Tag Archives: Canterbury

East Kent UK City of Culture 2017 bid

Posted on April 14, 2013 by | Comments Off

 

South East Blue Badge Tour GuidesCanterbury, Margate, Ashford and Folkestone have joined forces in a bid to be crowned Culture Capital of the UK.  The national competition is organised by the Department for Media, Culture and Sport (DCMS)  inspired by the European City of Culture contest, first won by Liverpool in 2008. The UK contest is awarded once in every four years and will bring enormous publicity and investment into the winning area including hosting some major international events such as the Man Booker Prize and the Turner Prize.

Kent County Council has confirmed it will promote the area under the slogan East Kent: A City Imagined.

 

Rivals include Chester, Plymouth, Portsmouth and Southampton, Hastings and Bexhill, Southend and Leicester.

 

Designer Wayne Hemingway has put his name behind the  bid: “East Kent is clearly finding its cultural mojo. I have come to recognise and appreciate the depth, resourcefulness, creativity, diversity and wit of the area’s cultural community – a community that is well equipped to deliver projects of international significance.”

Yeesssss!

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Posted in Blue Badge Tourist Guides, International Links, Kent

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Not the Dickens!

Posted on August 26, 2011 by | Comments Off

Literary fans will know that Victorian novelist Charles Dickens lived in Kent and set many books in the region based on real Kentish characters. Not everyone knows about another (in)famous character within the county; I give you Sir Harry Paget Flashman.  Flashman first appeared at Rugby School in Tom Brown’s Schooldays as the fag-roasting  bully expelled for drunkeness. George McDonald Fraser took up his character and settled Flashman in Canterbury with the 11th Regiment of the Light Dragoons, developing him into a military man and blackguard with an art for being in the right place at the wrong time. ‘Flashy’ rapidly gained a reputation for daring do and selfless bravery none of which he intended, bent as he was on saving only his own craven skin. The books provide rollicking good reads of a self confessed coward who always comes up smelling of roses – well worth finding space for in the holiday suitcase.

Dickens fans please note–bicentenary celebrations of Dickens’ birth commence in February 2012 in Kent – watch this space.

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Posted in Kent

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After The Open at Sandwich

Posted on July 16, 2011 by | Comments Off

It’s all happening in Kent this weekend despite the weather – well as we say you can experience a whole year of English seasons in a single day!

Henry VIII and his courtiers are gathering at Hever Castle for a pageant complete with jousting, have-a-go archery, Tudor dancing and minstrels; the Kent County Show is taking place at Detling and the world’s best golfers are battling it out against each other and the elements in the 2011 Open Championship at Royal St George’s in Sandwich.

 

I was lucky to go to Royal St George’s on one of the quiet practice days earlier this week when although windy it was dry, and was rather over excited to be able to get up close to my personal legends Phil Mickelson, Tom Watson, Padraig Harrington and Northern Ireland’s Darren Clarke, particularly since, being a practice day, cameras were allowed.

   

We also got there early enough to follow Rory McIlroy for the last few holes of his final practice round.

When not spotting stars I couldn’t believe how many enormous bunkers there are, and how incredibly hilly most of the greens are – far more so than they appear on tv screens.

The BBC’s coverage of The Open has included some wonderful aerial filming to show how Royal St George’s is a quintessential links course located on land that was created when silting during the Middle Ages pushed the coast 2 miles away from the former seaport of Sandwich.  Apart from these enlightening aerial shots of the course itself (how do they hit the ball so far?) the filming has also lingered on some of the other, more permanent, highlights of this most beautiful and historic area of the South East of England. 

This morning’s BBC filler included stunning shots of Dover Castle (‘Lock and Key of the Kingdom’), the towering White Cliffs with stories of Ian Fleming and the Number 7 bus he would take into Canterbury, and a wonderful sequence over the extraordinary Roman Fort at Richborough – a real, but often overlooked, ‘must see’ in this part of the county.

One of the historic Cinque Ports, Sandwich is just along the coast from another – Deal, home to one of Henry VIII’s so-called Tudor Rose defensive forts – where many top international golfers have been spotted in restaurants this week. I understand that the cobbled streets of nearby Canterbury have also been filled with both golfers and their fans.

Next time you visit the South East of England, those of you who may only associate Sandwich with golf and bread must be sure to take a guided walk through the  narrow streets of this history-rich town itself and take time to explore some of the area’s other treasures.

 

 

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Posted in Events, Kent

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New friends made on 4th July

Posted on July 4, 2011 by | Comments Off

The great thing about being a Blue Badge guide is all the fascinating people from all walks of life and from all over the world who one meets. 

A recent Cruise Ship excursion from Dover to Heathrow via Canterbury included people from the USA, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and Bermuda, ranging from a retired Rolls Royce executive, a family returning 20 years after emigrating, and a gracefully ageing Hollywood ‘significant person’, to former missionaries in Nigeria.   They were en route home after a three week cruise and it was so enjoyable to chat to them all about their trip, what they had seen and what they were going home to. 

The best moment of all was walking them through the 9am-quiet streets of Canterbury to the almost deserted Cathedral Precincts. Without exception they were all bowled over with not a hint of a jaded ‘we have just been on a 3-week cruise and seen it all’ reaction.  I like to think that they had such faith in their guide and driver whisking them on to the airport in plenty of time for their long haul flights that they were able to relax and enjoy their last few hours in Europe.

Thankfully the M25 was on best behaviour, our wonderful driver, one of the Grahams from Scotland & Bates, knew exactly what order to do the 4 separate Terminal drop offs in, and I, after some frantic reconciling of paperwork from the slightly confusing lists with which I had been presented at Dover, was able to identify and offload the right people and copious amounts of luggage at each terminal while giving a little potted history of the airport and its terminals as we navigated the complex system of ringroads getting everyone to their various points of departure in good time.

Today, 4th July Independence Day, it was a privilege to spend time with some visitors who had chosen to spend this significant date far from home in the land they had declared independence from back in 1776.  They enjoyed experiencing a little bit of (the best bit of…) England in the South East and I enjoyed sharing a bit of their special day.

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Posted in Events, Kent, Surrey, Sussex

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Statistics – drill down and you find….dandelions!

Posted on May 6, 2011 by | Comments Off

I’m really enjoying all this blogging,  many thanks to Hannah from ‘Ditto’ who said it must be part of our marketing strategy, she added that it was necessary to show the ‘human’ side of the company not just selling our tours & walks.

Amanda and I took this on board and hopefully that is what we are showing you and resisting the temptation to do a ‘Dear Diary full confessional’ ( you’re too young for that).

So pleased was I with myself and the way I have learned WordPress, that I looked at the site statistics about what people have viewed most. Great delight and jubilation 177 people have viewed our home page in less than a month of blogging! Now some of you  must be for real, as we don’t have large extended families,  heartfelt thanks to you all, Dear Reader!

I pried further and found these statistics can be drilled down to the most popular search & blog page , how interesting- was it to be  Brighton, Canterbury,London or which other lovely place we have mentioned that pulled you in??

No, it was the search for overcoming runny Dandelion Jam that took the biscuit!  I’m a little crestfallen to say the least! Just goes to show that Hannah was completely correct, the human side of business is just so important.

So, in the age old concept of Demand & Supply, for those of you who don’t like the coulis solution to runny Dandelion Jam, here is an alternative using Arrowroot. Looks like cornflour and usually found next to it on the supermarket shelf, does the same thing but much faster and without taste.

You might  need to do this  in stages as it will depend on how much jam you have:

Mix 1 teaspoon of powdered arrowroot with 2 tablespoons of  water to form a paste, add a tablespoon of runny dandelion jam to the paste  and mix, this will stop the arrowroot forming lumps when introduced to the bulk of the jam. When you have added enough jam to make a runny arrowroot mixture, pour it all into the jam pan with the rest of the jam and heat gently to boiling point. The jam will go cloudy to start with, thicken and clear. You may need to repeat process if it has not reached the desired consistency. Once thickened, pour into your newly cleaned jam pots and leave to cool. Simples!

But there will be more on our lovely areas of Kent, Surrey and Sussex soon!

 

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Posted in Bringing in the Business, Home, Family & Fun

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Canterbury meanders

Posted on May 5, 2011 by | Comments Off

Off to Canterbury today to recce a tour for a provisional enquiry – beautiful day for a walk around the city.

My favourite time of day in Canterbury is just before 8 o’clock on a sunny summer morning. Walking up to the cathedral from the Westgate Towers, sun in your eyes, you get the feeling that the city is just stirring in its sleep and will get out of bed soon. The streets are empty, church bells are ringing the hour and all feels right with the world. The cafés are just about to open, coffee and pastries’ aromas already wafting out onto the street, little bit of a reedy, green smell as you cross the River

Stour, have a quick look for ducks and carry on.

Turn left into Mercery Lane, in the shade now, and on into the Butter Market where you are greeted by the magnificent Christchurch Gate. Just enough time to go in to the cathedral precinct – love the serenity – before the cathedral’s commercial business begins.

Feel completely restored – ready for anything now!

Today was a little different from my favourite walk. I need to time exactly

how far the coach park is from Sun Street, so off to the new(ish) coach park, walking alongside the river. There is something so very inviting about a shallow gravel bed river with emerald green weed, I could stare into it for hours – must be a hidden fisherman struggling to get out. And talking of fish, the size of the brown trout! (I think – please correct me) – enormous, some were at least 45cm long (and I don’t think that was all water magnification! Here’s a picture from my phone – not the best picture in the world, but you can just make out a fish in the foreground which appears longer than the mallard.

I took a deviation over the sluice gates to see how f

ar I could walk along the river banks before getting back onto St Peters Lane. All starts well until the path ends at the Dominican Priory, I decided to go in although it says Private Property and see if there was any way one could continue along the river bank. In the Priory grounds I meet a delightful couple who, I later discovered, owned the Priory & they kindly allowed me inside to see what has been their labour of love for over 40 years. They bought the Priory as a derelict building and have carefully restored it and opened it as a centre for the community – from Morris Dancing practice to Canterbury Poetry Festival readings and all stops in between. It transpires that Donald & Poppy Beerling have been involved in the community of Canterbury all their lives, Donald has received the Canterbury Mayor’s ‘Unsung Hero’s Award and later, awarded the MBE from HM The Queen for his contributions to the community.  Philanthropy is alive and well in this part of Kent – rather humbling to realise how much others put into their communities.

Now  on to familiarise myself with all the winding streets of Canterbury – this job is such hard work – no time for shopping!

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Posted in Blue Badge Tourist Guides, Kent

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