#5 Hawkhurst, England

Here we are! In Hawkhurst, England! I'm sad to report I really didn't see many hawks... but no worries! There was other cool stuff! We'll get to that in a bit... First: Where we stayed the night. OH! This truly was a tricky situation. On our way into town we passed a building (below) with a sign that said "Tollgate Bed & Breakfast". Well... all looked well enough, except they wanted to charge a toll to walk anywhere on the property. So we vetoed that of course (silly).

We had trouble finding a another place to rent a room... but we did come across this house for sale!!! We ALMOST bought it as a vacation home (*sigh*) but alas, once we pooled all the change we had from our pockets we realized we were juuuuuust a few dollars shy of afforing it... (dang it!) So we kept looking...

Ah ha! At last... we found this place (below). A nice English couple was going away for the weekend. It was too cute of a little house, we simply couldn't resist! So after we saw them drive away we snuck inside and stayed in the attic bedroom (don't worry, we cleaned it all up and left a couple $100 bills in their cookie jar).

The next morning we did some sightseeing. Hawkhurst sadly didn't have too much... but one thing that stuck out was the "Babies Castle". It was built in 1886 as the largest orphanage for babies and young children. I can't imagine the conditions for children were great back then anyways, and I don't know how the conditions were here, but at least the poor little guys had SOMEwhere to be.

I tried to imagine what it might have looked like back in the late 1800's.... (of course... while imagining such historical events, your vision often turns to black and white or sepia tones...)

We found this pic of one of the nannies going for a walk with a bunch of the little orphan babies. It reminds me of the big strollers they have for the toddlers at my kids daycare! Although... I have to admit... the one in this pic looks insanely less safe then the one the daycare has! LoL! But I'm betting back then they didn't use car seats or even seat belts either! : )

One last cool thing we found was this medieval castlle! oooooooooooh! Neat eh? AND... it's still in use! Some Christian religion... though we couldn't tell exactly which. I love old buildings... awesome!

And so our journey to Hawkhurst came to an end... with no hawks to be seen anywhere... (darn!)... We are now headed for our LAST stop in England... Fairlight! We've got 13.8 miles til we get there, see you then!!! Happy jogging & blogging!

#4 Royal Tunbridge Wells, England

Yay! We made it to the lovely city of Royal Tunbridge Wells! We stayed last night at the beautiful hotel converted from an old victorian mansion! LOVE it! We were on the top floor so we could look out over the lovely area. We sat around in fancy hats with little gloves and sipped our tea and ate biscuits. *sigh...*   lovely...

We started the next day off right with a morning visit to a castle. (Cuz that's what you do in England, right? Visit castles? Right!)  We chose Leeds Castle which is set on two islands on the River Len in the heart of Kent. Lords and ladies have resided here for over 1000 years. (*sigh...* how romantic... hehe) 

Lord Conway once said Leeds Castle was "the loveliest castle in the world". Unfortunately I can't say whether I agree or not... I haven't actually seen EVERY castle in the world to make a truly informed judgment... and I do so hate to make uninformed decisions... so we'll just leave it at the fact that it WAS quite charming.

 We took our morning tea in the fahncy little courtyahhhd. And yes. We did indeed speak with the most delightful accents while we drank our tea and ate our biscuits. Simply mahhhvelous dahhhling!

 Ahhhh..... tea time in Royal Tunbridge Wells... you simply MUST experience it dears...

Next up:  Bayham Abbey!

Check out these ruins! Me and mom wandered through the impressive grounds for most of the afternoon. We even had a little picnic under an arch. Parts of it were built back in the 13th century! *squeal!*  Come on! You KNOW you wished you could have been there, too!

 

Before we headed on our way to the next city, we made one more stop at a....

(drumroll...)

CASTLE! Yay! We love castles!

This one is called Scotney Castle. Cuz Scots lived there you ask? Well, who knows.  We didn't really pay much attention to our tour guide. We were too intrigued playing in the secret passageways and sneaking into the princess's chambers to try on gowns and tiaras! Woo hoo!

 But after awhile of playing dress up, we got a little tired and through a fantastic hidden-door-book-case we found this quaint little library. We lounged for a bit reading Jane Austen, the Bronte sisters, and many other works from all the classic artists.

 

On our way out of town, we stopped at the Enchanted Forest!!!

No really! It's really called that! Sweet eh?!?!?!

Now... I can't say for certain... but I could have sworn I saw some sparkly wings fluttering and my Mom even swore once she heard singing from a beautiful golden flower.

Hey... anything can happen in an enchanted forest, right?!?! 

 

Royal Tunbridge Wells was certainly exciting, but we were ready to be off on our next adventure. Next up!... Hawkhurst. Will there be hawks you ask? Well... I suppose we shall see now wont we? In 11.9 miles I'll let ya know!!!

#3 Edenbridge, England

Holy history! This place was amazing! Me and mom arrived late last night. That's RIGHT!!! My mommydecided to come long for the European trek! She flew into London and ran as fast as she could to catch up, and we met up in lovely Edenbridge last night.

Here is a few pictures of Storborough Manor... the bed and breakfast we stayed at the first night...

Our room!

The view of the moat in the back from our room's window...

And of COURSE, we couldn't stop in Edenbridge without seeing the "Eden Bridge" now could we?

The bridge (for which the valley and the town was named for) was built in the 10th century. Forget 'London Bridge' falling down, after 1000 years how come this one hasn't?!?!

First thing in the morning, we did a little shopping and found a cute little bakery to have some breakfast at.

Then we started our sightseeing! First stop, the Edenbridge Church from the 13th century!

Hever Castle was definitely one of the most exciting (and famous) things to see in Edenbridge. This was the childhood home of Anne Boleyn (second wife of Henry VIII and mom to Queen Elizabeth).

The site was originally occupied by a farmhouse, which was converted to a stone fortified Manor in the 13th century.

Inside was filled with old paintings and decor from the times...

Sometimes we'd look up and the front of the castle would have no vines...

And then the next second we'd look and it WOULD have vines! Crazy... guess that's just the magic of castles!

Ahhh... a beautiful view of Hever Castle and the surrounding countryside...

In 1903, the new owner of the castle expanded the grounds into a Tudor-style village for his many guests. (See behind the caste?)

 

This was orginally the farm that served the Castle. Now just one of the buildings of the village, it's been converted to a hotel... 'Hever Hotel'.

For more Hever Castle & Boleyn family history... go here...
http://mainstreetone.blogspot.com/2011/06/hever-castle-childhood-home-of-anne.html


Here is Edenbridge Castle... which is technically not in Edenbridge, it's just outside in a village called Hartfield. This is the place Henry VIII stayed when he came to visit Anne Boleyn. It was also the location of the movie "The Other Boleyn Girl". That's right! We were at a home of a King AND a movie set!!! We're so cool. : )

This castle has the second largest fireplace in all of England. And I must say... it is one MEGA fireplace!!!

Hartfield was made famous by another character... probably more beloved than Henry VIII... it was A.A. Milne & Winnie the Pooh!!! A.A. Milne lived in this house with his young son (Christopher) when he wrote the Winnie the Pooh books.

Nearby Ashwood Forest is the site of none other than the "100 Acre Woods) from the stories. Many of the places in the book are inspired by actual places in the forest, such as... Pooh Sticks Bridge! Where Winnie the Pooh invented the game of Pooh Sticks. : )

A plaque is now placed in Ashwood Forest (aka The 100 Acre Woods) with the names of A.A. Milne (author) and E.H. Shepard (illustrator) who together created the beloved children's books.

Our journey to Edenbridge was certainly an exciting one, with all the fabulous historical and memorable sites to see! We've gone 24.8 miles so far since London... and have 10.4 miles til our next stop: Royal Tunbridge Wells!

#2 Croydon, England

Whew! 10.9 miles down! 945.7 to go!!! I got into Croydon last night. You'll be happy to know during the jog from London I lost 1.25 inches and 1.4 pounds! It took me 4 days.

First stop... pizza! I was hungry! I found the cutest little pizza shop. See?

Then I went for a little stroll through the park and found this sweeeet victorian water tower!!! American water towers are SUPER boring. We should protest. They should all be as cool as this. It's 75 feet in diameter and was built in 1867. I love old buildings!

While strolling through the park I also met this kind English gent.

Turns out his name was Dan Stevens. He was born in Croydon AND he just so happens to play Edward Ferrars in the movie Sense & Sensibility (I love that book, I'm a sucker for Jane Austen!!!)

 He decided to show me the sights of his hometown.

 15th century church (sweet eh?)

 Croydon clocktower. We arrived exactly at noon. ; )

Along with having an awesome non-boring water tower, each city should also have a cool clock tower like this. Who makes the rules here? I need to write some letters... : )

I stayed at Croydon Hall that night. It was lovely at peaceful...

 My room was teeny, but clean, and it sufficed for a good nights rest before I continued my journey south.

Onward to Edenbridge, England!!! 13.9 miles!