Kent, 30 October 2010

We were invited to spend the day with friends we met in Hobart who have returned to the UK so it was up early to catch the train to Ashford in Kent. We got an early start since our train was scheduled to depart Victoria Station at 9.13 am which meant getting there from Paddington during rush hour.

Rush hour in London is a real rush and crush. Estimates are that the packing of people on the tube during peak times is equivalent to four people in a telephone box! So, with some sense of caution we left the hotel at about 8.00. The good news was that we only had to catch one train on the underground as the Circle Line took us directly to Victoria. The even better news was that it wasn't as packed as we anticipated and we were able to get seats for the trip.

The underground was very fast and efficient and we arrived at the station with plenty of time to spare. A visit to WH Smith to buy a book and a walk around and we were on the local to Ashford. Like all local trains the world over, it was dirty, run-down and smelly but it kept to schedule during its twelve stop trip and an hour and a half later we were alighting at Ashford International Terminal.

Ashford rates as an International Terminal because some of the Eurostar trains to the continent stop there.

We were met by our friends and we drove through the glorious countryside to their home in the small town of Woodchurch near Tenterden. Woodchurch is the quintessential English village with a church dating from the 13th Century, a village green, several pubs, a duck pond and a smock mill. In the 19th century there were 400 windmills in Kent. Now there are less than 20. Woodchurch Windmill has stood on its site to the north of the village since 1820 when it was moved there from another location.

The village became firmly established in the 13th century with the erection of the large All Saints church made of Kentish ragstone. Although it was extensively restored in the 1840s, neither wisely nor well, it still boasts a 13th century chancel and a famous brass of the 14th century, depicting a floriated cross design. It has an unusual four-faced clock and a spire which is 46 cm out of the vertical at the top.

After a delightful lunch with our friends, we walked through some of the countryside, feeding polo mints to the horses curiously following us. Later we drove into the town of Tenterden which is reminiscent of all of those eighteenth century epics one sees on the TV these days. There it was with its High Street and the luxury botiques with bow-fronted windows; more picturesque pubs with over-flowing hanging baskets still in full bloom, the trees in autumn colours just beginning to lose their leaves which crunched underfoot as we walked giving off that unmistakeable smell of autumn.

Later, it was back to the train and then to London; a bit dreary by comparison, but just as vibrant as when we left it earlier in the day. And, of course, we caught the evening rush hour going back to Paddington from Victoria and yes, we can attest to the fact that it was a bit like trying to squeeze at least four, if not more, very obese people into a phone box!

On a completely separate note, we have diligently written and sent postcards to many of our friends and family in Australia. But if you are waiting with bated breath for the arrival of one of these, don't. There is a major postal strike here and many post boxes are going to be sealed on Monday because of overflow since mail is not being collected.