Broadstairs - for John

Every time I mention the Kentish coastline on my blog, my lovely friend John reminds me that his partner Chris hails from Broadstairs on the Kent coast.  When we visited Kent in June, we did make a day trip to Broadstairs, but it wasn't brilliant weather and I didn't think my photographs did the place justice, so I never posted them, but as he mentioned it again recently, I thought I would dig them out - just for him.  (If you want to see why I feel my photo's are inferior, pop over to Nina's who also live in Broadstairs and captures the spirit of the town perfectly).

 We really enjoyed our morning in the town, it is quite different from the other coastal towns in Kent.

 We didn't look around Charles Dickens House, but I wish we had.  Good enough reason to go back me thinks.  They were having a Dickens Festival and lots of ladies and gents were walking around the town in costume which really added to atmosphere.

 And they had a re-enactment of some battle or other (I wasn't listening was I) happening on the cliff tops too.

 They fired a small cannon so that we got the full effect of defending the coastline from the French - I've never heard anything as loud in my life!

 We had a walk along the beach to the cafe at the end of the harbour and ate crab sandwiches - one of my favourites at the seaside.

 And we ventured around the older bit of the town.

 There was plenty to see and do and we had a really lovely day.  These Kentish coastal towns are very different (I think) from other seaside places in the UK.  I love the way places are unique to their region.

I hope you enjoyed seeing my photos's John xxxx

......But then we went down the road to Margate - I'm telling you Chaz n' Dave - you can keep yer Margate! It made Cleethorpes look cosmopolitan!

When....

... do we lose the ability to really enjoy the very simple things in life?

A lot of history, and a bit of a crush

We have a fabulous little literary festival in Sheffield at this time of year.  "Off the Shelf" features some great talks etc and up to now I've managed to catch a couple of really good ones.  

On Saturday we went along to listen tp the quirky Ms Lucy Worsley give a talk on her book " A very British Murder".  Lucy is a great story teller - very interesting, enlightening and highly entertaining.

 If you ever get chance to hear her - go.  You will not be disappointed.

 Tonight, my pal and I bobbed along to listen to Dan Snow talk about Battle Castles and his interest in history in general.  You know I have a little crush on this gorgeous young man....

 ... well I can report that he is even more of a dreamboat in real life.  He has the most fantastic blue eyes.  I wasn't the only one either who found him totally gorgeous.  My favourite quote of the night was from an old dear sat next to me who turned to her pal and said "  Well he's now my new Michael Wood!". 

 He was wonderful and interesting to listen to as well.

Ooooo young man! x

Making the most

At this time of year, with the nights drawing in and the weather turning inclement, I grab any chance I get for a walk outdoors.  I managed to snatch a quick walk after work one night last week.  Hubby and I managed a walk around Wentworth.  It was great to fill my lungs with fresh air and stroll out.

 We walked back through the new church yard

 The villagers were making the most of this fine spell.

 And then on Sunday afternoon, I took myself off to Elsecar Park to capture some Autumnal colour

You know I love to get out and about.  I'm like a caged animal when the weather is bad.

Dover and St Margaret at Cliffe

When we travel across to France, we often sail from Dover and usually stay overnight here so that we can catch an early ferry next morning.  Hubby has always hankered after a look around Dover Castle, so we arrived a little earlier and called at the castle.  We didn't get chance for a full look around as there is so much to explore and see and the site that the castle sits on is huge.  The history behind castles on this site goes back really far too because of its strategic site - sitting so close to coast of France.  

 We concentrated on the World War 2 aspect of the castle as this is where hubby's interest lay.  We managed to get a tour of the some of the huge labyrinth of underground tunnels and rooms that were dug and used for War rooms.(but they would not allow photographs).  The castle and town had played a big part in the rescue of service men from Dunkirk.

 They have done really well to create the atmosphere of this event.  It was quite moving in parts.

 After our tunnel tour, we managed to race around the rest of the site seeing as much as we could before it closed.

 Most people had left by this time although it had been really busy when we first arrived.

 

 I have booked a talk that is being given at the Sheffield Literary Festival (Off the Shelf) next week that I believe includes details on the history of Dover Castle so I'll probably learn a lot more about this next week.

 I believe that the  lighthouse here is from Roman times.

 A lot of the town of Dover is in need of repair, but they do seem to be trying to regenerate - starting on the sea front where there are some gorgeous huge terraces.

 I find Dover to be a strange place.  It seems to be miles away from anywhere else and most people are just passing through - as we were .  Although I always find places like this worth stopping off for a look as you never know what you might find.

 And we certainly found a huge surprise at nearby St Margaret at Cliffe - just 3 miles away from Dover.  We couldn't believe these amazing houses on the beach.  I later discovered that at one time Ian Fleming and Noel Coward had owned one of these very unusual homes.  Apparently Miriam Margolyes still lives nearby in a cliff top house that she bought from Peter Ustinov.

 We did spot plenty of evidence of erosion on these very fragile cliffs.

 I managed to snap St Margaret at Cliffe from the sea next day.  It is where most Channel swimmers set off from and is very different from Dover.

 I couldn't resist snapping our stowaway on the ferry.  This cheeky chap hitched a lift for quite away across the Channel.