14 June 2012 - Staplehurst

A continuation as I was called away to the local pub as I was writing the last episode.  Photos will be added when I get a chance.

As I was saying Runham Lane is a road you have to experience to believe.  At no point is it wider than 2.5m and quite a length of it is 5m below the fields on either side.  We often used to see dozens of rabbits here and occasionally a fox.

At Canterbury we wandered through the old town centre to the Cathedral.  I love the majestic size and scale of the building, but it is looking a bit tired and dirty I thought.  The cross over the altar at the site of the martyrdom of Thomas Becket again struck me as a powerful piece of art and I asked the docent who had created it - she didn't know, but found out for us that it was created by Bloomfield.  We couldn't stay for Evensong, but headed back to Staplehurst  for a great evening in a local Italian restaurant.

Martyr's Altar at Canterbury Cathedral

The next morning Sue was not feeling great so I helped setting up the market stall in the village hall at Rolvenden.  This is a small weekly market and is typical of the markets in the village which do not have much in the way of shops.  Sue and Steve sell preserves (jams, pickles, relishes, chutneys,...), fruit juices, liqueurs, cheeses (an amazing variety), salami and cold meats, bacon and sausages.  All stock is purchased locally and much of the preserves come from the local farms and hedgerows.

Sue & Steve with their preserves at Rolvenden

We headed into Maidstone to see friends and then spent the afternoon at Scotney Castle Estate.  This is a house built in 1833 in the manner of a grand country house.  Previously the family lived in a castle dating from the 1300's (but extensively changed over the years) surrounded by moat in the bottom of the valley.  What is left of the castle looks exceedingly unpleasant to live in.

The new house is immense with 7 bedrooms that we saw, a huge library, a dining room with a table seating 16 with enough room around it for another table and then some, a staircase 4m wide, ...  In an attached wing near the servants quarters is an apartment that was Margaret Thatcher's country hideaway for many years.

Scotney Castle (not my photo)

The estate has extensive gardens and includes a working farm and hop fields.  The scale of this type of property is immense when you look at the standard English houses that are tiny and inconvenient.

Driving around Kent it is truly beautiful countryside and visually unspoilt by modern development.  The villages are quaint and the hedgerows press into the sides of the roads with frequent overhanging trees.  There are extensive woodlands that make for a mellow feel. The downside of this is that the roads are incredibly narrow, there are few places to pull off, nowhere to park, poor visibility at intersections and walking on the roads is a scary experience.