it, and I stayed up there while he went down onto the beach. If the ladder had been half as long I probably would have been okay, but it was a long way down and I had already hit my head on a beach telescope earlier this week, I didn’t want to add to my injuries. I can be very accident prone sometimes, and although I came down to the platform without incident, I thought it best not to risk going backwards down some steep steel steps, even though there were two sets of hand rails. I just decided it wasn’t a good idea. I already conquered my fear of ladders but I think it was the height aspect which made it worse because I do not like heights unless I am 100% secure inside something like a plane. I still have issues with cable cars and I absolutely HATE ski lifts!!
It was a shame that I couldn’t go down onto the beach, because the reason for going there was the remains of an old shipwreck. Mathew went over and took lots of photos though - he told me it was full of sea anenomes, and he brought me back a pebble. Now it was time to go back up the cliff!! Now, I was expecting to get all unnecessarily grumpy but on this occasion this did not happen. Perhaps it had something to do with my determination, and the fact that this pathway up the cliff was far from boring (as was the walk at Hearne Bay!). But I think I realised the difference between Mathew and I when it comes to walking - Mathew loves to climb up mountains, and enjoys the feeling of achievement when he reaches the top. I like to walk down into canyons and explore what’s inside because I can’t see it from the top, and I like to feel the canyon edges looming high above me, and it helps me to understand the scale. I think because I want to go down into a canyon - or in this case down the cliff and onto the beach - I know there is only one way back up and I HAVE to do it as there is no other option. If I were to climb a mountain I have to be VERY determined to do it, otherwise I’m happy to stay at the foot of a mountain and feel it looming high above me.
Anyway, slowly but surely we made our way back up the cliff and we eventually got back to the visitors centre where we both had a sandwich and a slice of “Kentish Apple Cake” which was very nice indeed! We bought some postcards in the shop along with a couple of edible souvenirs for my family, and headed into Dover itself.
We parked and visited Dover Museum and Bronze Age Boat Gallery. There were three floors to the museum - the ground floor seemed quite dated with its dressed mannequins and yellowing information tags, but the little models were quite good, showing the development of Dover in general. The ground floor was all about the Romans and the Anglo - Saxons, and I noticed the “celtic” man standing next to the Roman general seemed to be growing a rather bad mullet….!
The hallways where the stairs were had lots of cabinets of memorabilia of the girl guides as the Museum was celebrating a landmark year in 2010. Up the stairs onto the first floor, and we were in the “Special Exhibitions Gallery” where I assume temporary exhibitions are usually displayed. It seemed a little off this one, and again a little dated - this gallery had a room which had been created to show the average Roman, Medieval, and Victorian household (which has a very disturbing painting of three children - two boys and a girl - all with the same face - a young man’s face. It was seriously disturbing!!) along with a few paintings, pictures, and cabinets of artefacts from the same time periods. There was a random one at the end with WW2 memorabilia inside, but the strangest thing about this gallery was that there were no information cards or anything telling the visitor what things were. I appreciate this may have been an exhibit in the making, but I did find it quite strange how NOTHING was labelled at all.
Back in the hallways with more girl guide memorabilia, and up the stairs to the second floor. Two galleries lived here - the history of Dover gallery and the Bronze Age Boat gallery. We decided to look at Dover first, which took us from the very beginnings with the Anglo Saxons to WW2. Again there were more of those models showing the development of Dover through the ages, and there was yet another model boat made from bone by prisoners of prison ships - we saw a couple in the Museum at Chatham Dockyard, and there was another one here, along with a box and a little mechanical working toy which, when you wound the wheel, it made the lady up to look like she was spinning wool. Very intricate and clever these things were, all made from animal bone by prisoners. There was even a box made from straw which I found quite impressive.
Across the hallway we went, into the Bronze Age boat gallery and this gallery looked pretty much brand new, with the exception of worn buttons and levers, but still, this gallery looked like it was created yesterday. It was cool and the lighting was very low. Artefacts were on show from an excavation in the centre of Dover, of a Bronze Age wooden boat, along with information about how it would have been made, how it would have been used, and there in the centre was the boat itself. Only the base, but it was still an impressive sight. Nobody mentioned anything about taking photos so I took some! There was also a reconstruction of part of the boat which had been made by archaeologists using tools and methods of the time. It was a very impressive - and the best - gallery on the top floor, and the last thing we did before leaving was sit down to watch a short film on the excavation of the boat, it’s reconstruction, preservation and display.
We left the Museum and headed back to Bodsham, but this time I was paying attention to the map and managed to direct Mathew back with no trouble at all! My next task on Friday will be to get him out of Bodsham and back to Dover with much less hassle than this morning….!!
Thursday October 14th
Today we went to Lullingstone Roman Villa followed by a visit to Ightham Mote which were both on our list of places to visit, but we just decided to do these two together today, we thought it was a good idea.
Last night we wrote our postcards, but the post box right outside The Smithy had a collection time of 4pm on it so we took the cards with us as we were on the search for a post box with an earlier collection time. We ended up going the “scenic route” to Lullingstone Roman Villa, as the easier route we had chosen was clearly not that obvious or easy so we ended up going through various villages. Otherwise, we would have actually ended up in London!!
Various post boxes along the way had much later times than ours, and we figured that the postman must go around one way in a circular route, and ours much have been the first collection of the day. We didn’t post them just yet though, as we may as well have held on to them until we were on our way back to the cottage.
Eventually we ended up at Lullingstone Roman Villa, the oddest thing about it being a parking fee for an English Heritage site. We have never known English Heritage to charge £2.50 for the parking, but as we were English Heritage Mambers we got free parking, which consisted of a token to put in the machine to raise the barrier.
The remains of the Roman Villa were house indoors, with displays around each side, detailing Roman life, what the rooms in the house would have been used for and so on. It was a large, open plan use of space, and there was a projector screen hanging from the ceiling on which a short film was played. I quite liked how throughout the film, various parts of the remains of the villa were lit up to show what the narrator was talking about, and there were also planson the walls of the phases of the Villa which were also lit up in sequence as the film went on. It was a very clever and good use of space and lighting, I thought.
This place had a very nice mosaic which was best viewed from the second or balcony floor, and the Villa is mostly well known for having a church within the house which had paintings of people worshipping - one of the earliest depictions of Roman Christianity in Britain. It was quite a fun place to go and see, despite there being lots of school parties….! I was also quite surprised to see a baby skeleton on display - I have never seen one on display anywhere before, usually they have an adult (which they also had on display here), but never a baby.
We left Lullingstone to go to Ightham Mote which is the place I first decided I wanted to visit on my Birthday, but for some reason I decided to change my mind in favour of Dover Castle instead. Anyway, off to Ightham Mote we went, which was much simpler to get to, especially from Lullingstone Roman Villa. Of course, we went the wrong way a couple of times, but then again the road atlas doesn’t always have every country road on it, does it? Well ours didn’t anyway…!
Ightham Mote is one of the oldest medieval manor houses in England which is still standing. Being 650 years old, it is in remarkably good condition, and I wouldn’t have thought it was quite as old as it really is just from looking at it. It is a fantastic looking building on the outside, and its quite fun in the inside too. It is surrounded by water - much like a moat - and there is a bridge to get across to get inside - and a central courtyard which is wonderfully cobbly with a listed building inside - the dog kennel! Once inside the house, there were several rooms to explore, all with it’s own character and history, lots and lots of dark wood, carved wood, painted wallpaper (of which the Chinese one was a favourite), and the ceilings had been taken off so we could see the structure of the roof. Just looking at these beams alone would not have told you how old the building was, it is in SUCH good condition. I particularly liked the New Chapel which has a painted wooden barrel domed ceiling, the images are a little feint, but the National Trust had to undo all the work the Victorians did on it to cover it up, as they used oil based painted which were ruining the Medieval paint underneath. It doesn’t look to bad though to be honest, you can see enough of it to be able to imagine that, when just finished, the paint would have been bright and new, and the ceiling would have been SO colourful.
We popped into the shop and bought some goodies (edible, of course!) and said hello to the shop cat who was snoozing with content on the National Trust throws. I almost picked it up thinking it was a displaced cuddly toy - until I saw the ears twitch and the breathing was real!
We got back into the car, and we thought we would try and find a couple of dolmen-like structures which were on the map, but they didn’t seem to be signposted or easy to get to. We tried twice and missed whatever turning it would have been BOTH times, so we decided to head home. We popped into Sainsbury’s on the way to top up with milk, orange juice and to get a couple of pizzas in for dinner, posted our cards on the way back, and got back to The Smithy for our daily dose of cake and tea!
….And tomorrow I get to open presents!!! Finally!!
Last night we wrote our postcards, but the post box right outside The Smithy had a collection time of 4pm on it so we took the cards with us as we were on the search for a post box with an earlier collection time. We ended up going the “scenic route” to Lullingstone Roman Villa, as the easier route we had chosen was clearly not that obvious or easy so we ended up going through various villages. Otherwise, we would have actually ended up in London!!
Various post boxes along the way had much later times than ours, and we figured that the postman must go around one way in a circular route, and ours much have been the first collection of the day. We didn’t post them just yet though, as we may as well have held on to them until we were on our way back to the cottage.
Eventually we ended up at Lullingstone Roman Villa, the oddest thing about it being a parking fee for an English Heritage site. We have never known English Heritage to charge £2.50 for the parking, but as we were English Heritage Mambers we got free parking, which consisted of a token to put in the machine to raise the barrier.
The remains of the Roman Villa were house indoors, with displays around each side, detailing Roman life, what the rooms in the house would have been used for and so on. It was a large, open plan use of space, and there was a projector screen hanging from the ceiling on which a short film was played. I quite liked how throughout the film, various parts of the remains of the villa were lit up to show what the narrator was talking about, and there were also planson the walls of the phases of the Villa which were also lit up in sequence as the film went on. It was a very clever and good use of space and lighting, I thought.
This place had a very nice mosaic which was best viewed from the second or balcony floor, and the Villa is mostly well known for having a church within the house which had paintings of people worshipping - one of the earliest depictions of Roman Christianity in Britain. It was quite a fun place to go and see, despite there being lots of school parties….! I was also quite surprised to see a baby skeleton on display - I have never seen one on display anywhere before, usually they have an adult (which they also had on display here), but never a baby.
We left Lullingstone to go to Ightham Mote which is the place I first decided I wanted to visit on my Birthday, but for some reason I decided to change my mind in favour of Dover Castle instead. Anyway, off to Ightham Mote we went, which was much simpler to get to, especially from Lullingstone Roman Villa. Of course, we went the wrong way a couple of times, but then again the road atlas doesn’t always have every country road on it, does it? Well ours didn’t anyway…!
Ightham Mote is one of the oldest medieval manor houses in England which is still standing. Being 650 years old, it is in remarkably good condition, and I wouldn’t have thought it was quite as old as it really is just from looking at it. It is a fantastic looking building on the outside, and its quite fun in the inside too. It is surrounded by water - much like a moat - and there is a bridge to get across to get inside - and a central courtyard which is wonderfully cobbly with a listed building inside - the dog kennel! Once inside the house, there were several rooms to explore, all with it’s own character and history, lots and lots of dark wood, carved wood, painted wallpaper (of which the Chinese one was a favourite), and the ceilings had been taken off so we could see the structure of the roof. Just looking at these beams alone would not have told you how old the building was, it is in SUCH good condition. I particularly liked the New Chapel which has a painted wooden barrel domed ceiling, the images are a little feint, but the National Trust had to undo all the work the Victorians did on it to cover it up, as they used oil based painted which were ruining the Medieval paint underneath. It doesn’t look to bad though to be honest, you can see enough of it to be able to imagine that, when just finished, the paint would have been bright and new, and the ceiling would have been SO colourful.
We popped into the shop and bought some goodies (edible, of course!) and said hello to the shop cat who was snoozing with content on the National Trust throws. I almost picked it up thinking it was a displaced cuddly toy - until I saw the ears twitch and the breathing was real!
We got back into the car, and we thought we would try and find a couple of dolmen-like structures which were on the map, but they didn’t seem to be signposted or easy to get to. We tried twice and missed whatever turning it would have been BOTH times, so we decided to head home. We popped into Sainsbury’s on the way to top up with milk, orange juice and to get a couple of pizzas in for dinner, posted our cards on the way back, and got back to The Smithy for our daily dose of cake and tea!
….And tomorrow I get to open presents!!! Finally!!
Friday October 15th
My Birthday today! My turn to open presents! Yey! I opened them in bed just as Mathew did with his presents. He bought me Balloo the bear, a green amber pendant, an apron with “I *heart* bears” on it, and a DVD among other things. His parents bought me a beading book which I don’t already have!! His sister bought me chocolates and a bear stamp from Germany and a crazy book no baking horror style (or Halloween style” cupcakes, which I may try next week as it’s Halloween and Mathew is going to visit Amy over that weekend. Mum and Dad bought me lots of things too, £40 to spend at Amazon.co.uk, socks, and two pashminas among other things.
So, after having waffles for breakfast, it was time to leave for Dover for the second time - to the Castle which we were thinking would probably take up the entire day, and we hoped we managed to save the best till last. And indeed we did! First off, remember I said that I was going to pay close attention to which roads we were travelling along so to make the journey simpler? Well Mathew said “It’s okay, I know the way,” so I put the map down. Then about 3 minutes later .. “I think I took the wrong turn…!” Of course I didn’t know where we were!! But it didn’t take to long to get on the right road and onward to Dover Castle.
The place is so big that parking is INSIDE the Castle grounds! The first thing we did was actually what should have came last - or historically, anyway. We went for a guided tour around the underground tunnels, including the hospital. We sat down to watch a short film before having the actual tour. The tour itself was very good, and through speakers hidden in alcoves, we stood in each room and listened to a scenario. The tunnels were lit, but they flickered every now and then as they would have done during war time, and we heard bombing and sirens too, as if we had actually stepped back in time. The tunnels had been made to look like people were still working there, with desks, maps, and all sorts of equipment all over the place. The hospital was like this too, nothing gory though, but there were cabinets full of lots of medical equipment, and there were rooms or wards where the patients would have recovered.
After the tour we went around the Castle grounds, and headed for lunch before going into the Keep. There was a café just outside the Keep which we were going to go into, but it was closed - at 12:30 in the afternoon…?!?? That was a bit strange…! We headed down to the restaurant - which was open - and got ourselves some nice food. I went with macaroni cheese (I wasn’t planning on having pasta tonight!) and Mathew had a quiche. We had a naughty scone after that, but we did share it!! Then we went back to the Keep, which was the other best part of the Castle. I don’t think I have ever visited a Castle where they have done what they have in Dover - basically, they have decorated the main large rooms how they would have been decorated when the place was in use. It looks very toy box like, but bright garish colours really would have been used - blue, green, red, gold - on the walls, the beds, the chairs, the footstools. EVERYTHING was brightly coloured and sort of unbelievable really, but it just looked SO good! Now I’m going to watch all those films where they have used Castles and decorated them with dull colours or left the walls blank and wonder what colours really would have been used back in the day?
There were also some holographic sequences which we didn’t HAVE to watch, and they weren’t tacky - basically you heard voices in a room and you found the holograph later - it was quite subtle and because they have only just really completed decorating the Keep, it didn’t look dated. That’s not to say that it will in time, perhaps….but I have been to quite a few where the people look dated and nothing has obviously been done since the early 1980s! This was up to date and pretty brand new, and it looked great.
After the Keep we explored some more of the grounds and the medieval tunnels which were quite fun. We did a lot of walking today, lots of ups and downs! My pedometer at the end of the day read 4,935 steps which apparently equated to about 241 calories. Hmmm…..not sure about that! It doesn’t take into account steepness or strenuousness so…all I know is that I have had a fairly good workout with the legs today!!
We popped into the shop which was very samey as most English Heritage shops seem to be, and a large proportion of the shop is targeted to children. Nothing wrong with that of course, but it leaves very little choice for the adults. If you want a postcard of something in particular you can always be sure it won’t exist! Plus there doesn’t seem to be anything unique with any of the English Heritage shops either - they’re all pretty much clones. National Trust shops are slightly different, they’re not quite as clone like as English Heritage, but you can bet on some things being in all their shops. There weren’t many people in this shop at Dover Castle, and there was a guy who was trying to flog the food at us, telling us the chutney is “very tasty” and there were some fudge cookie things which they had been given about 400 boxes off to sell off cheap because the order was a mistake……!! But then he started to get just a liiiiiitle bit irritating because I looked at something and he told me about it in more detail, then explained something else, Mathew was looking at the postcards and he told him it was “buy three for £1”….were they desperate for a sale?? Anyway, he seemed to vanish at some point, much to the relief of everyone else in the shop! We didn’t buy anything unfortunately - this is why I am so disappointed with places like this. Here is this fantastic building, and the shop has the same things inside it as every other, with nothing new or unique. This means that in most places like this, I come away with nothing but photographs and maybe the odd guidebook. It’s a shame, but on the other hand at least I haven’t collected meaningless clutter!!
After the shop we headed to the church which is “St. Mary de Castro”, which was very nicely decorated inside. Mathew told me that the mosaic like decoration on the walls would have been something used to decorate the interiors of many Castles around the country. Next to the church was a tall tower - which used to be a lighthouse. It is the tallest Roman structure still surviving today, in the country, which is quite impressive. There used to be another one on the other side of Dover, but I think the footings only remain of that one now.
We headed back to the car, and as I have no mobile reception in The Smithy, I decided to call my parents and thank them for all the presents they gave me. Then we headed on home to The Smithy where we had a nice cup of tea, but we missed the cake out this time, as we had booked a table at “Froggies” which as a French restaurant just down the road which meant we just had to walk there. So no cake in the afternoon was eaten because we wanted our stomachs to be as empty as possible so we would enjoy the meal later on tonight.
We went to Froggie’s for my Birthday meal – I had steak while Mathew had mussels. We both had Crème Brulee for dessert which was delicious! And yes, the place was covered in toy frogs!
So, after having waffles for breakfast, it was time to leave for Dover for the second time - to the Castle which we were thinking would probably take up the entire day, and we hoped we managed to save the best till last. And indeed we did! First off, remember I said that I was going to pay close attention to which roads we were travelling along so to make the journey simpler? Well Mathew said “It’s okay, I know the way,” so I put the map down. Then about 3 minutes later .. “I think I took the wrong turn…!” Of course I didn’t know where we were!! But it didn’t take to long to get on the right road and onward to Dover Castle.
The place is so big that parking is INSIDE the Castle grounds! The first thing we did was actually what should have came last - or historically, anyway. We went for a guided tour around the underground tunnels, including the hospital. We sat down to watch a short film before having the actual tour. The tour itself was very good, and through speakers hidden in alcoves, we stood in each room and listened to a scenario. The tunnels were lit, but they flickered every now and then as they would have done during war time, and we heard bombing and sirens too, as if we had actually stepped back in time. The tunnels had been made to look like people were still working there, with desks, maps, and all sorts of equipment all over the place. The hospital was like this too, nothing gory though, but there were cabinets full of lots of medical equipment, and there were rooms or wards where the patients would have recovered.
After the tour we went around the Castle grounds, and headed for lunch before going into the Keep. There was a café just outside the Keep which we were going to go into, but it was closed - at 12:30 in the afternoon…?!?? That was a bit strange…! We headed down to the restaurant - which was open - and got ourselves some nice food. I went with macaroni cheese (I wasn’t planning on having pasta tonight!) and Mathew had a quiche. We had a naughty scone after that, but we did share it!! Then we went back to the Keep, which was the other best part of the Castle. I don’t think I have ever visited a Castle where they have done what they have in Dover - basically, they have decorated the main large rooms how they would have been decorated when the place was in use. It looks very toy box like, but bright garish colours really would have been used - blue, green, red, gold - on the walls, the beds, the chairs, the footstools. EVERYTHING was brightly coloured and sort of unbelievable really, but it just looked SO good! Now I’m going to watch all those films where they have used Castles and decorated them with dull colours or left the walls blank and wonder what colours really would have been used back in the day?
There were also some holographic sequences which we didn’t HAVE to watch, and they weren’t tacky - basically you heard voices in a room and you found the holograph later - it was quite subtle and because they have only just really completed decorating the Keep, it didn’t look dated. That’s not to say that it will in time, perhaps….but I have been to quite a few where the people look dated and nothing has obviously been done since the early 1980s! This was up to date and pretty brand new, and it looked great.
After the Keep we explored some more of the grounds and the medieval tunnels which were quite fun. We did a lot of walking today, lots of ups and downs! My pedometer at the end of the day read 4,935 steps which apparently equated to about 241 calories. Hmmm…..not sure about that! It doesn’t take into account steepness or strenuousness so…all I know is that I have had a fairly good workout with the legs today!!
We popped into the shop which was very samey as most English Heritage shops seem to be, and a large proportion of the shop is targeted to children. Nothing wrong with that of course, but it leaves very little choice for the adults. If you want a postcard of something in particular you can always be sure it won’t exist! Plus there doesn’t seem to be anything unique with any of the English Heritage shops either - they’re all pretty much clones. National Trust shops are slightly different, they’re not quite as clone like as English Heritage, but you can bet on some things being in all their shops. There weren’t many people in this shop at Dover Castle, and there was a guy who was trying to flog the food at us, telling us the chutney is “very tasty” and there were some fudge cookie things which they had been given about 400 boxes off to sell off cheap because the order was a mistake……!! But then he started to get just a liiiiiitle bit irritating because I looked at something and he told me about it in more detail, then explained something else, Mathew was looking at the postcards and he told him it was “buy three for £1”….were they desperate for a sale?? Anyway, he seemed to vanish at some point, much to the relief of everyone else in the shop! We didn’t buy anything unfortunately - this is why I am so disappointed with places like this. Here is this fantastic building, and the shop has the same things inside it as every other, with nothing new or unique. This means that in most places like this, I come away with nothing but photographs and maybe the odd guidebook. It’s a shame, but on the other hand at least I haven’t collected meaningless clutter!!
After the shop we headed to the church which is “St. Mary de Castro”, which was very nicely decorated inside. Mathew told me that the mosaic like decoration on the walls would have been something used to decorate the interiors of many Castles around the country. Next to the church was a tall tower - which used to be a lighthouse. It is the tallest Roman structure still surviving today, in the country, which is quite impressive. There used to be another one on the other side of Dover, but I think the footings only remain of that one now.
We headed back to the car, and as I have no mobile reception in The Smithy, I decided to call my parents and thank them for all the presents they gave me. Then we headed on home to The Smithy where we had a nice cup of tea, but we missed the cake out this time, as we had booked a table at “Froggies” which as a French restaurant just down the road which meant we just had to walk there. So no cake in the afternoon was eaten because we wanted our stomachs to be as empty as possible so we would enjoy the meal later on tonight.
We went to Froggie’s for my Birthday meal – I had steak while Mathew had mussels. We both had Crème Brulee for dessert which was delicious! And yes, the place was covered in toy frogs!
Saturday October 16th
All packed and ready to go, it was time to go home today. We had originally decided to visit Lullingstone Roman Villa on the way back home, but the idea behind Mathew’s cunning thinking on Thursday was that if we did it during the week, not only would we have avoided having to choose between that and Ightham Mote on the way, but we could actually go straight back home and we would have a slightly longer weekend than originally anticipated. I’m all for longer weekends so this was the plan today. We stopped off a couple / once on the way to stretch our legs, but we eventually got back after around 4 hours, and still had the rest of the say to sit back and relax!
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