Kiwikoala: Our adventure to the south of England

3rd August 2014

Our last month in England :( .

We left Mansfield this morning and drove across to Norwich. We started going down the coast but found the traffic too much so decided to go inland which was much more enjoyable. We stopped at

Sheringham and went for a walk around to stretch our legs .

This is a lovely coastal town on the Norfolk coast . Getting accommodation for the evening was another thing. Every where we tried was booked out due to the school holiday. After popping into a small pub and a few phone calls they found something for us at the Blue Boar Hotel. It sure was appreciated and a lovely meal was had there.

4th August,

We left Norwich and drove towards Smarden going through some more country towns, and ended up driving in the motorway towards Dover. It took us some time to get to the toll bridge due to a lot of freight trucks . Once we paid our £2.00 for the tole , we made our way very quickly to Smarden . Johns great great grandparents came from this area. After popping into the post office, a very helpfull lady directed us to his grandmother home, Barnden Farm. We were very fortunate once we found the house we asked a person on the property if we could please have a look around , his answer was I will show you. This sure did make Johns day. After spending time looking around the property which has had many buildings added to it. When Johns grandmother lived there, there was 20 acres now there is only 10 acreas. The appropriate value of the house and land today is worth 2 1/2 million pound.

On our way back through the village of Smarden, we spotted a very run down old cemetery . To a wonderful surprise we found Johns great great grandfather and his wife and 4 of the children buried there. Dated back to 1807.

We contacted a person named Martin Brooks from the Heritage Centre in Smarden this evening and he informed John that in 19th century someone went round and documented the old graves in the area. We are meeting him tomorrow morning , this John is very excited about.

Very quaint main Post office of Smarden

John outside the same window of a photo we have of grandma doing the same

Back end of the house

Main entrance, note the sign tied to the hedge,

5th August,

What an exciting day we have had. John spent several hours with Martin Brooks from the Heritage centre . What a wonderful man with a lot of knowledge who is only to happy to share it.

John found out that there was another small cemetery where another 4 members of his family where buried from the 1808.

Martin kindly gave John a list of grave sites in the area where his family were laid to rest and we purchased a DVD of Smarden and the area. Many thanks Martin for everything. We look forward to keeping in touch.

We returned to the cemetery we found yesterday and gave the head stone a clean as much as we could, but having to be very careful as the headstones was crumbling away in areas.

The land that the cemetery is on has been brought privately by Mike Barkway who owns the cottage next to it. It was very interesting talking to Mike regarding the cemetery . When Mike moved to the cottage he said you could not see the graves due to wild grass , blackberrys and wild flowers which had grown over them. Once he brought the land he decided to tidy it up and keep it as memorial for the locals and people like us who are looking up our heritage. He tried to clean as many head stone as possible without damaging them. There are 120 graves there. It does not look like it. Mike said when there is a frost or a light snow you can see where all the graves are. Even without the head stones. He has built a new fence along one side where he has planted many roses and shrubs. We wanted to plant something near Johns great great grandparents and Mike was so pleased we wanted this. We brought a small lavender plant and placed it next to the head stone . Mike said he would email us some photos in the spring when the wild flowers are in bloom.

From here we went to other cemetery where Martin said we would find four other family members. This we did , but once again the headstones were very delicate crumbling and leaning over. At least we got some photos and was able to deciifeir the writing.

By this time it was after 3.00pm time enough for us to go and visit Ashford township. A lot of old Buildings dating back to 17th century and cobblestone paths .

We decided to spend another night at The Bowl Inn as it was very close to Smarden area. Very comfortable and friendly people.

Great Great grandparents of John and their 4 children

After we had cleaned the headstone

The Lavender plant we planted at the side of Johns Great Great Grandparents grave Smarden

Looking into the cemetery from Water lane at Smarden. Headstone centre at back

Mike Barkway's Home next to the cemetery in Smarden

6th August,

We awoke to rain and very low cloud, the first time since we left Mansfield.

We visited the town of Canterbury. It is a beautiful city with many old buildings like most English towns have. A walk around did us a world of good.

Central street of Canterbury.

From Canterbury we decided to go to Dover. The white cliffs of Dover were amazing as we walked along the top, also looking down over the port of Dover. We watched the docks where the boats for France leave through a narrow opening at the port. From here we drove along the picturesque coastal route ending up at Bexhill just west of Hastings. We stayed at Bexhill B&B , a very quiet and family run B&B .

Port at Dover

Dover Castle

7th August

From Bexhill we drove along the coastal route to Brighton Pier. This area is a big tourist magnet , beautiful beaches and a great amusement pier. We noticed the beaches had pebbles on them and the sand was quite a way out. Lots of deck chairs put out for people to relax in .We sent a couple of hours looking around and trying out the amusement section. No we did not win anything , but got rid of our small coins.

Brighton Pier

It took us nearly 4 hours to drive to Stonehenge , getting there around 4.00pm. This was amazing to see. They spent around 53 million pounds in setting up the new visitors centre and surrounding area for car parks etc .

8th August ,

This morning we made our way to Penzance along the south west coast. The motorways sure are busy over here , traffic builds up very quickly and queues happen very frequently.

Harbour of Penzance

Original photo taken of the railway station . It is still in use today

Then onto Land's End. This is the south west end of England. A very rugged coastline and picturesque at the same time.

From Land's End to the John 'O'Groats the tip of England is.

Back in Penzance we looked across the bay and saw St Michael's Mount, an Island Castle and harbour home. You can go out to the island at low tide and follow in the footsteps of pilgrims as you cross the historic causeway. Starting from the beachfront Godolphin Arms in Marazion, it takes just minutes to walk across the bay from the mainland to the island. Sad to say we could not get on the island due to it being closed to the public on the day we were there.

St. Micheal's Mount

Tonight we stayed at Falmouth tonight another coastal town . Whilst here we are meeting up with friends of John's parents Beatrice Kerno and Neil Plummer .

Note the Cornish flag was hang for us

9th August,

Time for us to make our way to Cuxham to find some of John's fathers side of the family hopefully.

We woke up to a very cloudy and wet day. Craig made our stay at Colthrop Manor B&B very pleasant . £80.00 for a night and a full English breakfast which last us all day. It is a old farm building with the exposed Tudor style inside very homely. They have only been operating for 2 years . There contact is www.colthropmanor.co.uk

As we were driving out of the property 3 wild deer ran across in front of us. We had noticed on the roads signs saying Deer roaming. Interesting to see 3 deer close to buildings etc.

Scene of the roads and trees travelling around Newbury area.