Kent

“Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.” Psalm 119:105

1 July- 3July 2021

CL / Club site Bearsted

Very good Male and Female ablusion blocks Covid safe.

The words of the Bible guide us along the path of life just as a lamp shows the path ahead.

1 July we left Binfield Berkshire at 5:45 and arrived at Bearsted Kent at 7:30. latest entry to the CL site is 8:00 pm.

While packing Bugsy for this trip Bess went missing. Down the road we went to the house with her favourite Wolfdog with blue eyes. No Bess! Then an idea! Bugzy. There she was lying Spaniel style with her back legs stretched out behind her on our double bunk bed at the back . She was ready we weren’t.

2 July Sissinghurst Castle gardens. Due to Covid 19 we booked ahead for 1pm.( Roy works half days on Fridays so he needed to put in some hours from Bugsy) Bess managed well with a good walk around the two ponds with a view of apple trees covered in Roses on the house side of the ponds. With vents open and Bugsy parked in the shade we left Bess with water to settle down for a sleep.

We then went to explore the gardens of Vita Sackville-West and Harold Nicolson. They married in 1913 when she was 21. In 1930 they bought this place as a ruined Elizabethan manor house and proved they could work together: he provided the architectural framework she provided a profusion of separate colour planting for each of the rooms. They achieved privacy and intimacy , formality in the classical structure and informality in the planting.

Being high summer there were Delphiniums, Clematis, Poppies, Salvias and rambling roses at their best. The boarders were full and at almost eye level there were stone troughs with little plants standing like soldiers. Here are a few pictures to show how we saw it.

We spent Sabbath in the grounds of Scotney Castle. Mrs Thatcher higherd a flat for a time while PM.Her term of office was1979-1990.

The story told to us was that her husband wanted to stay close to his Kent golf course and the security for this flat was cheaper than for her house in Kent. This was a bolt hole for her.

We were on our way home when we stopped for cherries. The farmer had boarded out a track into a field. All looked fine. We drove in and within moments we were stuck in thick mud between two boards that had slipped. Roy was amazing and wouldn’t give up for 3 hours. I was his assistant he jacked up both sides of Bugzy in turn twice. Putting wooden planks under the wheels and then carpet behind. Carpet is an essential for us after our Wales experience when someone with some carpet helped us. During most of the time it had be raining so with Roy muddy soaking wet and tired we went back to our site at Bearsted. Roy had a shower and we had rather an unappetising pub lunch. The cherries were sweet but certainly over priced in time.

We then left for home but Kent can’t be visited without noticing the oast houses. The shape of the roof helped draw the air through making the fires more efficient at drying the hops which were used to make beer.