If you're looking for inspiration for things to do in Kent, keep on reading!
Following my previous post, I've already let you know that Friday after work I took the train from St Pancras to meet my parents at Ashford International in Kent. I had never really visited anything in Kent, so it seemed the perfect opportunity to do so :) We ended up visiting Groombridge Place, Hever Castle, Knole and we hiked on One Tree Hill. And let me tell you, together with my visit to Cambridge and my visit home in March, this was one of my favourite weekends this year so far ^^
So Friday after work, around 5.40pm I sat on the train from St Pancras to Ashford International. My parents picked me up at the station and we had dinner at the outlet near the station. After dinner we rode to our little cottage in Tenderden. Cutest little house ^^
Saturday morning started bright and early. Around 9am we sat at a local Costa for our dose of caffeine and after that our adventure began. First stop was Groombridge place. You might not be familiar with the name, but it is the house Joe Wright used in his Pride and Prejudice adaptation in 2005. Unfortunately the house is not open for visitors, but luckily you can just walk around the house.
You might not know yet, but I'm a massive fan of Pride and Prejudice, especially the 2005 version. So many of my all time favourite scenes are in that film. So many good dialogues. So many beautiful shots. Amazing score. The opening is just one of the many many many sequences that I just love.
Eventhough the house wasn't open for visitors, I was so excited. It was such a great start to the weekend ^^ It is basically thanks to my mum that I visit such amazing places like Hill Top and Basildon Park. If she hadn't introduced Peter Rabbit or Pride and Prejudice into my life, I probably wouldn't be visiting all those amazing places. Also major props to my dad who puts up with my mum and I when we geek out about movie related stuff. In 2014 when we went to visit the Leavesden studios, my mum and I wandered around for about 2hours whilst my dad was patiently waiting on a bench for us somewhere ^^ Anyway, here another shot of the house :)
And a behind the scene of the movie
After Groombridge place we road on to Hever castle. This castle used to be the childhood home of Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII 2nd wife. Super interesting. We took the audio guides to guide us around the house and it was so good. And yes, you read that correctly, Henry VIII would have walked those very halls.
After Anne's father died in 1539, the castle came in Henry's possession. He then gave it to his 4th wife Anne of Cleve, as a settlement in their marriage annulment in 1540.
In 1903 the castle was bought by William Waldorf Astor who restored the castle and used it as family residence. He even built an entire village behind the castle to house all the staff.
The gardens are truely beautiful. We were too early to see the rose gardens, but the Italian garden was amazing and huge. A 'small' area was nearly as big as our entire garden back home... Of course there are things to do such as a maze, water maze, archery, hiring a little boat to paddle on the lake, walks around the lake, golf, etc etc. We did the maze, archery and walk through the garden and around the lake.
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| I discovered I'm actually quite good at archery x) |
By the time we arrived back at the car it was time to go back to the cottage. I was exhausted. The fact that Classic FM was playing all sorts of movie scores didn't help me to stay awake. Dinner at Prizzo and then to sleep. Aaah :)
Sunday started pretty much the same way as Saturday. A coffee to start the day and then off to our first stop of the day, which was a hike on Ide Hill. We were so lucky with the weather. The hike was about an hour and a half and we saw some beautiful views. Oh, and blue bells were nearly EVERYWHERE :)
After the hike we made our way to Knole house, a country house in the area. I'm not going to lie, not the highlight of my trip. I was really looking forward to it though. Knowing that certain scenes of Pirates of the Caribbean, Sherlock Holmes and the Other Boleyn Girl were filmed here. But it turned out to be a dark, grim, dusty old house. They are currently in the process of renovations, so I dearly hope they'll be able to lift the house's spirits up a bit. Unless the house is just dark and dusty by nature. I wouldn't recommend it just yet. I'd wait until the works are finished. The exterior was very impressive though and the deer were very cute. I would definitly concider paying it another visit after the works are done :)
Same as on Saturday, I was exhausted. Did another nap in the car on the way home x) Dinner was a bit earlier than on Saturday, which meant in theory that I could go to sleep earlier as well, but the BAFTA's were that evening and I wanted to watch til the end... ^^ Which wasn't too late in the end.
Monday morning started off quite relaxed and ended a bit stressful as I had to catch the 11.43am train back to London. I had to be at the office by 1pm and it seemed it was getting a bit tight, but in the end I had to wait 20min for the train x) Better too early than having to run for it!
As for the rest of the week, it was a normal work week. Nothing special to report there.
And that is it for this week! Out of the entire trip, Knole house was the only thing that let me down a bit. My expectations were probably a bit too high, so that one is on me. As all the rest of it, I highly recommend every single one of them :)
Has anyone else been to Kent and what would you recommend?
As always, thanks for reading!
xo - Sara
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