day 12 - may 1st - Gardens, the most haunted village in england, and a ghost in Canterbury

We woke up to pale sunshine and helped Clare's daughter, ?, feed the baby lambs, Ramze, Lily and ? the other one. she told us that the little one had failure to thrive but seemed to be doing ok now although still a bit lighten on the scale for a lamb of its age.

Went to the house to find Clare and found John. Lovely man who could not come with us as he was teaching english to gypsies and doing yard work, or visa versa.  He did let Clare know that we were there and ready to go. 

We called the train station about my bag and they said that it was turned in and that I would have to pick it up in London? all lost and found items were sent to London to be claimed. so tomorrow when we get back to London I will have to go to the Charring cross station lost and found department. It really has been a bother not having my diary or tablet but at lead=st I have my passport on me.

Clare said she had a surprise for us this morning and as we headed off the clouds rolled in and it started to rain.

She took us to to Sissinghurst Castle, a lovely place with gorgeous gardens that, even though it was raining, was beautiful to behold. 

We went down a road and into the courtyard surrounded by a large barn and several buildings, Restaurant, gift shop, washrooms. 

There was a group there called the green man ? doing a dance with bells on their legs and sticks that they would bang together and a group off to the side with horns and such. one man was dressed as a woman and sang a lovely song that I did in fact record but had to delete as I was running out of room on my memory chip and didn't have my spare one on me. Sad as he did a fine job. there was a little robin posing for me on one of the tables so I took the shot and thanked him very much. So cute.
Then we went into the tower with its very many steps and 4 levels of rooms. What fun and great exersize . Great views of the gardens and beyond from the top. I Love thee gardens! they were divided into different gardens. which I understand are different colours when they are in bloom. red, white , blue. Lovely!
we went down the stairs and into the gardens. admiring the flowers that were in bloom and imagining the ones that weren't. It drizzled almost non stop but it was not windy or cold so was still quite pleasant.

We then went throughout the house with its lovely library although I don't know how those books don't mildew and rot in all that humidity.
back out to the vegetable gardens where we met Joanne the gardener who filled us in on the all the gardening things going on. A very big job.  Into the restaurant for a Very Tasty quick bite which was made of all things from the gardens on site.
the gift shop provided us with a few more souvenirs and postcards.
then off we went on our way to Canterbury. Clare had arranged a tour for us that afternoon and we did not want to be late. the rain continued.

We dropped for a quick break in the small village of Pluckley the most haunted village in england. even in the quiness book of world records

I took a few photos of the streets and the pub but did not even look at what I had taken as margies camera suddenly died. This is where we went to buy new batteries for Margie's camera after her brand new batteries mysteriously were drained as she tried to take pictures.
 It was not raining right then so the camera did not get wet.

 This is the picture I was taking when my batteries were sucked dry by the spirits. I am sure that Margie took a picture of a ghost. When I saw that on my camera I thought that I had inadvertently taken a picture of someones shirt up close but could not remember doing that. so I deleted mine . glad Margie had the presence of mind to think before deleting.it is not a photo of the sky as the sky was much greyer than that.

 This is a lane where a White lady is sometimes seen or sometimes roman soldiers walking down the lane

The Black Horse Inn in Pluckley

After Pluckley we drove through the country and onto one of the main roads to Canterbury. driving through the large gates and finding a parking spot we made it just in time for the tour.

We were to meet with Judy at the butter market in front of the Canterbury gates to the cathedral. Once the head of the English church it was decorated with kings of old.
We did meet Judy and two other couples who were also going on the tour. Judy knows her stuff and we were off and running in the rain, almost literally .... running. she would scoot off and wait for us slower folks taking photos and then tell us about a street , a building, the vikings, the normans. the kings and queens, the dignitaries and famous writers who visited or lived in the city on that particular street or spot.
we passed a college and the oldest norman or roman steps in canterbury then we went through a small tunnel of sorts.

A Canterbury Ghost
If you feel his breath on your cheek as you walk through this passageway you have only a year left to live. Neither Margie or I felt a breath on our necks but I do believe there is a ghostly light behind Margie in this photo. No it is not raining in the tunnel but we were just pausing to get a photo and than back out into it again.

Charles Dickens visited Canterbury and his quotes are on the buildings he used in his books. there is probably one on every street in old Canterbury. Could be a lot of fun just finding all the building but we did not have the time.
I loved this crooked door  in the house that Charles Dickens describes in the pickwick papers I think  even when the wind and rain drove me around the corner for shelter.

the very wet Streets of Canterbury with its colourful shops and restaurants. would love to go back and take a week to it properly.

Listening to our tour guide  in the rain giving us some of the history of Canterbury
Judy really gave us a good and interesting history of the town. I enjoyed it immensely







it was almost too much info for the time that we had her. She covered a lot of ground too. We walked all the way around the outside walls of the cathedral and then at the end of the tour she left us at the cathedral which was by that time just closing.
Canterbury cathedral was very beautiful and we did go to a service in the basement of the cathedral and then afterward we were shown the way out via the main cathedral. which is huge and stunning.

we found a restaurant and had some scrumptious dinner. a very popular place and it was still raining.It was Whetherspoons Restaurant and Pub. Very busy and sooo English and the food was great and very reasonable.