Kentish Outings

Hello from Kent. Jessica here. From time to time I will be allowed to have a guest appearance on this blog - authoring posts full of details and photos of our outings and Samuel's antics rather than ARCHITECTURE and culture. I'll leave those bits for Jack.

Our time here in the Garden of England has been lovely. Each day is structured around two naps and one outing. A few of our highlights are included below.

At my brother Ian's urging we set off to find some uniquely carved gravestones that are specific to New England, but simultaneously appeared in small pockets of Kent in the 18th century. I have heard them referred to as both soul effigies and masks of orthodoxy. They take the skull shape as their basic form and are stylized from there. These were found in the tiny (and I mean tiny) hamlet of Luddestown, which we reached via some extremely dodgy (read narrow) roads and almost run-ins with Royal Mail vans.

In true tourist form, we paid a fortune to spend our Friday at Leeds Castle with its beautiful gardens and black swans (which, I learned from the guide, are native to Australia and those brought to Leeds Castle by the 20th century owner were the first to appear in Britain).
There was duck viewing at The Duckery...
...egg salad and water cress sandwiches with lemonade and burdick soda for lunch...
...and a fun time at the playground.
Just this morning we headed along the coast for breakfast in Whitstable where we found very familiar weather conditions to Seattle. It felt just like home - confused.
Its been decided that we could absolutely live in Whitstable (and we are in fact hoping, sincerely, that Emily and Ali manage to let a place there before too long), with its charming beach cottages,
its brisk business in oysters (we hear that there is a local beer brewed specifically to accompany oysters - which, alas, we didn't get to try as Samuel needed his nap),
and its beachside strolling. Here you have the little man with Daddy and Uncle Ali.
Here he is with Auntie Em.
Samuel could definitely be content in Whitstable given its expanse of rock strewn beaches. Jack and I both received a nice selection from Samuel.

We head to Holland tomorrow for the next phase of our adventure...but this respite in lovely old England has been a real treat.