Igtham Mote is a moated manor house. Built nearly 700 years ago, this house has been owned by Medieval knights, courtiers to Henry VIII and high society Victorians. It is now managed by the National Trust. The house is surrounded by gardens with an orchard, water features, lakes and woodland walks. Dogs are not allowed in the main property but there are three estate walks. You get a good view over Kent on the longer walk. The loo is accessible from the car park and the café might be as well.
We visited Standen today. It is a National Trust property, a family house built in the 1890s for the Beale family by architect Philip Webb, a close friend of William Morris. The Arts and Crafts Movement is obvious throughout the house. The gardens are open to dogs, except the kitchen garden as they use the produce in the cafe/restaurant. There is a woodland walk as well as those around the gardens.
“Cliffe Pools nature reserve offers a spectacular landscape of open water and big skies. The reserve is one of the most important places for wildlife in the UK with huge flocks of wading birds and waterfowl. A number of nature trails cross the reserve, affording great views of the pools, wildlife and the River Thames which runs alongside.”
Another gem not far from Gravesend. This is a RSPB reserve and we saw a few different birds (but we weren’t there for that long), a rabbit and what may have been a fox cub. The paths are pretty good, and we came a day after a huge storm. I couldn’t believe the blackberries! They lined all the paths we took, often on both sides. I ate a couple but it will be a couple of weeks before they are ripe. Must go back. Couscous loved the puddles and the mud.
The weather has been fabulous this week so I took CC off to Whitstable yesterday morning. Note to self: get there before midday or there’ll be no parking, even during the week.
The National Pinetum is a botanical garden/collection of conifers and sits on the largest site in the world for such a collection. There are over 12,000 trees and shrubs (including 1,800 different species) from across five continents, many of them rare and endangered. It is very popular with cyclists but the Pinetum path does not allow bikes so is good for dogs, although as usual some families think their kids are excluded from such rules! There are grassy hilly areas where we let CC off the lead and she bounced around in the grass. You don’t have to walk up the hills as the main path is generally flat and wide to allow wheelchairs. It was a beautiful day when we went and lots of shady areas and places to have a picnic. The parking fee is a little steep for only a couple of people so we won’t visit to often but I’d like to see it in winter.
We have been here before but not for some time. One of the fields was covered in buttercups which Couscous loved running through. Across the road from the park is St Leonard’s Tower and here are a couple of photos of that:
We finally got across the river to visit Tilbury Fort. (Maybe next time we’ll take the ferry.) It’s described as one of the finest surviving 17th century forts in England. It’s an English Heritage site and dogs are allowed. The staff fussed over Couscous and she loved the grassy lawns so it was a success. There are good views of the surrounding marsh lands.
We visited this village a couple of weeks ago. The town has a duck pond in the centre of the roundabout, in the centre of the village. They have a model of the solar system in the main rec field (free parking by the field) but we only came across Jupiter – a football match was on so we didn’t bother looking on the other side of the field. There are the remains of a palatial residence that once rivalled Hampton Court and there is nice walk from the church to the train station.
We’ve done this area before, although last time when we parked at Hampton pier we went the other direction. Today we walked towards Herne Bay.
This is a nuclear bunker in Essex –Secret Nuclear Bunker. I emailed the owners and they kindly let us bring CC in. She whined a little at times but seemed to enjoy the smells. Very interesting stuff. Although the bunker was decommissioned in the early 1990s the feel is more 1970s or earlier – the digital equipment was removed at the end and most of what is on show is telephonic systems etc of an earlier time. There is no tour, you just take a hand held guide and walk yourself around. There is a café at the end and when no-one is there it is an honour system entry fee (£7 an adult). Also on the property are quad bike hire for kids, zip wire and paint ball type activities for children.
