Sissinghurst Castle

“What is beautiful is good, and who is good will soon be beautiful” Vita Sackville-West

We presume Vita very much had Sissinghurst in her mind when she wrote this.  Nestled in the beautiful village of Sissinghurst is Sissinghurst Castle, where Vita Sackville-West lived and wrote.  Now owned by the National Trust, the “Castle” (it is not in the league of Leeds or Hever castles) is perhaps more famous for its gardens.

It was a beautiful sunny late April day when we visited.  Everywhere looks better in the sunshine (not least after the long winter) and we caught the gardens full daffodils.

We climbed the many steps to the top of the tower (a bit of exercise in readiness for the cake to be consumed).  It was a very clear day and we could see for miles across the beautiful Kent countryside.

To be honest it wasn’t the best time of year for the rest of the gardens, but in a few weeks time it will be amazing.  The Spring bulbs were beautiful though.

The garden is only covers 5 acres but is packed full of interesting features and is just a gorgeous garden.

Sissinghurst is free for National Trust members.  There is the usual National Trust restaurant with cakes in an old granary (although at 3 in the afternoon when we visited it looked like it had been visited by a plague of locusts, or at least coachfuls of over 60s!).

There is also a coffee shop by the car park.  The gift shop is not the most exciting (National Trust need to stock more local goods) but there is a lovely plant shop.

There is always lots going on at Sissinghurst.  We will be there on 1 and 2 June for their Arts and Crafts fair.  Come and see us!

Love from Kent
x

www.lovefromkent.co.uk

Kent Life

Spring is the time for lambs and farm visits with small children.  And there were just a few signs of Spring at the weekend so it was off to Kent Life in Maidstone.

There are many things that I could criticise about Kent Life, but the visit was all for a  5¾year old.  And she loved it!

The best thing (although the 5¾ year old disagrees) was the closeness of the animals.  We bottle fed lambs (well tug of war may have been a more accurate description), hand fed animals (feed purchased at £1 a bag), cuddled rabbits and guinea pigs and stroked numerous animals.  The animals (well except the lambs) were all pretty docile and seemed happy or at least resigned to being handled by small children (and a fair number of dads too!).  There were plenty of staff around to help with the animals and they were happy to talk to the children about them too.  The children were also reminded to wash their hands after handling the animals.

The programme of events lets you know when you can participate in the feeding of different animals (lambs, goats and horses on the day we went).

The play area was a big hit, with a pretty cool giant swing, rocket like climbing frame with slide and climbing wall amongst others.  There were also junior quad bikes (additional cost), zorb like balls on a pool (additional cost), fairground swing carriage (additional cost) and carousel (you guessed – additional cost).

Other things to keep small children entertained included alpacas, horses, goats, chickens (from eggs incubating, to little chicks and somewhat larger chicks) and tractor rides.

For poor weather there is also pottery painting (additional cost) and an indoor playbarn with the usual soft play area and coffee bar.  There is no additional charge for the playbarn and whilst not the largest, it is a welcome add-on and the equipment kept the 5¾ year old sufficiently entertained.  There is a separate part for smaller children.

There are also a number of “heritage” interests including a farmhouse set up as per the 1950s.  Fascinating for children to see the size of tv and parents/grandparents to reminisce about only 2 or 3 or 4 channels and childrens’ programmes for no more than 2 hours per day.  I think the 5¾ year old thought I was making it up!

We (ok I) liked Dotty’s tea room.  Late on a fine Saturday afternoon cakes were in fairly short supply but the flapjack was delicious, staff helpful and friendly, it was fairly clean and the menu looked better than at most of these sorts of places.  The prices were not too extortionate either.

As is usual at these sorts of places, the exit is through the gift shop.  The usual tat (but plently of not very expensive tat for children to spend their pocket money on) and not enough locally sourced items (Kent preserves excepted) for me.

Cost?  Adults are £8.95, children £6.95 (under 3s free) and concessions £7.95.  You can also buy an annual pass.  The biggest criticism is that there are a number of things which are not included in the entry price, meaning that you should expect to pay more than this (unless you have an iron will/non pestering children with you).

Westerham

Westerham is one of our favourite towns/villages in Kent.  It is just the right size to while away a couple of hours and has lots of independent shops (in case you hadn’t guessed from our last blog, we are big fans of independents).  It is also just down the road from Chartwell which is one of our favourite National Trust properties.

We always start with a stop at Food for Thought on the green with Churchill looking on.  It doesn’t look much from the outside (and the inside is somewhat dated too) but they make “proper” tea in a teapot with tealeaves, served in a cup and a saucer and the food is excellent.  Bacon sandwiches, soup, and of course the homemade cakes.  It is a busy tearoom (and welcomes children).  Every town or village in Kent needs a proper tearoom!!

Then we like to pop next door to Annies Attic, one of our favourite shops.  It has jars of buttons, reels of pretty ribbons and reams of fabric.  It also runs workshops where you can make things.  The next one is on 7 April to make “love” cushions.  They claim to cater for complete beginners but have not tested them!  Nonetheless we always come out with something and a determination (never followed through) on things we are going to make.

Around the green are other lovely shops.  Beverley Deen Interiors is worth a browse for inspiration.  Chocs on the Green has, as the name suggests, a wonderful selection of handmade chocolate truffles which we struggle to resist and Vintage Home is a real treasure chest of bits and pieces for the home.  Another real find is Amelia Rose, at least if you like handbags (which we do)!  We could spend half a day in there trying to choose between the many gorgeous bags they stock.

Steamer Trading is a chain of about 28 shops in the South East, but is a wonderful shop packed full of kitchenware.  They claim to stock over 10,000 items.  All those things that you never knew you needed!  The staff are very helpful and cheery too.  Stile Interiors is a new shop (6 weeks old!) which deserves to do well in Westerham.  It has Scandinavian influenced homeware (think grey cushions) and clothes.

The Interior Design Studio is another relatively new addition to the village.  It has certainly added some bling to the very traditional shopping in Westerham.  It is next door to an antique shop.  Quite a contrast!!  Also on that bit is the independently owned Prelude, selling stylish clothes.

If you want to make a day of it we highly recommend Chartwell, the former home of Winston Churchill and a National Trust property.  It doesn’t have the largest of grounds but provides a fascinating insight into the life of one of our most admired leaders.

Westerham is also a great walking area.  You can walk to Chartwell from Westerham.  It is about 2 miles (each way) and the National Trust tea room at Chartwell is open all year round if you are in need of refreshment before the return journey!  Alternatively, you can park around Toys Hill and Ide Hill.  Yes it can be quite hilly but there are lovely views.  If you are there on a weekend watch out for all the cyclists!

Tenterden

Tenterden is a classical Kent town.  It has the charming combination of slightly more upmarket high street shops (we didn’t spot a pound shop!) mixed with independents.  Ok, we would love to see more independents, but I guess that is the problem of high street rents!!

What did we do?  Well, a cup of tea has to be the first priority so it was off to the Lemon Tree for cream tea.  The Lemon Tree itself is in one of the nicest buildings in Tenterden, a 14th Century heavily timbered former Wealden hall house, reputedly visited by King Henry VIII (at least according to their website).  Wonder whether he had tea and scones???

Tenterden high street is a nice place to while away an hour (it would be a struggle to make it longer).

We loved Mia Home, a beautiful quirky gift and homeware shop with the best window in town!  It did have some competition from the wonderfully named Liquid Pleasure (another independent).

We also loved Elizabeth Rose (although it is a shop for women of a certain age…); it has a great selection of “mother of the bride/groom” outfits upstairs.

The Waterstones in Tenterden is one of the best we have seen.  No doubt previously an “independent” bookshop but now part of a chain, it has retained a sense of cosiness about it.  And it has a great collection of books (particularly for children).

Our favourite shop (or collection of shops) though has to be Webbs.  It is one of those fantastically old fashioned shops where you can buy almost anything that is useful.  The hardware shop dates from 1917 and is still run by the Webbs (third generation).  The cookshop is a bit more recent (1963) and is run by the sister with a linen shop added in 2007.

But one of the nicest things about Tenterden is just wandering.  The glimpse of St Mildreds Church from where once the signal beacon warned of the approach of the Spanish Armada. The wonderful play area for children.

We finished off our visit to Tenterden with a visit to Chapel Down and the Swan at Chapel Down restaurant.  Unfortunately the vineyard was closed (well it was February!) but we definitely want to come back in the summer for one of their tours.  We had to make do with drinking the wine in the Swan itself (a tough life!)

About us

We live in the beautiful county of Kent, England and we love it!

We found that there are lots of very talented people living in Kent who make some fabulous things and were inspired to set up Love from Kent. At Love from Kent (www.lovefromkent.co.uk) we sell gifts and homeware all made in Kent.

On our trips to find and meet makers we get to see some of the beautiful county and thought we should start a blog about what we find.

Hope you enjoy it!

 

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