TUDELEY

 Don't know why, but the name Tudeley actually means 'Thieves Valley'. 

The village is home to All Saints' Church, the only church in the world that has all its windows in stained glass designed by Marc Chagall. The East window was commissioned by Sir Henry and Lady D'Avigdor-Goldsmid in memory of their daughter Sarah, who died aged 21 in a boating accident in 1963. The other 11 windows were added later, the final ones being installed in 1985, the year of Chagall's death. Today the church also hosts the Tudeley Festival, an Early Music event which has been running since 1985.

The church lies up a lane off the B2017 between Tonbridge and Five Oak Green. The lane leads to a large car park, and a beautifully kept churchyard. 

Inside, the church is small and relatively plain - with the exception of those breathtaking windows. The vibrant colours stain the plain flag floor in areas of pink, blue and gold. In the vestry can be found the original stained glass windows which were removed to make way for the Chagall ones. They can be backlit by the simple push of a button. But to me, beautiful though almost all stained glass is, they paled into insignificance against the Chagall windows.

Forgive my indulgence of displaying several of the windows!

With blues and purples on the north side, with yellows and oranges taking the full impact of the sun on the south, I've seldom seen such a beautiful concept