Inside Canterbury Cathedral

We entered Canterbury Cathedral to hear the boys choir sing Evensong. btw, there is no charge to attend a service so this is a good way to experience what a church really means w/o wandering with a lot of other tourists. It was truly a beautiful service. The photo below shows where the shrine of St.Thomas Beckett was until Henry VIII decided otherwise. The candle marks the spot.


The knight is the Black Prince and there is a couple pondering his tomb.


The site of Thomas' martrydom is marked with the chilling swords.

No, you don't get to stay in the Cathedral House but the modern accomodations are right inside the Cathedral walls.

Canterbury

Pictures, Pictures

Our first trip into Canterbury from BroomePark was made by bus while we waited for the car to be repaired. The bus left from just outside the estate grounds so it was very convenient. 2.50pounds per person each way. It was a beautiful sunny Sunday, the kind of day you learn to appreciate in England.



Lovely bits of fabric work just in time for Valentine's Day.


Sad sign of the economic times. Even more shocking was seeing how many pubs are closed and up for sale.


Our first stop for tea and cornish pastries. We'd eaten at this chain on a prior trip and it was good to also sit down. This becomes a major priority with a lot of walking. Most cafes were very crowded and I cannot fathom what it must be like in the summer.







This one is especially for my sons who used to love the flakes in the ice cream cones.

Much much more to come!!

Back in the...no not USSR

Happily back in the YouKay (UK) with a week outside of Canterbury and a week in London. The first half of the trip has already been enjoyed but without a net connection I couldn't tell you 'bout it. So for a bit, this will be catch up and yes, already I've asked dh ...Was it yesterday we went to...? Fortunately, the date stamp on the photos is working. ;-)

Some of you may wonder why we would choose to go off somewhere in the depth of winter. Well, MD often has a bad snowstorm near Valentine's day and we have been fortunate to take some lovely short trips (thru dh's work) to warm weather spots in February. So last year, we went off to Spain and Portugal in February and last summer I decided to make plans for a UK trip, again in Febraury. How quickly I forget how heavey winter clothes (and shoes) are but the upside is relatively uncrowded locations. Ah but the short days are one of the biggest drawbacks and neither of us has much interest in driving on unknown roads in the dark.

We planned a week at Broome Park which is 7 miles outside of Canterbury and about 7 miles from both Dover and Folkestone. It was Lord Kitchner's home in byegone days and now there are timeshare villas on the property as well as suites in the manor house. So close to the Channel Tunnel, it would have been easy to cross the Channel to Paris but we decided that it would not be this trip.


A nice 2bed villa, with some features I hadn't seen since my England days in the 70s

Non mixing taps...nothing like waiting for the hot to get to scalding.


Interesting separators in the wardrobe. Quite useful I think.


But the raison d'etre for this part of the trip was to show dh The Countryside. Well, not quite country but not London. Canterbury.

Helloooo

Yes it's been a long time and yes we have taken other trips. I'll try to keep up with this blog but gosh...what has happened to my life since I retired!! And no, I don't want to go back to work...

Hope to see you here soon!