Friday 28th September, 2018

We headed off this morning towards Winston Churchill's House - Chartwell, which is a country house near the town of Westerham, Kent.  We arrived at around 10am and were surprised to see how many people were there already.  

As it is a timed entry, we bought our tickets and then had morning tea at the Visitors Centre.  As it was quite a walk from the Visitors Centre to the house, John walked and I caught the bus.

On entering the house it is very evident that it was a family home.  As you go from room to room, there are many personal items still scattered around, including family photographs, artwork and collectables.  But it was when we walked in lounge/dining room with its arched windows which were designed by Winston Churchill himself, so that he could make the most of the view, that you just feel instantly comfortable.  The dining table, where he many meeting and dinners is round, which he insisted on to make people feel comfortable. 

We continued on through the house looking at uniforms, gifts that had been given to him, and also paintings that he had painted

The grounds are absolutely beautiful and we both feel that this is one of the nicest English Country Houses we have visited.  John thinks he could easily live here !!!!

A short drive from here was Hever Castle.  As we walked across the moat to the entrance you are welcomed by person dressed in costume.

Dating back to the 13th Century, Hever Castle was once the childhood home of Anne Boleyn, second wife of Henry VIII and Mother of Elizabeth 1.  It formed the unlikely backdrop to a sequence of tumultuous events that changed the course of Britian's history, monarchy and religions.
There are 2 prayer books which belonged to Anne Boleyn and have her inscriptions and signature.

The Castle was restored and extended in the early 20th Century by William Waldorf Astor and there is a suite dedicated to the Astor family with pictures and memorabilia relating to the Astor family and the Edwardian Period.

There is an exhibition in the Long Gallery depicting life in the 16th Century, with figures dressed in costume. 
The grounds are beautifully maintained, with a maze and lovely topiary throughout.

  

We finished our visit with afternoon tea, overlooking the castle, before returning to the Carpenters Arms for dinner

Thursday 27th September, 2018

After leaving Bridge Cottage B & B we drove the 20 minutes into Hythe to catch the Romney/Hythe/Dymchurch Railway.  This railway was purpose built as a 1/3 size railway, just for fun, and runs on a 15 inch gauge. However, during the 2nd World War it was taken over by the War Department to move munitions up and down the coast and was used extensively during the building of PLUTO (Pipe Line Under the Ocean) which fuelled the Allied Invasion.

 The trains stopped for 1/2 hr at New Romney Station, where there is a model railway exhibition

The RH&DR was the culmination of the dreams of Captain J. E. P. Howey — a racing driver, millionaire land owner, former Army Officer and miniature railway aficionado and Count Louis Zborowski — eminently well-known racing driver of his day (famous for owning and racing the Chitty Bang Bang Mercedes).
It was a really fun trip down to Dungeness where we were able to see the large Nuclear Power Station.  We had lunch at the Dungeness Railway Cafe before returning to Hythe.  
We drove from Hythe across country using back roads and through lots of little villages.  We wanted to go to see the Ouse Valley Viaduct, and according to the map got really close, but the lack signage defeated us :(
By this time it was late afternoon and decided to head to our accommodation The Carpenters Arms in Tonbridge, where will will spend the next 3 nights

Wednesday 26th September, 2018

After a basic breakfast at the B & B we drove up into Elham to the church, to look for any information on John's ancestors. 

There were some at the church, who showed us a photographic directory of gravestones in the churchyard.

 We were able to find 5 of the Stroud family graves recorded here.  There is a John Stroud who was buried in 1739 here !!!
We walked around the graveyard for quite sometime, but were not able to find the actual headstones, as time has made it impossible to read any of the inscriptions.

From here we drove to Canterbury Cathedral along some very small roads between hedgerows and were surprised to find ourselves following a Red Double Decker Bus going quite quickly.!!!!

Canterbury is a very large city, with a wall around the old city. 

After finally finding somewhere to park we walked to the Cathedral through the centre of the old town and cathedral district.
The Cathedral is undergoing renovations at present, but was a lot bigger and grander than we expected.  The Black Prince, who was the eldest son of King Edward III is buried here. 

There is also a shrine to Thomas Beckett at the actual spot where he was killed by for knights of Henry II in 1170. The architecture is English Gothic and quite amazing, and there are beautiful stained glass windows.








We drove from Canterbury to Margate and Ramsgate,

 hoping to find the church where my 3 Great Grandmother's children were christened.  Unfortunately, we couldn't find the church !!! some more research is obviously required !!!
We stopped in Ramsgate for a late lunch overlooking the Marina, which was really nice. 

There was a boat in the marina that had belonged to the most senior surviving officer of the Titanic.  During the 2nd World War, he used the boat to ferry 130 men from France back to Ramsgate during the evacuation from Dunkirk.

We drove from here to see the White Cliffs of Dover, which are amazing and huge, nothing like we have seen before.  We could actually see France from here :)

The cliffs were overlooking the Dover Ferry Terminal and we were amazed at the number of semi trailers being loaded onto the ferries and how often the ferries left and arrived.  From what we could tell it seemed to take about 1 hr for the crossing.

We went back to Elham and had dinner at the Rose & Crown, where we discovered that Audrey Hepburn had come from Elham and was known as little Audrey around the town.