Nearly there...................

 I picked the wrong time of year to do all this re-organinising. However, in between Christmas shopping and everything else to do with the Festive season, I'm almost done. I'm on Derbyshire, and then there's just 5 more counties to do. .................................................................

And, there it is - done.

You can now select a county, and from there, select whichever city, town, village or feature interests you. 

I think everything has transferred correctly, but it you do find a problem please leave me a message

And it goes on................

 Day 3 of the upgrade, and I've added Somerset, Shropshire, Scotland, Oxfordshire, Northumbria, Norfolk, and Middlesex.

The next section to do is London. That's going to take at least 3 days - especially as I'm hoping to get out on the bike for a while tomorrow, and then possibly a trip to London later in the week.

More updates

 I seem to be doing 4 or 5 counties a day at the present.

So, today it was Tyne & Wear, Sussex, Surrey, Suffolk were done

Getting there slowly................................

Update on the improvements

 So far, I've done Wales (took me ages), Warwickshire, West Midlands, Wiltshire and Yorkshire. 

They all seem to be working the way I intended, but let me know if you come across anything that doesn't work

Onto the next one................................

A change is gonna come...........

 As this blog gets larger and more detailed, it's becoming harder to manage, and even harder for viewers to negotiate. 

I've been working out how to do things better, and gradually you will see the changes. It won't be quick, but I'll get there.

Starting from the bottom of the menu, I'll be changing the layout, so when you click on a county, you will only see a menu of the places covered, and clicking on each place name will take you just to that place, and no other.

I've just done the first one on the Yorkshire page (Aysgarth), and now I know how to do it, I'll get it done as soon as I can.

Not today though - it's cold, but sunny, and frost-free, so I'm off out on the bike (just for a ride, not to visit anywhere today)

Never too old to learn

 I'm not doing much riding at the moment. Can't go too far on these short Winter days, as I have to be home before it gets dark - got a temporary night blindness thing going on.

That, and the fact that it was very icy this morning, made me decide to hop on the HS1 Javelin train to London, and visit the British Library exhibition rooms. 

They have a great exhibition at the moment on the voice of medieval women - basically of beautiful illuminated books and manuscripts written by women who, at the time were treated more as chattels than equals. 

They are very enlightening, and it shows that women then had to deal with many of the issues we women today have. 

I've added a few samples to the chapter on the British Library (LONDON2), and others have been placed elsewhere if appropriate (e.g. a manuscript of part of the Canterbury Tales in the Chapter for Canterbury with the statue of Chaucer)

I have kept more back, which will be inserted as and when I visit other places.

Will it, won't it?

 Well it didn't, but i thought it might. Rain, that is. It was sunny but chilly when me and Graham left home. Hubby not very well, so I decided to let him rest and go for a ride. I should have ridden Twinkle, but at the last minute I opted for Graham, as the route I intended to take was nearly all main roads.

I was glad I did in the end, as when I got to Headcorn, the sky was as black as Dick Whittington's cat. So it was a bit of a quick look at the church and the top end of the High Street, and then run for home

However, the first stop was Biddenden (KENT1 page). The church had just closed when I got there, but the kind lady told me exactly when it would be open. Apparently it hosts the village library, and is open for two hours, three days a week, but not the same hours every day! I did have a good look round the village though. 

From there, it was a quick 4 mile sprint to Headcorn (KENT2 page) I will need to return here as well. As you can see, I didn't have a lot of time to look around.

It's lovely being able to spend time really poking about the local area, but I look forward to when the weather and his health improve, because I really need to get further afield.

The disadvantage (sort of) doing all this local stuff, is that I will Shortly need to start a KENT3 page!

Very mild for the time of year.

 Yes, today was mild and relatively sunny. Finding myself at a loose end for a few hours, I decided to go and visit one of the most beautiful villages in Kent, and a couple more in the vicinity.

Originally I had a list of 7, but as is often the case, I ran out of time, so the other 4 will have to keep. 

The first place was Goudhurst, right on the edge of the Weald of Kent. And the church was as beautiful as the rest of the village. I do wish though that they could build a by-pass for the centre. If you've been there, you will know that road has signs at each end saying that it is unsuitable for large vehicles. But they still try to force their way through the bends around the church and up and down the incredibly narrow and steep street.

I've updated the Kent1 page for this one.

Next, I took to the country lanes to find Horsmonden church - well, it ain't in Horsmonden that's for sure. It stands behind a farm about 2 miles from the village down a couple of very narrow lanes. It was well worth searching it out though.

From there, I went and had a quick look at the actual village, then went on to Brenchley for my third and final visit of the day. 

 That's a pretty place too, and another very interesting church. I was cold by this time, so I just covered the bit of the village where the church is, and left the rest for another day.

Horsmonden and Brenchley on Kent 2

walking into history

 Less than two miles from my house, is a small village that I never go to. And all because, when they built a new road to bypass the village, they effectively seperated it from the estate where I live.

However, you can see the village church clearly from anywhere in the locality, as it stands tall and proud on a mound at the highest point of the village. Every time I go down that road, I think, I really must go and take a look.

So today, I made time to do just that - not just the church, but the entire village. And I was amazed at what I found.

Now - I'm going to start putting up the pictures and writing the piece to go with them. I need to do a lot of research first, into not just the buildings, but some of the people who were obviously important to the village.  

There is a V.C buried in the churchyard whose name I didn't recognise, and there is one corner of the church that is purely in memorium of members of one family, who really were important to the village. I'd never heard of them either.

I'm going to paint a concise picture of the church and village, and then do some research on the people, and write my findings up as and when I can. Therefore, you may have to call back from time to time, to discover what I've found.

So - the village is called Great Chart, and it will appear on the Kent2 page.

No let up on the weather.

 But at least the rain was only showers today.

Was feeling a bit bored with being shut in the house, so decided to take a little stroll around the less obvious parts of the town centre. 

At last! I managed to get into the parish church - well, for a half hour. Then I got asked to leave, as they wanted to lock up.

It's a magnificent place, and I really need to sort out which mornings it's open for a couple of hours for coffee, so that I can have an in-depth scrutiny of everything.

Still, I did my best, and the results have been added to the Ashford chapter on Kent1

So, I also need a map of the layout of the Old Graveyard in Canterbury Road. I know that what I want is in the Catholic Section, but I don't know where that is in relation to the entrance.

A visit to the Ashford Museum when it's open is in order too.

Quick trip out for a birthday meal

 Been too busy lately to be able to get out and about visiting places and doing research. 

Hopefully, I can resume shortly. In the meantime, tonight we went for a meal in a small village pub 'out in the sticks'.

Warehorne is somewhere we go through often, but seldom turn off of the main road. Having done so tonight, I can heartily recommend the Woolpack. It's not cheap, but the food is exquisite.

St. Matthew's church stands on a mound opposite the pub Obviously by the time we rocked up there for dinner, it was closed. But it looks interesting, so I've added it to my 'to do' list, and meanwhile, I'll look to see what else is interesting about the village.

Piccy of the pub, and a section opened for Warehorne on the KENT2 page.

A quick spin in between rain showers

 Yep, it was one of those days again. It happened the last time I set out to explore Lenham, and it was the same today. However, between the rain clouds, I managed to explore a large part of Charing, and added a lot more to my knowledge of Lenham.

Plus I managed to get in a reasonably long, quick ride on my new bike (always a bonus), and get home without getting it wet and dirty.

O.K. so both Charing and Lenham have relevance to my husband's family. His mother came from Charing, and I've traced that line back through the centuries, and her family also came from Lenham and all points around there. Inevitably, there will be one or two mentions of them, but I will try to keep it minimal.

So, both places will be included on the Kent2 page (there's already a bit about Lenham on there).

Probably won't be complete for a couple of days, but here goes........................

Short and sweet

Time hasn't been on my side for the past month or so. Got my new motorcycle just as The Other Half discovered his bike was booked in for a service and he'd surpassed the mileage required.

Luckily, the weather has been excellent recently, so we left the bigger bikes at home, and went out to play on the little Yellow Perils for a few days - which means I've not had a lot of time for my new bike.

However, today I found myself on my own. I needed to go to Wye Farmers' Market, but I only needed a few things, so I duly got the new bike out and headed off.

As the church at Wye is right next to the market, and there didn't appear to be anything on, I decided to have a quick look round.

The resulting shots are on the Kent 2 page.

After I dropped the shopping off back home, I carried on to Lydd, to try and find a grave in the cemetery with an unusual story attached to it. Success! Quite a long story about it has been logged on Kent 1.

They were the only places I managed today - weekends in the school holidays this close to the coastal resorts are not conducive to peace and quiet!

Churches, dogs, and strange conversations

 So, at a loose end today, and it being a lovely sunny day, I decided to take one of the small bikes and poke around some more local villages. I worked out a route that would take in 9 of them, but in the end, the heat, dehydration, and increasingly heavy traffic in the Canterbury area, beat me.

I did, however, manage 5 of them. Dogs and conversations will be included amongst the write-ups. So, the article about Chilham on the Kent1 page, will be updated. The remaining four (Godmersham, Chartham, Sturry and Fordwich) will appear on the Kent2 page

Changing Plans

 Robert Bruce held that 'The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry' - only he said it in a broad Scottish brogue.

He wasn't wrong though. I spent the most part of the winter, making plans to go to some very interesting places. The year started off well, with a lot of ground covered.  Even bought a new motorcycle to do the longer trips on.

However, since the visit to St. Albans, things seem to have fallen apart a bit. All of my city and town trips are now on hold for the foreseeable future, because of the serious unrest in this country. I just don't feel safe going into places with large populations.

Luckily, I still have quite a lot of small villages and curious places to cover. These are mostly ones I would normally do on 'Twinkle', my little yellow bike. However, I am now reviewing them, to see if I  can do some on the new bike - otherwise, I can't see me riding it too much at the present

Ah well, normal service will be resumed, when the Far Right get over themselves, and stop preaching hate to those who believe every idiotic thing they are told................

St. Albans - oh, didn't it rain!

 Well actually, no. It didn't rain (except for a little drizzle at the end of my visit). Apparently, my home town had monsoon weather all day, so I did right by not being there!

I hopped on a train. HS1 to St. Pancras, and from there, there's a train to St. Albans in Hertfordshire every 15 minutes or so, and the journey is a scant 20 minutes. What's not to like?

The fact that there is not an inch of flat land anywhere there, is what's not to like. It's uphill all the way to the cathedral, then a steep drop down to the river, then uphill back to the cathedral, downhill to the station, then up and over the footbridge to the platform. Well worth it though.

I took 117 pictures today. How many I actually use, will depend on how many I need to tell a very complex history.

The only disappointment I had, was that the wet stuff started before I got to the Roman city. By then I'd walked about 1.5 miles, which meant I still had another 1.5 miles to do to return, and to do the roman area justice, would have taken about another mile........in the drizzly rain...........with aching legs.........

So at some point there will be a second visit

I'm going to wander off now, and start writing the piece, but if I were you, I wouldn't bother looking at it until tomorrow at least. This is going to be a long one

A little trip to a few lesser-known places

 The sun was shining, and the local villages were calling. I needed to go and collect my meat and vegetables etc. from the Farm Shop that we use. It's about 12 miles from home............

..........0r twice that, and 3 hours from home in this weather.

Plus a few more history blanks to fill in. So, if you look at the two Kent pages, you will find more info on Aldington, Ivychurch, Kingsnorth and Snave-Wick (although the latter, I couldn't take all the pictures I needed, so I will have to go back at some point)

On my way to do the updates now...........

The County Town of Kent

Today, it was threatening rain (again!), so I decided to hop on a train and go explore our county town of Maidstone. I chose the train because bike parking in Maidstone is not easy to find.

All the years I worked on the edge of the town, I've never really explored it. The town centre is not too badly off for shops, and there are some lovely old buildings, in various states of repair. There's also some interesting history.

The town grew up around the confluence of the rivers Medway and Len, and there's a lovely walk along the banks of the Medway. The archbishops' palace is lovely, and the parish church of All Saints next door, is an imposing edifice

Sadly, I didn't have time to visit either the local museum, or the Tyrwhitt-Drake museum of carriages. So I will probably return in the winter time, when I'm looking for warm places to be.

For those who don't know, most of the traffic revolves (literally) around the river. The town centre is largely pedestrianised and all the vehicles are forced to go round the perimeter via a dual carriageway and a gyratory system which goes over Maidstone Bridge, and back via St. Peter's Bridge. The volume of traffic is horrendous and they only slow down when they're forced to.

And then there are ducks. To be precise mamma and 3 babies - intent on crossing 6 lanes of nose to tail traffic to get to the pond by the old Rootes building. And there was a workman and myself trying to hold the traffic so that she could cross safely, and then shepherding them along the railings to find a point where she could access the water. And we only got yelled at once! Most people were content to wait and had their phones out recording the little flock and its' human sheepdogs!

Just waiting for the camera to finish uploading, and then I'll add them to the Kent1 page. I probably won't get around to the words though until Sunday. I still have a lot of research to do 

The fair weather continues.................

 After last year's almost total wash-out, so far this year, I've been making a lot of headway on catching up with my history visits. This is my 3rd. trip out this week!

Today was a day for taking one of the smaller bikes, and finding strange churches in strange places.

Sadly, a lot of country churches are kept locked when not in use, due to them often being remote from their villages. (The Black Death has a lot to answer for!)

One I went in, had a notice just inside which read: 'Are you exploring on your own? Do you have a mobile phone? Why not let someone know where you are?' 

These trips I do, are my chance to have some 'me' time - just doing what I like to do, and enjoying my own company. 

However, as I left the church, and turned to close the door, I tripped over a boot scraper and fell flat on my face.  That made me think - I was OK, only my pride was hurt. But what if I had banged my head and was unconscious? I could have laid there for days, and nobody would know.

So from now on, when I am off by myself exploring, every time I stop somewhere, I will text my location to my other half, so that he knows where I last was, and at what time.  You never know..........

I'm on my way now to begin updating the Kent2 page. And there's a lot to cover

Just passing through...........

 This morning I picked my bike up after having new tyres fitted. The sun was shining, so of course, that meant I 'needed' to go and ride around 100 miles to scrub them in. 

Although it was purely a day for riding, I did take a couple of short breaks to go and find some points of interest.

So, go and check out the Kent 2 page under Birchington and Garlinge - only minimal info at the moment, but Birchington is on my list for a full study, and just for a little taster..................

Swiss Cheese..................

 No, not really, although I was tempted to have some with my salad. Little trip to Folkestone today, and lunch at Little Switzerland. 

If you don't know it, the east end of Folkestone is home to East Cliff, Little Switzerland and the Warren. East Cliff is  home to the East Cliff Pavilion venue, a Martello Tower and a small golf course. 

Past the East Cliff, is the Warren Country Park and nature reserve. Both that, and Little Switzerland above the Warren, are renowned for their reptiles. Yes, there are adders, but as long as you and your dogs don't disturb them, and you keep to the paths, they would rather slither away than have truck with people and canines. There's loads of lizards.

Little Switzerland, which lies halfway up the cliffs, is home to a caravan park with a smashing cafe open to the public. Unless you are staying there, the parking is only for customers of the cafe. You can't just rock up and go for a walk - there simply isn't room. If that's what you want to do, you will need to park down at the Warren.

Anyway, enjoy the pictures, on the Kent page under Folkestone

Sittingbourne, Murston and Bapchild

 Now, having spent some of my childhood in Sittingbourne, I knew not to expect much - and I was right. 

It was never a posh place, existing mostly because of its brickmaking industry, and to serve the Thames Barges putting into the quays along Milton Creek and the Swale.

Hard on those trades, came Kemsley paper mills  - which was started and owned by a distant relative. All this means that the town had a working ethos

So I didn't expect too much in the way of interesting history, other than that which exists because of my family. So you will have to excuse my odd reminiscences of the place, but it might give you a little insight into how the town used to be.

I 'm about to put it all on the Kent2 page, together with a little bit of Murston, and an even smaller bit about Bapchild, two small suburbs of the town.

Lenham - just wish this rain would do one

 Today, I had to be in Maidstone, for something that was only going to last about an hour, so I thought, as I was out that way, I would go end explore the pretty village of Lenham.

The village centres around a lovely square with a plethora of Tudor and Georgian buildings.

As usual, I started with the church, which is right on the square. However, I'd only been in there a few minutes, happily snapping away, when a lady came in and said it was starting to rain. So, not having waterproofs with me, I decided to cut my losses and make a run for home.

I reached home before the rain came to much, but what I had found up to that point, makes me determined to return to the church, where there is still much to investigate, and for a good walk around the village itself, to see what turns up.

Anyway, the few I took will be on the Kent2 page very shortly, and the words will follow at some point in the next few hours.

Battle - not just the Norman Conquest

 Battle Abbey, of course, is well known throughout the world, as the place where the Battle of Hastings was fought in 1066, and King Harold lost his life and his kingdom.

But visitors to the little Sussex town must be pleasantly surprised by the beautiful old buildings which line the High Street.

It's true that, outside of the Battlefield, there's not a lot of awe-inspiring history, but on a local level, there's much to see and admire.

I spent the morning poking about, and had intended to ride up towards Heathfield, recording the Polish Airforce Memorial just outside Netherfield, Mad Jack's Sugar Loaf between Brightling and Dallington, and the Jack Cade Memorial at Cade Street.

I did the first of these, but then the mist clamped down, and as it would mean parking the bike on the road for the other two, I decided to wait for safer weather. 

I'll hopefully go back later in the year, when the weather is more clement.

Sussex page is about to be updated..........................

Here and There in London

 So today, I decided to explore the area which comprises the very south of the London Borough of Camden.

It's a bit of an odd area, with no overall cohesion, covering as it does, places as diverse as Euston station and Bloomsbury Square. It has thus been difficult to put all my thoughts under one heading. 

So, I can include one or two random pictures under the heading of 'South Camden', and the rest will have to have their own headings, some with only one item in them.

I'm going to start by adding a bit more on the St. Pancras Hotel on the London1 page, and the rest will appear on London2

Why Wye?

 Why not? Twice a month, Wye has a smashing little Farmers' market. And unlike some of them, the stalls are all local produce. The stall holders are all lovely people, and every stall is different. 

I needed to go and top up on some of the things I buy regularly, and I had nothing else on today, so I thought I would combine it with one of my urban walks, and poke around a bit.

By the time I got there, it was drizzling quite badly, so I bought my produce and then decided to confine my research to just the old college buildings and the church, conveniently opposite the market.

You know what Rabbie Burns said about 'the best laid plans of mice and men?.......... the buildings are currently shrouded in scaffolding, and the church was closed today because some sort of audio recording was taking place.

I definitely need to return, as there is a lot of important local history contained within those walls, and the town itself is very old and well worth a look in depth. 

So for now, I'm putting a chapter on the Kent2 page for Wye, but it will only hold a picture of the outside of the church, and a little bit of tantalising history to be going on with.

Spring is on its' way.......curiously!

 Well now, the weather is showing signs of warming a little, and hopefully, we shall soon have a few dry days, so that I can start exploring again.

My researches over the gloomy Winter weeks, has thrown up some real oddities. I know every county has its' curiosities but I've found several in Kent. Sussex and Surrey that are just begging me to go and find them.

Obviously, I have yet to go and photograph the worlds famous 'Ham Sandwich' sign just outside Finglesham, but I can add another 'street oddity' - just outside Sevenoaks, is a road called 'Labour-in-Vain'. Need to find out why.

I've decided to add follies too. Of course, there are the famous ones such as Calton Hill in Edinburgh, and those that were built purely to 'enhance' the aspects of country houses and stately homes.

There's lots of others locally, but Brightling in Sussex outshines them all. The little village is littered with them, all thanks to a gentleman known as 'Mad Jack Fuller'. He will probably end up with a page all to himself!

Most curious of all, are my starting points of any place - churches.  Most churches have a dedication to a saint. The land is littered with churches to St. Mary, St. John etc., and most are to well-known people or events. However - there are one or two that have piqued my interest and curiosity to know more.

I've already visited the tiny church of St. Rumwold on the edge of Romney Marsh, one of only two in the country dedicated to the infant saint. That is likely to become better known as the burial place of Paul O'Grady. I just hope it doesn't generate too much interest, as it is a lovely, peaceful place. 

Dedications to St. John, and variations (St. John the Baptist, St. John the Evangelist etc.) are plentiful, but how about a church dedicated to 'The Beheading of St. John The Baptist'? There's also one dedicated to 'King Charles the Martyr'.  (obviously Charles I who was also beheaded). Gory eh?

So there we have it. I think I've made enough notes over the Winter to keep me going for a good few years, let alone this Summer.

2024..........

 So far this year, it's been wet and windy. However, today the sun is shining and I'm off out. Not a 'place visit', just to make sure that the bikes are OK after their lack of use this winter.

I've spent the last couple of weeks researching and sorting out routes to follow and places to go to. There will be still more on Kent, naturally, more trips to the curious side of London, and a bit of poking about Surrey, and, if time allows, Middlesex. Plus, of course, a trip to St. Albans by train. 

However, this year, I want to see more of Sussex, and the first place on my list is Battle. As usual for me though, it will be less about the Abbey and more about the town and its people. 

So, if you're down this way, keep an eye out for my blue motorcycle if it's a fair distance from home, and my little yellow one if I'm more local.