Tag Archives: River Medway

Produce-d in Kent

Posted on April 18, 2012 by | Comments Off

Congratulations to Giles Coren and the BBC2 team for a delightful programme  ‘Our Food’-  get it on iplayer download whilst you can. Giles takes us through the history of foods traditionally associated with Kent. The thread running literally, through the piece is the River Medway, Kent’s most important river viewed from the lovely Lady of the Lea river sailing barge.

We are introduced to Kent’s  traditional food stuffs and how they are being adapting to today’s demands with some marvellously scenic shots of Kent at its Bucolic Best.

There are few better adverts for the Kentish countryside and the Garden of England than this programme, use it as a taster and then come and see and sample for yourselves.

As Pop Larkin said; ‘Perfick!’ 

Or if your literary taste is a little more highbrow; Kent, Sir- everybody knows Kent- Apples, cherries, hops and women’ -Charles Dickens, The Pickwick Papers, 1837 

Link to i-player:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/proginfo/2012/16/Our-Food-ep-3.html

 

Blue Badge tourist guide

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Happy Birthday Dickens!

Posted on February 6, 2012 by | Comments Off

Today is the day we have been waiting for..…the bicentennial anniversary of the birth of Victorian author Charles John Huffam Dickens and in Kent we are going to celebrate the whole year long. We know that Dickens was not adverse to a party, “I arrived home at one oClock this morning dead drunk, & was put to bed by my loving missis”.

Here is just a small selection of the literary celebrations in store over the year. Rochester, the town Dickens made his own, has already started its Dickens celebrations:

5th – 11th February: Celebrating Dickens in Rochester & Chatham

A host of celebrations including a parade, a Traditional Pantomime at Dickens World, a celebration at St Mary’s Churchyard and a Dickens cream tea at Eastgate House in Rochester.

9th February, The Bicentenary Dinner at Dickens World, Chatham
Dickens World is hosting a sit down meal in Victorian costume dress to celebrate the Bicentenary.

7th March, 11am: Why Dickens still matters; Gravesend Visitor Centre
Author Lucinda Dickens Hawksley talks about her new book on her great, great, great grandfather, Charles Dickens. Lucinda looks at the man behind the books, his journalism, his social campaigning and how he made a difference to the world in which he lived and why his ideals remain relevant today.

8th – 10th June: Medway Dickens Festival

A spectacular event when Rochester turns back the clock to the Victorian era and the streets throng with locals dressed in Victorian costume & parades take place through historic Rochester each day.

16th – 22nd June: Broadstairs Dickens Festival
Charles Dickens loved Broadstairs & visited regularly for over 20 years describing the seaside resort as “Our English Watering Place”. In 1937, to commemorate the centenary of the author’s first visit, a festival was planned and, with the exception of the years of World War 2, has been held annually in the third week of June ever since.

28th November – 16 December: Dickens Christmas Festival & Market in Rochester Castle
Back in Rochester again, and a Victorian Christmas Market held in the grounds of the Norman  Castle, built to protect the River Medway crossing. Visit an array of wonderful German ‘style’ Christmas market huts selling Christmas gifts, hand-crafted goods and festive fayre. Street entertainers and Dickensian characters mingle amongst the revellers, whilst bands, and carol singers entertain visitors to the market.

If you are looking for something a little more personal, then South East Tour Guides can plan trips according to your Dickens interests. Click to see our brochure on Charles Dickens in Kent and how you can travel around the beautiful Garden of England discovering settings described in Dickens novels or following the influences of Kent upon Dickens, including many of his favourite places.

Contact enquiries@southeasttourguides.co.uk to request more details on how you can book your bespoke private tour.

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New Tea Best Place

Posted on February 1, 2012 by | 1 Comment

Down in the Kentish marshes on a bright winter’s morning I find a new treasure that has to be one of the best gems so far this year and, just because it’s you, I’ll share.

It’s not where you would expect, follow the instructions on the roadside sign & drive through a small clutch of houses till you get to……Edith May, and she’s not what you might expect to see for a tea date, but I can’t think of any better.

Edith May is a Thames sailing barge who has been lovingly restored to beautiful sailing condition. The barge lays up for the winter at her berth in Lower Halstow & seamlessly transforms from sea-going ship to cosy tea room. Climb aboard, chose a table on the port or starboard side and enjoy life below decks.

The solid fuel stove roars away in the background; it really is the perfect place to enjoy homemade food (the Victoria sponge would win prizes at any WI event), relax & warm up with a selection of hot drinks.

And in the summer…….how about a cream tea sailing trip on the River Medway?

Edith May – a very special old lady who deserves your better acquaintance.

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King Henry VIII’s maritime connections in the South East

Posted on October 12, 2011 by | Comments Off

King Henry VIII has many fascinating connections with places in the South East of England and this week is the anniversary of the 1982 raising of the wreck of his ship The Mary Rose,which sank in 1545 and lay on the seabed for more than 437 years.

The ship had originally been discovered by writer and diving enthusiast Alexander McKeeb in 1971 and is now preserved in Portsmouth.

Throughout his reign, Henry VIII had a special relationship with Kent.
The Garden of England, on his London doorstep, was an escape and playground, a gateway for royal travels to the Continent, and a first line of defence against invasion.

As a prince, Henry was Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports (always pronounced ‘sink’) of Sandwich, Deal, Hythe, Romney and Hastings which were later joined by the two ‘antient’ ports of Rye and Winchelsea.  As Lord Warden he oversaw these coastal ports which were charged with providing the King with ships and men in return for special privileges. 

The concept of the Cinque Ports was a forerunner of the Royal Navy and as King, Henry, later celebrated as the ‘Father of the English Navy’, built up a major fleet that laid the foundations of England’s subsequent naval dominance.  In all he constructed 46 warships and 13 galleys, bought 26 vessels and captured 13 more.

In 1547, Henry rented a storehouse to service his fleet at anchor on the
River Medway. The dockyard that grew up at Chatham built and repaired many of the vessels that helped seal victory against the Spanish Armada in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.

400 years of maritime history is now preserved at Chatham’s Historic Royal Dockyard which is well worth a visit.

 

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