Our Kent Holiday

What a way to celebrate turning 61 .. I'm still not sure how that happened as although I have years of amazing memories and my body reminds me most days I don't really feel I've reached my 60s.

I love holidays, no surprise there, and so we went away, this time to Kent visiting many places some of which I have written about separately such as Canterbury 

Our holiday began with a few days in Faversham with a visit to National Trust Knole House on the way. My actual birthday fell on our full day there with a great visit to Shepherds Neame brewery and a fab meal at The Sun Inn.

My special day started with cards and pressies and a pancake, blueberry & yougurt breakfast in bed (thanks to a bit of Aldi shopping the night before). Thank you to all my lovely family and friends, I felt very spoilt but this filled my heart in such a special way - my life's names!

Our hotel was at short walk into Faversham, with the sun shining it was a nice stroll past some very nice houses, a definite look of London especially the red brick terraces.

Our holiday wouldn't be right without adding another Wetherspoon pub to our visited list, currently 93 out of over 800. And there it was The Leading Light named after Henry Wreight the 19th century mayor of Faversham and a main benefactor of the town.

The beautiful Art Deco building was originally Faversham Co-operative Society shop. The Society was founded in 1887 by local gunpowder factory workers and the building remained a shop until 1997 when it was opened as a Wetherspoon pub.

The interior was amazing, one of the reasons we visit J D Wetherspoon pubs is an appreciation of old buildings being restored and reused, of course we also appreciate the food and drinks on offer, this time a great coffee!

Faversham was lovely in style and age with over 400 listed building reflecting its maritime history. There was certainly some overseas influence with some Dutch gables, the Old Pharmacy door was amazing and it was great to find a Queen Victoria postbox.

After our Shepherd Neame tour and tasting we settled in at The Sun Inn enjoying a glass of Iron Wharf stout followed by delicious fish and chips and a super bottle of Gris de Grille from Carcassonne, perfect birthday wine.

After a lovely birthday in Faversham our Kent holiday continued with a week at Parkdean Romney Sands in a gold caravan. Our son and girlfriend stayed for one night followed by us all enjoying A Little Trip to France over the weekend and them then returning home, extended birthday treat for me.

Our time in Kent had been very enjoyable so far if busy so it was quite nice to settle into our holiday home with the Romney Hyde and Dymchurch Railway running by throughout the day and the sea just across the road from the park's main entrance. The weather was mixed with some dramatic skies, a good reason to stay in with a fish supper and my birthday bottle of Picpoul de Pinet from our son.

As well as our trip to Canterbury we also ventured out to Folkestone on the bus. An hour's journey on a double decker bus with the front upstairs seats giving views of the south Kent coast all for £3 each, what a bargain.

Folkestone also had evidence of overseas influences in its buildings, it has been a major trading port for centuries. It was a popular Victorian holiday resort and a major cross-channel ferry port, today it has a creative hub, a lively historic harbour and many food specialists. Folkestone has its own mermaid,  a life size bronze created by Cornelia Parker in 2011 for Folkestone Triennial that sits peacefully looking out to sea.

The Samuel Peto, previously a 19th century Baptist Church, was our lunch stop, another great building reinvented by JD Wetherspoon. Sir Samuel Peto was an English engineer who helped develop and build over 750 miles of railway track in England during the mid 1800s.

The location of the caravan park was good if you like remote pebble beaches. Dungerness, a vast remote area of shingle beach, is not far away and is the terminal for the railway. We had a lovely drive round the stark but beautifil area, it was a huge surprise to find this chap in his own world oblivious to the people and cars around him.

Not far away but not really accessible Hubby discovered the Sound Mirrors. Made of concrete these pre World War II Listening Ears were built in the late 1920s and were an experiment to detect enemy aircraft by deflecting the engine sound onto microphones. Although they could detect planes up to 20 miles away by the time the war started radar had been invented and the Sound Mirrors were never used.

I had a super birthday and holiday in Kent with such a variety of places visited and experiences enjoyed. My birthday celebrations ended a week later as Hubby and I travelled to Leicester to watch Tigers v Saracens rugby followed by The 745 Game, played by ex-players in aid of MBD. A superb end to a superb birthday.

Nuneaton Beer Festival 2026

It's the 5th year Nuneaton Round Table have hosted a Beer Festival in our town, and what a great event it is! 

It is held at Nuneaton Heritage Centre which was built in 1735 by the Newdigate Family to provide a Free School. A Grade II listed building it is now a museum about Nuneaton's history and features a restored Victorian schoolroom used for educational visits where children learn what school life was like over 100 years ago.

Although we did look round the museum the reason for our 30 minute stroll from home, through Riversley Park and along The Pingles was ....

The Beer Festival - with gin!

The entry price included this year's special glass, we love a branded or occasion glass! We paid on arrival but you can buy tickets in advance, follow the links below - 

Friday 9th October 

Saturday 10th October 

A beer festival is a great opportunity to try a variety of beers from different breweries, some big like Tiny Rebel, some smaller like Oakham. Hubby prefers cask beer but there was also a huge choice of craft beer and a good variety of ciders.

These are the cask beers Hubby chose, his favourite was Minster from Brew York. Our daughter and son-in-law live near to the Tiny Rebel brewery so trying their beer was a must, as was Kaspur from Salopian and Thornbridge Brewery as their Jaipur is one of Hubby's favourite beers.

I do enjoy a beer but I'm a gin girl, what a super selection there was. We have enjoyed a tasting evening at Warwickshire Gin before, their gin is superb, as is Rugby Distillery's Menton Lemon, a bottle of which is on our shelf at home.

The range from Naughty Hare caught my eye with their character labels and grand names. 

I was particularly interested in their Lady Wendy Red Liquorice Gin with flavours of aniseed, it really did taste of aniseed ball sweets and was perfect served with diet coke. 

My second gin was Viscount Brian After Dinner Gin with flavours of mint and chocolate served with diet tonic and a chocolate matchstick.

Nuneaton Round Table certainly worked hard to put on another super Beer Festival. We had a lovely afternoon, maybe next year we'll visit a little later and stay for the evening as from the photo on Facebook it looks like a great time was had by all.

If you are local it's well worth a visit ..... cheers everyone 😁

Canterbury

It's been many years since we visited Canterbury and I couldn't really remember much about its buildings but I do know a little about its history and its famous Archbishop.

We have often passed by this Kent cathedral city on our way to France. Canterbury is full of medieval buildings, cobbled streets and is well known as the birthplace of English Christianity.

There is evidence of a settlement as early as 200BC which I find amazing as that was over 2000 years ago. The Romans captured what was by then a Celtic settlement and built it's fortifications naming the town Durovernum Cantiavorum. 

After the Romans the Jutes took over the area reusing much of the Roman structures. They renamed the town  Cantwaraburh. In 597AD St Augustine was sent by the Pope in Rome and founded the Cathedral making this the ecclesiastical capital which it still is today over 1400 years later.

Canterbury is a bustling city with a mix of shoppers and tourists. We used the Park & Ride which made our journey into the city centre very easy with the bus station being next to Whitefriars Shopping Centre, a modern area with all the popular high street stores.

As we wandered into the city its age and variety of buildings was everywhere, no wonder there were many tour guides holding flags or umbrellas followed by large groups of wide eyed tourists. 

The tiny cobbled Burgate with its medieval buildings lies on the original Roman street grid. St George's Tower is a 14th century building using Kent flint and is all that remains of St George the Martyr Church which was destroyed in 1942 in the German Luftwaffe Baedeker Raid.

The Buttermarket is Canterbury's large publis square dominated by the ornate Christ Church Gate which is the entrance to the Cathedral.

At the side of the huge gate is an amazing wooden pedestrian door set in a stone archway that dates have to the early 1500s. During the English Civil War the wooden doors were smashed, they were restored in the 1660s under the reign of King Charles II with craftsmen replacing missing fragments of the 360 year old oak.

Christ Church Gate was completed in 1521 as not only a secure entrance to the Cathedral grounds but as a royal tribute to commemorate the wedding of Arthur Prince of Wales (Henry VIII's older brother) to Catherine of Aragon.

The grand central statue of Christ was destroyed during the English Civil War, the niche was empty until the replacement new bronze statue in 1990.

It is possible to stand at the Gate to look at Canterbury Cathedral but there is a charge to actually visit. The shop and small museum next door has free entry and has a huge upstairs viewing window giving views of this magnificent architectural building with it's carved entrance. 

My knowledge of Canterbury Cathedral is that of it becoming a place of pilgrimage after the brutal death of Thomas Beckett, Archbishop of Canterbury in 1162. After becoming Archbishop Thomas Beckett defended the rights of the Church against King Henry II. After many years of feeding the King was heard to say 'Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?'. On 29th December 1170 four knights entered the Cathedral and brutally killed the Archbishop.

Thomas Beckett's body was initially kept safe in the crypt then an ornate shrine was built in the Cathedral only for it to be destroyed during Henry VIII's Reformation. It is not known where his body is now, there is a lit candle where the shrine once was and is the focal point of many pilgrims.

 

The Cathedral is certainly the dominant building in Canterbury, the view of it looking down Mercery Lane is quite famous. However there are many other historic buildings, almost a new one with every step especially walking down High Street and on to St Peter's Street. 

In fact this road was part of the Roman Watling Street which ran from the Kent ports through London and on to Anglesey. It is now the A2 to London and A5 going north, we live close to the Watling Street.

On such striking and very ornate building is Queen Elizabeth's Guest Chambers built for the Queen's visit in 1573.

The Westgate Towers, on the route of the Watling Street, is the largest medieval gateway still standing in England. At a height if 60 feet this structure made if Kent ragstone is the only one if Canterbury's seven medieval city gates to have survived the city's turbulence times.

The Old City Jail us a Victorian building built in the 1830s but its location on Pound Lane us the site of the city's medieval defense boundary.

My favourite building was the Old Weavers House on the banks of the Great Stour River which formed part of Canterbury's defenses. It's a Grade II listed building dating back to 1500AD. During the 16th and 17th centuries it was a refuge for skilled silk and cloth weavers escaping religious persecution in France. They built a thriving industry using the river to ower their looms and wash their materials.

The Great Stour River is a popular place to take a punt, these flat bottomed boats are a popular way to see the city from the river.

We had a superb day in Canterbury, there is so much history over many centuries. The Canterbury Tales written by Geoffrey Chaucer in the late 1300s is a collection of 24 stories about a group of pilgrims making their way from London to visit Thomas Beckett's Shrine, I think that may well be on my 2027 reading list.