Adventures on the South East Coast

As I mentioned in my last post, the Ginge and I have just got back from a week in Kent and East Sussex; two of the prettiest counties I have ever visited. Neither of us had ever been before, but loved it so much that we are already hoping to go back. We stayed in a beautiful, homely cottage right in the middle of Rye - a beautiful medieval town of windy cobbled streets and rickety old houses, which made us imagine we were pirates! Whilst there, we were utterly spoiled for choice with things to do, but settled on a few of our most loved pursuits; cycling along country lanes, browsing through antique shops, eating lots of fresh fish, drinking lovely wine and nourishing our inner geeks by dressing up in museums, riding on steam railways and visiting nature reserves and old English gardens. I couldn't possibly pick my favourite day, but my highlights include the day we spent at Camber Sands, playing beach cricket - I am trying to perfect leg-spin bowling so that I can join Andy's cricket team - and our day in Dungeness; a strangely beautiful place with Victorian lighthouses, WW2 pumping stations and a giant nuclear power station. Apparently it's a bit of a 'marmite' place; people either love it or hate it. We absolutely loved it, particularly because the dreary weather made it so darkly atmospheric. We spent a lovely, if very damp day with my good friend Lucy, moseying around the very Treacle-friendly shops in Tunbridge Wells (I was impressively restrained) and the stunning, Italian-style gardens at Hever Castle. We also had a very decadent afternoon at the Chapel Down vineyard at Tenterden, sampling and buying far too many wines. All-in-all, it was a wonderful holiday and we both came away feeling much more like our usual selves again. Just what the doctor (and almost-doctor) ordered.