Rudders at Home

We took a country drive today and ended up at Chartwell, which isn’t too far from us. Chartwell was Winston Churchill’s family home. He bought it in 1922 and it now is being taken care of by the National Trust. It’s just down the road from us and we’ve been meaning to get there to have a look since we got the car last year.

There are two main bits to see when you go – the house and the garden. The gardens were definitely the highlight. The house was ok, but not fabulous. Perhaps it was because it was really busy that I was put off a bit. Entry is by timed ticket, which means you have a fifteen minute window to get into the house. Then you can stay in as long as you want – and boy were people sticking around. Getting in wasn’t the problem, it was moving around once you were in. People just were not moving along. Slow shuffle was definitely the speed of the day. There wasn’t much in the way of “house” to see inside, there were a couple dressed rooms, but then the rest was set up as a sort of museum to Churchill. I might have been more appreciative of it had there not been so many people. I thought the gardens were much better.

The amount of space and land was what struck you as you drove in to the place. That was what I liked about Knole Park as well. But not only did Chartwell have space, it was also beautifully landscaped, with other smaller garden areas throughout. My favorite bit was Lady Churchill’s Rose Garden. Not to mention the swimming pool, which is one of the first things you see as you walk into the property.

As big as the space was, it did seem rather homely. It wasn’t nearly as ostentatious as you would think. In fact, the interior was quite humble, and one of the gardens actually had – gasp! – vegetables in it! That was nice to see, considering I haven’t seen a proper growing garden in long long time.

I enjoyed it. If only there weren’t so many people!

Some more pictures from the gardens:

There are further pictures in the gallery.

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Well, I’m finally getting around to enlightening everyone on our trip to the Southeast coast of England. We went in April, for our anniversary.

Now, we didn’t go to Dover, but went to a place just outside of the town, in the country. We’ve been to Dover before, and it’s not a spectacular town. It’s a port, and so it isn’t the best, certainly not much to write home about. But, you can’t beat the idea of seeing the White Cliffs and so we stayed a lovely hotel outside of town in the countryside. The hotel was Wallet’s Court, a hotel and spa. We didn’t do much except get away from home on the Saturday. I think we spent the majority of the day eating. We had a nice cream tea when we arrived, and then because we weren’t going into town, we had a wonderful dinner there. Seriously, the dinner was gorgeous, and we were able to take our time with it. Normally when we go out to eat, we always are rushed through the meal, only to have to wait ages for the check to come. It was actually refreshing to be able to take our time, especially when the whole point of the evening was to spend some actual real time with one another. It was lovely.

The next day, we drove down the road and had a lovely view of Dover Castle. We didn’t visit the castle on this trip. However, we did walk by the cliffs, and I was able to get some pictures, which I’ve been wanting to do for ages. This walk, I have to say was breathtaking, and a big highlight. We live so close to Dover, and I’ve seen the cliffs from the ferry, but to see them so close was amazing. The walk takes you right along the top of them, all the way to a lighthouse.

The weather, as usual in England, was a bit unpredictable. When we started the weekend out, it was sunny and just warm enough to get away with a heavy sweater. Then, it cooled down quite a bit while we were away. It started to snow (of all things!) while we were walking, so we turned back after we were about halfway. Paul had left his coat in the car, thinking his sweatshirt would keep him warm enough. Unfortunately, he was wrong, and we had to turn around so we could go get him warm again.

It didn’t help that we had just cut his hair, so he had nothing on his head to keep him warm either!

And that just about sums up our trip to Dover. It made for a very nice weekend trip away, and it was a very happy anniversary for us.

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Paul and I have been out and about this lovely Sunday afternoon. The weather here has broken a bit – meaning we’ve seen some sun today. So, unable to bear being cooped up in the flat when the promise of sunshine is around, I made Paul take me for a drive today. We ended up at the National Trust property, Knole. In addition to a nice property, there is a deer park at Knole, and it seems that it would be a nice place to have a picnic. We had a nice wander around the park, and that’s where I took a picture of this pretty animal.

Initially, Paul thought these were roe deer, but the National Trust says that there are fallow and sika deer found in the deer park. Either way, it was pretty nice to see them there, and further pictures from the day can be found here in the gallery.

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They’ve found a bomb in East London. No, not the kind you’re thinking of. They’ve found an unexploded World War II bomb in a place called Bromley-by-Bow. (No, this is nowhere near where I live, folks – closer to where I work!) This has, of course, disrupted travel in the city. And, in true London style, the news isn’t about the fact that a 60+ year old bomb has been found, but about the fact that travel has been disrupted.

Tonight, they’re trying to difuse the thing – which seems to be a good thing because reports say that it’s been ticking.  “They” are the Royal Engineers. Apparently, they seem to have a bit of experience with this sort of thing. There seem to be any number of left over unexploded bombs in London. It’s good to keep in mind that some of those on that list have been taken care of since it was produced, so it isn’t definitive. So, why are these bombs all over London? Well, they are all a consequence of The Blitz.

When you start to think about this, you begin to realize that there’s a bit more to the reason why people are constantly bringing up “The War.” Somehow, it doesn’t seem quite so out of touch to me now.

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Two weeks ago, Paul and I went for a drive in Kent, the Garden of England. Beautiful countryside, busy as all get out, which is what everywhere in the south of England seems to be. Or, rather everyplace Paul and I tend to go, is where everyone wants to be. The intention was for me to get some practice driving in an enjoyable environment, and also to get some country air. I didn’t and we did. As an aside, I am driving more and more here now – but that’s another story, and perhaps we’ll talk about that later.

So inspired by our drive – and because we’re being cheap at the moment – got to find funds for a caribou hunt someplace! – we decided to go for a walk in the country last weekend. For a walk in the country – I sound like Londoner when I say that. At home, and so many other places, you just walk out the door. Here, you drive for an hour to get to the country, and then you’re still not far from everyone.

So we took a six mile wander around Kent on public footpaths. It was the first time in a while I’ve been surrounded by countryside. It was gorgeous. We were lucky as well. On our drive the weekend before, I noticed the bluebells had been out for a while. Happily, I caught some of these beautiful flowers with my camera. I got my macro lens out and had a bit of fun with that. The bluebells don’t have much longer to go before they’ll fade. They’re such pretty seas of blue in the woods here in Kent, they easily make spring my favorite season in the UK.
The countryside in Kent is beautiful, and quite walkable as well. It’s so easy and accessible for us as well. I hope this is the beginning of a wonderful summer. We have plans to get a tent and hopefully do some more exploring of the English and French countryside – rustic style!

Just keep your dog on a leash and don’t let it worry the sheep!

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