East Sussex and Kent(Final Day)

Canterbury Cathedral, Chilham village, Audley End, Thaxted.

Previous Days: East Sussex and Kent – Gardens, Castles and Country Houses  EAST SUSSEX AND KENT: HEVER CASTLE, SCOTNEY AND THE GLORIES OF SissinghurstEast Sussex and KENT:Rye, Bodiam, Bateman’s and Leeds castle

Breakfast at Leeds Castle but once more, unfortunately, we couldn’t use our free entry passes which came with our booking as the castle didn’t open till 10am.We really needed an early get away in order to fit in Canterbury Cathedral AND get across the Dartford Crossing before, as I was advised, it got really awful.

After a decent cooked breakfast we had another walk round the lovely garden grounds overlooking the river.The scale of it all meant you could probably spend the best part of a day exploring the estate.But we were on a schedule, so not for us this time!

It was a 35 min drive to Canterbury but I’d had a recommendation on the TA Forum to stop at the village of Chilham.

Parked just outside it and walked in, immediately struck by what a pretty place it was – a great recommendation.It was very quiet, not a soul about as we made our way past the Inn and followed a loop which took us down a very beautiful little street to the end of the houses, then back up another equally lovely road. Mind you, the reason it was so quiet was probably because we were so early! Most sensible people were still at breakfast😃

Delightful stop all in! I do love an old, pretty village and England does these very well.

On to Canterbury where we got parked easily, just outside the walls.

A bit of a shock to , once more, be in a very busy, bustling city! Most of our trip had been in fairly quiet , rural places.I’d booked our entry time to this grand cathedral in advance, a cathedral known as the ‘Mother Church’ of the Anglican community.

It’s also a World Heritage Site.There were huge numbers of schoolchildren all waiting to get in too- in fact, the cathedral inside was mobbed.We managed to join a small group which had gathered outside the Warrior Chapel and listened to a very interesting talk about the Buffs regiment.It was also a chance to escape the hordes(of which of course we were two.) There was bell ringing also, the sound of which was astonishing.

Then down into the 12^th century Crypt, the largest in Europe and a stunning space.What I most wanted to see was the tomb of Thomas Beckett, Archbishop of Canterbury in the 12th century and slaughtered in the cathedral by the knights of Henry II.

A dramatic piece of artwork marks where he was killed.Incredible history all round.It oozes out of the place.

The garden grounds of the Cathedral were surprisingly lovely too.I never miss Cloisters either.

We didn’t have time to explore more of Canterbury itself on this sunny day as already I was a bit fretful about how the traffic would be at the Dartford Crossing , 50 mins away.Maybe I was panicking unnecessarily as we certainly sped through the crossing very easily at just before 1pm.The sheer scale of it was amazing, we have nothing like it in Scotland at all(in fact the Scottish govt has failed to even manage to continue the very basic dualling of the A9, one of the few trunk roads north.) It’s something that always amazes me when in England, that there are so many dual carriageways, motorways and the like and often relatively new roads seem to been built.Roads do not get built in Scotland – or rarely.In one way that’s a good thing as we don’t have the congestion that requires new roads but on the other, some current roads really could be much improved.

I immediately paid the £2.50 charge online as Chris drove, otherwise I’d forget and probably incur a hefty penalty!

Next stop was Audley End, the 17^th century grand country house near Saffron Walden in Essex.This put us in easy travelling distance to Stansted airport and away from likely hold ups near London.I could now relax!

Our Historic Scotland membership gave us , I recall, free entry to the huge estate and grounds as well as the house.I’m ashamed to say I can’t remember much about the interior…it was very grand but it was such a warm , sunny day, we were both keen to stroll the gardens and enjoy the sunshine.Had tea and cake sitting outside one of the cafes, then after a whirl round the house, we made for the river and enjoyed a walk through the beautiful gardens.The more formal gardens at the front of the house were delightful too.All that said, I’m not sure Audley End quite matched the other sites we had visited in terms of wow factor but its location suited our purposes.

With an evening flight, we decided to get an early dinner somewhere and after doing some on the spot checking of reviews of local Inns and villages, I came upon the small town of Thaxted.It was supposed to be one of the area’s prettiest with an interesting history so off we set.

Well…what a find! It was a beautiful old village with colourful, traditional houses and some stunning public buildings, particularly the 15th century Guildhall and restored Windmill.

Spent some time just strolling down the various streets admiring it all.A village established before the Domesday Book! 

A real gem.

Time to get something to eat.The Maypole was open and looked nice, with an attractive small beer garden, decorated with flowers and greenery.

A lovely place to sit out in until they opened for food at 6pm. I had tea, Chris a beer.

I wasn’t expecting too much from the food but was delighted to see that their own homemade Spaghetti Bolognaise was on the menu, a dish I love if made well.In fact it was excellent…as good as my own, if I may say so!

Chris had a spicy chicken bites type dish with fries…tasty.Then ice cream for us both, and very good it was too. A big success all round.

I had been slightly worried initially on going into the pub because when we asked at the bar about booking for dinner at 6pm, the grim faced, bald headed barman looked at us in quite a hostile way and I wondered if our accents annoyed him.Scots! However, the lady serving was so welcoming and friendly and in fact, as we chatted to her, she remarked on how lovely our voices were.The barman still glared at us! Was it something we’d said?😀

And that was our trip over.A fantastic few days in the south of England, really very memorable sights and just whetting our appetites to return.So much to see, so little time! (unfortunately, literally , this trip.)