Faversham Almhouses

 

One of the main reasons why we got off the bus a stop or two early, before Faversham town centre, was to take a look at Faversham Almhouses.

Have just read that the Almhouses were built in 1863 and make up one of the biggest Almhouse set-ups in the country.

Both close up and from a distance, the Almhouses did certainly look impressive:

 

Have also just discovered that the Almhouse dwellings were extensively renovated in 1982 and reopened by the Queen Mother.

At the centre of the whole Almshouse structure stands an incredible-looking chapel:

The close-up shot below shows just how elegant-looking this chapel is:

Really glad that we got to have a look at the Faversham Almhouses.

Hare Krishnas on Canterbury High Street

Love the picture above, as the man in the foreground looks deep in thought, possibly being a bit perplexed, as four young Hare Krishnas have just passed him on Canterbury High Street.  

It was a still, almost silent Sunday morning, but the profound quietness was soon broken by the repeated Hare Krishna Mantra(s).

Don't really mind the Hare Krishnas, they seem quite decent folk in an esoteric kind of way.

Faversham: A Gunpowder Mill

Coming into Faversham on the bus from Canterbury, we got off it a couple or so stops from the town centre as a few things looked quite interesting in the suburbs.

First up, we came across an old Gunpowder Mill:

The plaque below shows that the Mill is open for visits, mainly during the afternoon at the weekend:

Have just read that this Gunpowder Mill is the only surviving one, with there having been four at one point.

Have also just found out that the Mills made gunpowder for Nelson at Trafalgar and Wellington at Waterloo.

Moreover, during peacetime, the Mills provided explosives that blasted the way for railways and canals to be put in place, thus, playing a major role in the Industrial Revolution. 

Boughton-Under-Blean: Getting Some Booze

 

To get our beer for the New Day Festival campsite, we made our way to the nearby village of Boughton-Under-Blean.

In Boughton-Under-Blean, we got some beer from an ethnic shopkeeper who sold it for a far more expensive price than the average supermarket does.

Still, the ethnic shopkeeper sold the best and biggest chocolate flapjack I've ever tasted, and much less expensive than any supermarket I've been to.

The walk to Broughton-Under-Blean and back from Mount Ephraim Gardens was quite pleasant, as we went down a narrow leafy path of Kentish countryside:

The horse took an interest in anybody passing by:
 

And the conker below caught my eye, in the bright evening sunshine:

Mount Ephraim Gardens: Great Festival Site

 

Mount Ephraim Gardens lies in the heart of Kent, somewhere between Canterbury and Faversham.

Have just read that it has been the family home of the Dawes family since 1695, so the place has some historical background.

I first visited Mount Ephraim Gardens in the early 2000s for the Canterbury Fayre Festivals where I saw all kinds of interesting bands (Caravan; Gong; Colosseum; Arthur Brown; Man; Hawkwind; Porcupine Tree; Arthur Lee; The Stranglers; The Damned; All About Eve; Robert Plant; Bob Weir's Rat Dog; Roy Harper; The Buzzcocks etc.).

The place (and whole surrounding area) has a nice kind of agricultural feel, and getting onto the New Day Festival campsite this year, we passed through a few apple orchards:

On the campsite, there was plenty of space, as we arrived the day before the Festival, in the morning:

The tree below was our favourite place for a quick Jimmy Riddle if we didn't fancy walking to the chemical toilet places in the middle of the night:

The wooden building below looked like a cricket pavilion, and this is where the chemical toilets were located on our campsite:

When we arrived on Thursday morning to set up camp, final preparations for the Festival were calmly underway:

Been to the New Day Festival twice, once in 2019 (Fish; Glenn Hughes; Uli Jon Roth; Zal Cleminson; Soft Machine; Martin Barre; Hawklords; Focus; Thunderstick etc.), and this year, of course (Focus; Colosseum; Jethro Tull; Hugh Cornwell; Ten Years After; Kaprekar's Constant; Skinny Molly; Karnataka; Blackbeard's Tea Party etc.).

Have really enjoyed every Canterbury Fayre and New Day Festival that I've been to. How could it be otherwise with such great music line-ups in a quaint rural setting?

Think that the shots below fully show how beautiful the Mount Ephraim Site is once the Festival is up and running:

With festival-goers sometimes camping amongst apple trees:

And being in nice earshot of the music if they just want to relax and catch the music from a distance:

Hats Off To Wetherspoons

 

Above, there is the plaque which explains The Thomas Ingoldsby name of one of the two Wetherspoons pubs in Canterbury. 

Really like the Westgate Wetherspoons in Canterbury too, of course.

During my summer trip to England, my homeland, I regularly had a large traditional breakfast and cafe latte refills, and occasionally had dinner with a couple of pints at Wetherspoons places.

The Wetherspoons places I visited were in Penrith and Keswick (the Lake District); Banbury (Oxfordhire); Canterbury and Faversham (Kent); and my hometown, Bury (Lancashire).

In all of the Wetherspoons I went to, the food was great (especially the breakfasts); the beer was good (especially the Doom Bar); and the service was first-class and friendly.

Thus, even in difficult, post-Covid conditions, Wetherspoons offered a brilliant service for somebody like me, who was often on the road camping.

Below, there is a shot of a historic building facing the Thomas Ingoldsby Wetherspoons in Canterbury:

Broadstairs: Passing Holy Trinity Church

 On our way back to the bus stop for Canterbury, we passed Holy Trinity Church:

With a huge crucifix on the wall, it wasn't difficult to guess that Holy Trinity was High Church Anglican:

Have just read that Holy Trinity is indeed High Church having been influenced by the Oxford Movement.

However, I have also just discovered that Charles Dickens, a regular visitor to Broadstairs in the mid-19th century, of course, was heavily critical of the general design of the church building, which he compared to a "hideous temple of flint" and a "petrified haystack".